MICHAEL FERGUSON II: Is there some balm in Albany?

The leadership exemplified by this newspaper and Carlton Fletcher in regards to being a healing and change agent in this city is the standard that we need from all community partners and stakeholders in the growth and development of Albany and the surrounding region. I am referencing his article entitled, ”Absorbing a blow to my stubborn pride” published Nov. 27.

Carlton, thanks for your kind words and for making The Herald a great corporate citizen in our campaign to revitalize the region and create an environment conducive to growth.

History has shown that men and women are instrumental in bringing forth the change they want to see. The suffrage movement, the labor movement , the civil rights movement, and countless wars have been fought to bring change. This is not a new phenomenon in the tapestry of nations and small communities.

I am committed to bringing every resource available to serve our youth, unskilled labor force, and veterans to provide the employers of the present and future the support of our community.

Albany adopted me in my pre-teen years, and my family and I have become ingrained in the fabric of our home for the last 50 years. I know the people of Albany and am grateful for the “village” that helped nurture me and provide me with the skills that have allowed me to perform herculean feats at various junctures of my life.

The Dougherty County School System and the Monroe High School family allowed us not only to learn our basic curriculum, but in my case encouraged civic engagement. As a student at Monroe under the tutelage of my homeroom teacher, Mrs. McCree Harris, we led a march from Monroe to the School Board to protest the attempt to deny us our first black school superintendent at the time, Dr. Walter Judge.

This leads me to my current engagement with DCSS and Kenneth Dyer, who serves as our current school superintendent. Throughout the year, I challenged the superintendent directly in articles to remedy the literacy problem in our school system and highlighted the real-life consequences that in many cases result in our most valuable commodity not reaching their God-given potential due to our failure.

The mandate to be solution-oriented led to multiple meetings with Superintendent Dyer to build upon already existing strategies. And with the input of business leaders, clergy, elected officials, civic organizations, nonprofits and retired educators, we not only reinforced the existing initiatives but saw other areas of opportunity to create a holistic approach to preparing our community for work force readiness.

Superintendent Dyer and myself will be sharing a more in-depth overview in the coming weeks. I would be irresponsible in my reporting if I didn’t mention how impressed I was with the auxiliary programs provided by the school system and Superintendent Dyer’s cooperation and commitment to being an agent of change.

We as a community have everything we need to be the “balm” in Albany, to produce the “Gateway to Southwest Georgia” that we are destined to be: A community that works for the people, and in return, the people work for the community.

My mood is an old gospel hymnal: “We are climbing Jacob’s ladder.”