Leadership Center facility maintenance endowment receives local corporate support

Although widely known as the Leadership Center facility, the stately new building that graces the entrance of the Morehouse campus will have a new name once a $4-million maintenance endowment initiative has been achieved. At the successful conclusion of the fund-raising initiative, The Leadership Center facility will be named in honor of Maynard H. Jackson Jr., a fitting tribute considering that Jackson’s name is synonymous with ethical leadership—especially in Atlanta where Jackson’s legacy as a three-time mayor was his triumphant stance to include minorities and women in the city’s burgeoning development.

The initiative to raise the $4-million endowment, which will provide for the maintenance of the facility, was a three-course breakfast at the Georgia Power headquarters in January 2005. Approximately $425,000 was raised at the event, which was hosted by Michael D. Garrett, Georgia Power president and CEO.

“I was most impressed with what this school is doing and wanted to be a part of that in some way,” said Garrett, who recently joined the Morehouse Board of Trustees.

Brooke Jackson Edmond, Maynard Jackson’s daughter and senior vice president of Jackmont Hospitality, spoke on behalf of her company, which gave $80,000 to support the initiative.

“My father strove to be the best kind of leader he could be, so it’s important to us to make this gift to support Morehouse and to guide its students [by using] education and through personal leadership,” said Edmond after the breakfast. “I’m especially excited to see there will be some focus on ethics, because that’s something he strove [to have] personally.”

In addition to Jackmont Hospitality, Georgia-Pacific donated $75,000, Sodexho USA donated $170,000, and Georgia Power donated $100,000.

The Leadership Center facility current houses The Leadership Center at Morehouse College, the Division of Economics and Business Administration, the Andrew Young Center for International Affairs and the Bonner Office of Community Service, which includes the Emma and Joe Adams Public Service Institute and the Bonner Scholars Program.