Honoring excellence
The Marion County Children’s Alliance recently presented its annual awards.
The Dr. Mike Jordan Award of Excellence was given to Take Stock in Children program, which is an outreach of the Public Education Foundation of Marion County. From left are Beth McCall, Daina Scroggie, Pam Michell, Karen Hatch and John David Cervellera. [Photo courtesy Marion County Children’s Alliance]
From 2001, when the Marion County Children’s Alliance was founded, until he retired from the agency in 2018, Dr. Mike Jordan served as its executive director. Now, the nonprofit presents annual Dr. Mike Jordan Awards of Excellence and Vision to recognize outstanding area agencies.
ON May 9, a large crowd gathered for the 2025 Children First Dream Big Benefit at the County Club of Ocala for the awards presentations and an update on the impact of the alliance in 2024.
The Dr. Mike Jordan Award of Excellence was given to the Take Stock in Children program, which is an outreach of the Public Education Foundation of Marion County.
“This program was established statewide in 1995 in response to persistent high school dropout rates among Florida’s most under-resourced youth. Since its inception in 1995, Marion County’s Take Stock in Children program has served more than 900 students and provided more than $3.4 million in Florida Prepaid Foundation scholarship assets. In the school year 2023-2024 the program served 257 students and had 176 volunteer mentors working with middle and high school students. This school year, there have been 2,618 mentoring sessions and 516 college coaching sessions provided to students and $322,000 in college tuition scholarships have been funded for the TSIC graduating class of 2025,” noted MCCA executive director Beth McCall in an email message.
The Dr. Mike Jordan Vision Award went to the Boys & Girls Club of Marion County. From left are Beth McCall, Pam Michell, Brittany Marchand and Kelly Clemmons. [Photo courtesy Marion County Children’s Alliance]
“The mission of this organization is to inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need them most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens,” McCall noted.
Programs offered through the club include a comprehensive homework help and tutoring program designed to raise the academic proficiency of club members ages 6 to 18; Goals for Graduation introduces members to the concept of academic goal setting; Club Give gives them the opportunity to use their earned Club Bucks to shop for family and friends; and, recently, the club partnered with the Marion Cultural Alliance and was awarded a grant to introduce members to the arts.
Jassiah Davis, center, accepts the Youth of the Year Award from Kelley Windham Martin and Jeremy Vickers. [Photo courtesy Marion County Children’s Alliance]
Kelley Windham Martin and Jeremy Vickers present the Youth of the Year Award to Treshawn Graham, center. [Photo courtesy Marion County Children’s Alliance]
In terms of the MCCA’s impact in 2024, McCall provided these statistics:
• We served 362 children/youth in our mentoring and tutoring program.
• The Family Violence Prevention program provided emergency services that included shelter, food and other necessities to 182 families, which included 270 children.
• We organized Friday Night Done Right and Natural High Events for teens to encourage fun without alcohol or drugs and 3,221 teens were in attendance.
• More than 500 youths received drug prevention education with our Know the Law curriculum.
• Our eight SADD Clubs (Students Against Destructive Decisions) had more than 400 youth participants.
• More than 200 adults were trained through our Hidden In Plain Site program, which is an interactive drug education program for parents, counselors and others working with youth. The program consists of a mock teenage bedroom that displays some everyday items that can be indicators of drug use or risky behavior.
• In 2023 the alliance began teaching adult mental health first aid classes and had 96 adult completers in 2024.
To learn more about the nonprofit, go to mcchildrensalliance.org
On hand for the event were Dr. Mike and Carol Jordan, Ocala Mayor Ben Marciano and Danielle Marciano, Jim and Jessica McCune, Randy and Susie Klein, and Judge LeeAnn Mackey-Barnes and Troy Barnes. [Photo courtesy Marion County Children’s Alliance]
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