After creating CGM, Kelly moved into the neighborhood with a vision to make a difference. He bought and renovated a former illicit drug house in the Washington Park neighborhood as the primary residence for his young family. That building is now the home of Common Ground. It has become a safe haven for Montgomery-area children and provides a protective and loving environment for all ages, where children can get assistance with homework and participate in extracurricular activities during the school year. After the school year, the doors are open for camp, consisting of tutoring and summer fun.

While Common Ground Montgomery is in the heart of the most underprivileged part of of the Capital City, the impact of its work is immense and does not go unnoticed.

In addition to offering a stable, safe environment for schoolchildren, providing scholastic support through its Leadership Development Program, CGM  provides mentoring, counseling and preschool education. The organization’s vision is to teach principles of unity and neighborhood transformation that create an umbrella of services that mold future, godly leaders. CGM does this by focusing on three main areas: academics, social skills and spiritual studies.

The program mirrors the Montgomery Public Schools calendar and is available each school day 3-6 p.m. During the 2019-2020 school year, before COVID-19, the organization served more than 125 pre-K through 12^th grade students and provided transportation from each child’s school to the center, then home. The children also participated in Wednesday Bible study.

Alabama Power Foundation, the charitable giving organization of Alabama Power Company, is a supporter of Common Ground Montgomery and its Leadership Development Program.

“The partnership between CGM and the Alabama Power Foundation has been long-standing and has a proven track record of stewardship,” said Summer Williams, director of development for CGM. “With Alabama Power Foundation’s support, we have been able to grow our programs and pour into the lives of so many children.”

“We offer the program and camp, but programs are not all that we are,” she said. “Our staff is here to try to change the odds for the at-risk youths that we work with on a daily basis. We are present, available and have made a commitment to walk with the children and their families.”

For more information about Common Ground Montgomery and its programs, visit www.cgm.life.

(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)

A year after being appointed by President Dwight Eisenhower to the United States Court for the Middle District of Alabama, Johnson ruled in 1956 in favor of Rosa Parks in the Montgomery Bus Boycott case to strike down segregation laws in the transit system in the state’s capital city. He also ordered Montgomery police and the Ku Klux Klan to stop intimidating Freedom Riders from riding buses and, in 1965, overturned Gov. George Wallace’s decision to prohibit the Selma to Montgomery March.

Johnson’s tenure with the district court ended in 1979 when President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and then to the Eleventh Circuit. Throughout his career, Johnson remained faithful to the Constitution and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995 by President Bill Clinton.

Johnson’s influence was seen not only in Alabama. His interpretation of law when it pertained to the changing of segregation practices and demolishing Jim Crow laws was recognized around the country.

The Frank M. Johnson Jr. Institute in Montgomery was founded in 2019, the year that Johnson would have turned 100 years old. The mission of the institute is to promote understanding of, and education regarding, the Constitution, the independent judiciary it created and the impact of the rule of law on our lives. The institute is housed in the Frank M. Johnson Jr. United States Courthouse Complex in Montgomery and is listed as a National Historic Landmark.

In January 2019, the institute opened with more than 400 visitors over the two-day event to its Centennial Symposium, held at locations around the city, including the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church. One of the distinguished guests was former U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young.

An important goal of the institute is to educate middle and high school teachers about Johnson, his cases and his legacy so they may learn new strategies to teach their students through stories of Johnson’s cases.

(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)

During the boycott, King’s parsonage became a target of violence. On the evening of Jan. 30, 1956, a bomb was set off at the home while his wife, Coretta Scott King, and infant daughter, Yolanda, were inside. Although neither was hurt, the reality of what was occurring in Montgomery and inside the walls of Dexter Avenue thrust King into the world spotlight. The home was bombed several times later.

The parsonage at 309 South Jackson St. has become a museum paying homage to King and gives insight into the trailblazer while living with his family there from 1954 until 1960. King became the symbolic leader of the civil rights movement and a household name. Built in 1912 and the home of 12 Dexter Avenue Church pastors from 1920 until 1992, the home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It still holds much of the furniture used by King and his family.

Cromwell Handy, the current pastor of Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, is proud to continue the legacy of those who came before him.

“I understand the history and staple this great church has become in the city, nation and world,” Handy said. “We don’t take that for granted. Thousands of people from the around the world each year come to Montgomery to, for one day, walk in the footsteps of King while he led this church, the boycott, the movement. It is an honor to meet all types of people annually that want to take a glimpse into Dr. King’s life; even while cut short, the life he led during the time while in Montgomery that molded him into the leader he was eventually known to be.”

Dexter Parsonage Museum and Interpretive Center is under a five-year renovation to restore and maintain the home. A grant from the Alabama Power Foundation is supporting that work. Inside is the study where King wrote memorable speeches and sermons; the dining room that was a meeting place for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) that organized the bus boycott; and the kitchen where King had an epiphany on Jan. 27, 1956, that eventually became the civil rights movement.

For more information on the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, the Dexter Parsonage Museum and Interpretive Center and its Foundation, visit www.dexterkingmemorial.org.

(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)

What is being seen playing out with the COVID-19 crisis validates why many choose to go into the nursing profession. Though perhaps none bargained for graduating into a global pandemic, the desire to help those who are sick and in need of comfort and healing is apparent.

Matalia Conner, a graduate nursing student at UAB, said helping others is what drives her.

“I chose to go into the field of nursing because of the endless opportunities to help make a difference in someone’s life medically,” she said. “Not only healing when they are ill but identifying triggers to avoid further sickness and promote healthy lifestyles.”

Troy University senior nursing student Rachel Moody’s decision to go into nursing was personal. Her father was diagnosed with dementia and toward the end of his life, she was right there helping to care for him.

“This is what really solidified that becoming a nurse was what I was meant to do,” Moody said. “I was also able to see how the nurses were with him, which helped me to understand that I want to always be a nurse that is compassionate and caring to both my patient and their family.”

Alabama has a plethora of schools geared to creating the next generation of nursing professionals on all levels, from licensed practical nurse (LPN) certificates to doctoral degrees. These institutes have achieved a passing rate of more than 75% on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) in 2019, according to the Alabama Board of Nursing.

The following are accredited Alabama colleges with nursing programs:

(Courtesy of Alabama NewsCenter)