Allen Winkler

In March of 2023 the COF Chiefs of Security, under the direction of Director of Security Sam Williams, wanted to establish an award that recognized the leading security officer at City of Faith.  Through these meeting sessions the Roderick T. Pettus Trailblazer Award was created.  During the course of the year the Chiefs nominated various winners for the weekly award, the Reginald T. Ellis Chief’s Cup.  From these weekly winners a close raise began between Rosemary Coleman (Baton Rouge), Jasmine Toately (Little Rock), and TaRhonda Williams (Monroe).  From these 3 location nominees a close vote decided the winner.  On November 28, 2023, Rosemary Coleman was awarded the inaugural Pettus Trailblazer Award.

At the November 2023 staff meeting, the Little Rock location celebrated Carlos Reyes recently passing his citizenship exam and interview.  Reyes has worked for City of Faith since 2016.  In 3 weeks he will take his oath officially gaining his American citizenship.  A cake was made by former City of Faith employee Catie Morrow to celebrate Mr. Reyes heritage and his new citizenship.

City of Faith Director of Security Sam Williams retired from the Maumelle Police Department in 2019. Cory Pickard was named as his replacement upon Sam’s retirement. On October 21, 2023 a tournament was hosted in Cory’s honor to help support his family through his cancer treatments. City of Faith was able to sponsor a hole.
A special thanks to all 33 team, 132 golfers, 40+ sponsors, the tournament committee, and the entire community of Maumelle who made the tournament happen. The outpouring of love and support was remarkable and a powerful reminder of the strength that lies within a community! Tee it up fore Cory.

During my time spent at the Rights after Wrongs event on September the 15th 2023, I witnessed, several lives being changed in the brink of minutes with the services several of the vendors offered. There were HIV test, several employers, AR Adult Education, AR Workforce, Central AR Legal Services, District, and Circuit Court holding Leniency Court, Child Support, Driver Control, as well as speakers to assist with how to become more employable. This full event was centered around a person who has something challenging on their background being able to turn their life around with all the services located in one area. There were several volunteers to make this happen, up to an including sororities, churches, masons, city of faith, workforce, as well as employers and many, many others. Throughout the duration of the event, the biggest feature that everyone was interested in, was the Leniency Court, which allowed people to come get their fines wiped away, or tickets wiped away if it was a mist, or a small felony. They also had Central AR Legal Services there to assist with the startup process of expunging people’s records so all they would have to do is take the paperwork to the court to get it finished. Food was provided, as well as several door prizes and gift cards. This event serviced well over 1000 people in the great Little Rock area. Attached is a picture of myself and Steven Vaughn who previously had something challenging on his background, but entered the TEO program under my supervision at the time. He graduated, and has since gone on to become the Director of Mission Services for Goodwill.