Character Counts! Nashville to Kickoff Citywide Initiative Friday
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The kickoff is free and the public is encouraged to attend.
The event will mark the beginning of a public campaign by more than 50 city leaders to provide a common vocabulary for the encouragement and growth of character in the city, said former Tenn. Gov. Winfield Dunn, chair of the CHARACTER COUNTS! NASHVILLE steering committee.
Speakers for the event will include Dunn, Mayor Bill Purcell, U.S. Rep. Bob Clement, Metro Police Chief Emmett Turner, Metro Schools Director Pedro Garcia; Metro Council Lady at-large Carolyn Baldwin Tucker; Donna Hilley, president of Sony/ATV Publishing; Tennessee Titans' defensive tackle John Thornton, and Mary Morris, director of the Center for Character Development at Lipscomb University.
The Y-CAP Singers, a children's chorus from the YMCA Community Action Project, and the MET Singers, students in grades 4-8 who represent the honor choir of Metro Nashville Public Schools' Music Education Department, will perform during the event.
"Events of recent months have demonstrated just how very important good character is to the security and stability of our community and our nation," Dunn said. "A common character vocabulary, that reaches through any barriers that may divide us as people, is crucial to our future. Providing the common language of good character for the city of Nashville is the focus of CHARACTER COUNTS! NASHVILLE," Dunn said.
CHARACTER COUNTS! NASHVILLE is rooted in a national program called "CHARACTER COUNTS!SM," established by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, a non-profit, non-denominational foundation based in Marina del Rey, Calif. Developed through extensive research, the program defines "six pillars of character," including trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.
"These are characteristics which transcend all divisions of race, creed, politics, gender and wealth, and provide a foundation for encouraging good character throughout the city," Dunn said.
More than 30 area volunteers have received the CHARACTER COUNTS!SM training and have formed a Speakers Bureau for groups and organizations interested in hearing about CHARACTER COUNTS! NASHVILLE and the six pillars of character.
Volunteer leaders are also prepared to take character initiatives into the business, education, entertainment, faith, government, and non-profit sectors of the city. Help is also available for parents.
These resources are available through the Center for Character Development at Lipscomb University, which provides administrative support for the organization.
The Center is directed by Dr. Mary Morris, assistant professor of education and a certified national trainer for Character Counts!
"The idea of right and wrong has become clouded in recent years, but the basic concepts of CHARACTER COUNTS!SM define behavior upon which virtually everyone can agree. By knowing the concepts of good character and modeling them in our lives, we encourage our children and associates to be people of character," Morris said.
Morris has also conducted training for several schools, businesses and governmental entities in recent months, including command-level officers of the Metro Police Department.
For full information, contact the Center for Character Development at 279-6122.