May 4, 2006
Kevin Hall
804-225-4260
804-393-9406 (cell)
Mike Salster
DHRM
(804) 225-2181
(804) 307-7572
Governor's Awards Salute Excellence in State Workforce
RICHMOND – A former inmate who developed an innovative parenting program for prisoners was among six Virginia state employees and a team from the Virginia Department of Transportation to receive a Governor’s Award on Thursday for outstanding service to the Commonwealth. Governor Timothy M. Kaine presented the awards at the Science Museum of Virginia.
Sue Kennon, with the Department of Correctional Education, received the Governor’s Award for Innovation for her work in helping prisoners maintain relationships with their children through the Mom’s Inc. and Dad’s Inc. programs.
During her incarceration, Ms. Kennon received an Associate’s and Bachelor’s Degree, and following her release received a Master’s Degree in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Others receiving Governor’s Awards were:
- Maggie Short, University of Virginia Medical Center, Agency Star.
- Carlton Edwards, Virginia Commonwealth University, Career Achievement.
- Michael Menefee, Department of Charitable Gaming, Community Service and Volunteerism.
- Violet Peyton, Department of Housing and Community Development, Customer Service.
- Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project’s “Beltway Shift,” Virginia Department of Transportation, Teamwork.
- Michael Williford, Department of Corrections, Workplace Safety.
The Virginia Credit Union helps sponsor the program, now in its sixth year, which honors outstanding performance among state employees.
See below for individual employee citations.
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Agency Star Award
Maggie Short
UVA Medical Center
Maggie Short’s most outstanding public service contributions within the University of Virginia’s Medical Center community have been in her roles at Continuum Home Health Care.
Running a home health agency requires business savvy as well as managerial skill, and demands creativity and foresight in order to thrive. Maggie provides both. Taking health services into the homes of UVA customers was different from delivering health services within UVA’s controlled environment. As leaders do, Maggie educated herself first to this new service, then, with confidence, she educated and influenced her staff by example to deliver the same UVA quality of health care in an uncontrolled, unpredictable environment - the home.
What once began as eleven staff in 1995 has grown to 131 employees. Maggie continues to lead the team with a tireless ability and willingness to deliver the quality of services The University expects. The Medical Center’s sphere of influence into the community now spans within home health approximately 12,000 miles across 11 counties, and it is the largest home health agency in Central Virginia.
Professional full time staff turnover at Continuum is almost zero. Retention, recruiting and hiring the best has complimented Maggie’s confidence in her leadership and taken the Medical Center’s Home Health Service to another level in the delivery of care. This ability to surround herself with winners has supported the agency in adding specialty services.
Maggie is described as one who listens and cares. She is not afraid to try new ideas. She empowers. She encourages. She makes decisions. Her expectations are high, but she expects only what she herself is willing to give.
Career Achievement
Carlton Edwards
Virginia Commonwealth University
A year ago, Captain Edwards was re-assigned as the Director of Security for the VCU Health System. Before assuming his new post, the environment surrounding the security operations component of the MCV Hospitals was stressful, turnover-ridden, and a hotbed of citizen complaints.
Captain Edwards was given the task of inserting a more cooperative, customer service oriented management focus to the Hospital Security force that was in place. Captain Edwards was chosen for this critical assignment because of his reputation for fairness, thoroughness and a life-long affinity for getting along with people. He has been a diversity instructor for police and private agencies during his career, and has served in leadership positions at the University and in professional organizations.
Carlton Edwards has worked his way up the ranks of the police department from patrol officer, to his current rank where he serves one of three Deputy Police Chiefs for the VCU Police Department.
His attention to detail, willingness to work cooperatively with people, and his strong ethical principles have served to instill a renewed confidence in the security workforce at the VCU Health System. His demeanor and approach to the job has been lauded by University and Hospital administrators, and he is credited with reinvigorating the security operation.
He served consecutive terms as the president of the Central Virginia Chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE). Due to his effectiveness in that capacity, he was asked by the membership to run for elective office again.
Community Service and Volunteerism
Michael
Menefee
Department of Charitable Gaming
Michael Menefee, Inspection and Training Manager for the Department of Charitable Gaming, has been involved in service to the community and volunteerism since he was a young man in Boy Scouts. When he began attending Virginia Commonwealth University, he joined the Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity because its philosophy and purpose were based on the principles and values of the Boy Scouts.
For three years, Michael led the organization as its Leadership Vice President for two years and President for one year. Following graduation from VCU, Michael, his future wife Amy (also a member of Alpha Phi Omega), and a couple of friends wanted to continue their service to the community. Their first project was to raise funds to purchase sleeping bags for the homeless.
Through the fall of 2005, Charitable Souls Foundation, Inc. has distributed over 1,100 sleeping bags to the homeless in the Richmond Metropolitan Area
During the summer of 2006, The Charitable Souls Foundation, Inc. under Michael’s direction, is embarking on a literacy project to solicit funds and books to develop a children’s library at St. Joseph s Villa, and to recruit volunteers to read to the children. Michael, his wife, and a few part-time volunteers, do all of the work for Charitable Souls Foundation, Inc.
With these limited resources, they raise the funds, recruit volunteers, distribute the proceeds, spend many hours volunteering their own time, write, and distribute a newsletter and continue to look for ways in which they can help improve the community.
Customer Service
Violet Peyton
Department of Housing and Community Development
Since 2003, Violet has been the Project Management Office’s Management Analyst working on the Indoor Plumbing Rehabilitation (IPR) Program and the Rural Housing Rehabilitation Program. Both of these initiatives are targeted to low-income citizens who live in seriously substandard housing.
It is Violet’s job to distribute, track and monitor these funds by the local and regional housing providers. In doing this, Violet has developed extraordinary relationships with the people who provide these critically vital services to some of Virginia’s most vulnerable and needy citizens.
Violet is considered a consummate problem-solver by non-profit organizations with limited resources and staff. She is not only technically adept at what she does, but she does it with grace, compassion and a deep-seated desire to improve living conditions for the ultimate consumer of our services.
As one person noted, “Violet excels in helping people when it comes to housing issues. She gives great service to housing providers because that helps us give great service to the program’s beneficiaries. Violet is committed to assuring that the end users of DHCD’s programs.”
Virginia s poorest families, often living in untenable conditions, get the best assistance possible from local organizations and our state agency. Putting together grant contracts, tracking program beneficiaries, releasing liens on properties and walking housing providers through unexpected problems are what Violet does with calm commitment and dedication each day.
Innovation
Sue Kennon
Department of Correctional Education
Sue Kennon developed parenting programs for the Virginia Department of Correctional Education (DCE) that are unique because they address critical, yet often overlooked problems. The programs, known as Moms, Inc. and Dads, Inc., address prison-related parenting issues. These highly effective programs are made more unique because they are among the few prison-specific parenting programs existing in the United States.
A most special piece of this whole effort is Ms. Kennon herself. She is an ex-offender who served in Virginia’s prison system. While incarcerated, she earned associate’s and bachelor’s degrees, and two years after her release in 2001 earned a master’s degree in psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. She currently is on a Ph.D. path in psychology.
Ms. Kennon joined DCE in 2004 and has earned the absolute respect of her peers, and worked tirelessly to advance the parenting program which she began developing while still incarcerated in the Virginia prison system. Ms. Kennon is an extremely dedicated, empathic, knowledgeable professional who is held in high regard by students and coworkers.
She is devoted to improving the lives of vulnerable children by building their parents' knowledge and skills. This effort is made more urgent because research suggests children of incarcerated parents are at great risk. One study found that up to 50 percent of incarcerated juveniles had parents who had been incarcerated, and that approximately 10 million children in the United States have incarcerated parents.
Ms. Kennon turned a personal setback into a mighty triumph for not only herself but many others who have been in her circumstances. Ultimately, her work has benefits that are far reaching and of great value to the entire Commonwealth of Virginia.
Teamwork
Department of Transportation
Ronaldo T. Nicholson, P.E., Alex M. Naghdi,
Sayed J. Masumi, Mohammed A. Hossain, Joan M. Morris and Steven
M. Titunik
During summer 2005, the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project team successfully completed a major traffic shift on I-95/I-495 Capital Beltway (Inner and Outer Loops) near the Route 1 Interchange in Virginia, allowing construction to stay ahead of schedule on the northern half of the Washington Street overpass, as well as on the tie-in of the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge to the Route 1 Interchange (Virginia Tie-in Contract).
Known as The Beltway Shift, this effort removed all traffic on I-95/I-495 Capital Beltway (Inner and Outer Loops) near the Route 1 Interchange in Virginia in advance, and allowed work to proceed on the northern portion of the Washington Street overpass almost a year earlier than originally planned. Although successfully implementing the Beltway Shift was enormously challenging, the benefits of expediting the Washington Street overpass construction were numerous.
Such severe lane and ramp closures had the potential of affecting thousands of motorists. Reducing traffic to one lane on the mid-point of Interstate 95 for up to 57 consecutive hours, in a region already burdened with the nation’s third most congested traffic, was almost inconceivable.
To overcome these challenges, the project team adopted a holistic approach, drawing from many resources in many different areas of expertise and several key factors, including: An aggressive public outreach campaign aimed toward educating local and long-distance travelers about the lane closures in order to prevent monumental traffic jams, and staffing a dedicated toll-free phone hot line to respond to traveler inquiries over the shift weekends.
Ultimately, the Beltway Shift garnered remarkable results because of the contributions made by many. The work was completed ahead of schedule, without incident, and with no significant traffic delays. The Outer Loop Shift completed 24 hours ahead of schedule and Inner Loop completed 8 hours ahead of schedule. There were no worker injuries or major traffic incidents.
Workplace Safety
Mike Williford
Department of Corrections
Mike Williford has been employed with the Department of Corrections for 29 years, including serving as DOC's Risk Manager for the past 14 years.
In his role as Risk Manager, Mike leads the way in promoting a safe and healthy work environment. He is often called upon by his peers to provide guidance on safety matters. He has worked with a number of State agencies to provide assistance in the development of their safety programs.
Lunenburg Correctional Center received the OSHA Star certification March 1, 2002, in recognition of excellence in safety and for being an industry leader in safety. At the time Lunenburg Correctional Center received this award, it was the only correctional facility in the nation to be recognized in this manner by the Department of Labor and Industry. More recently, Augusta Correctional Center pursued and achieved OSHA Star Certification on February 1, 2006.
In his role as Risk Manager, Mike has developed an automated loss control analysis system that is specific to corrections. He developed an annual cost containment procedure that requires each DOC facility to review losses annually and to submit an annual plan indicating what steps will be taken to decrease losses for the next year.
He processes site safety reviews and site inspections and assessments when major property damage occurs. He oversees the DOC's Workers’ Compensation Program. He provides training for 27 full time DOC Safety Specialists and 15 Unit Safety Coordinators. He provides support and guidance to all DOC operating units.
Michael Williford adds value to his agency and to the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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