Social work alumna has nurtured thousands of Nashville students through nonprofit
Jackie Conwell’s second career blossomed at Lipscomb where her people skills were refined in the social work program.
Janel Shoun-Smith | 615.966.7078 |
For 21 years, Jackie Conwell (’00) saw the needs and struggles of Nashville families as they coped with daily pressures of home, school and work while working as a Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools school secretary and administrative assistant.
Their needs touched her heart, and she prayed to God to redirect her to better support the families and children in her community.
And God answered her prayer in a big way. Sending her back to school at Lipscomb University at the age of 47 to earn a social work degree, bringing her the opportunity to work as a family specialist at multiple Nashville schools and guiding her to become the director of a thriving nonprofit that has nurtured thousands of public school children in Nashville.
Her work continues today, at the age of 69, as she continues working with her nonprofit Millennium Focus: Community A.L.E.R.T. and recently became the newest member of the Lipscomb College of Liberal Arts & Sciences advisory board, where she can impact generations of Lipscomb’s new social work and social science students.
More than 22,000 students have been honored by Millennium Focus Community A.L.E.R.T. during its 30+-year history.
While still working for Metro schools, Conwell was part of the Nashville Missionary Gospel Ensemble, an interdenominational singing organization birthed at South Inglewood Church. While she was studying at Lipscomb, the board of the ensemble voted to transform the group into a proactive outreach organization, and Conwell took the lead.
Millennium Focus: Community A.L.E.R.T. (Alliance for Learning, Educating, Recruiting and Training) morphed into an organization that carried out exactly the services Conwell had envisioned when working for the Metro schools: supporting children and families through the schools.
The organization empowers, educates and advocates for Nashville’s underserved children through a strong network of individuals and community resources. It gives annual youth awards for all public school students in kindergarten through eighth grade as well as high school seniors.
“I want to convey to each student that God loves them and deems them worthy to be recognized,” said Conwell. “Our awards ceremony is not merit-based. Many of these students are the first generation in their families to complete school, and they need to be applauded for completing each school year.
“More than 22,000 students have been honored by the program during its 30+-year history,” said Conwell, noting that Lipscomb University hosted one of the awards programs on its campus.
Community A.L.E.R.T. also operates the New Dimension Scholars Program, a youth leadership development and service-learning program for fifth- through eighth-graders selected to participate by their principals. The program instills leadership skills through studying self-identity and African American studies, all from a Biblical perspective, said Conwell.
"I want to convey to each student that God loves them and deems them worthy to be recognized,” said Conwell.
As a new member of the advisory board, Conwell can relate to the student experience, remembering what it was like to be surrounded by traditional-age students during her social work studies.
“Being in the midst of the younger generation was not difficult at all,” she said. “My sons had just come out of high school, so I could relate to where they were and their concerns. I was able to shed light on many things for them. We had small classes, and our teachers were great.”
Former social work chair Dr. Hazel Arthur was a close mentor to Conwell, who invited her to come share her own life story with students and family after she graduated and worked in the schools.
“Her life is a testimony,” Conwell said of Arthur. “It takes a special person to embrace students who really struggle a lot,” a crucial skill for all social workers.
The skills Conwell learned and refined at Lipscomb have been used hundreds of times over in the Nashville community where Conwell helped establish the From Prison to Freedom program, a parents program and the student programs at Community A.L.E.R.T. as well as her work in the schools and at the Wayne Reed Christian Child Care Center, a nonprofit preschool near downtown.
She has also worked with Lipscomb social work students in their practicum projects or internship placements. “That was an honor and a joy to work alongside and help mold and shape and pour into them these skills,” she said.
Students in the New Dimensions program tour colleges and workplaces as well as learning leadership and life skills.
While illness has slowed her pace in the past few years, even in her retirement she continues to take all the skills she has learned – from working alongside parents to identifying students who need special support, from working with school administrators to understanding the law – to continue to lead Community A.L.E.R.T. and work to fulfill the needs God brings her way.
“As long as the Lord gives me strength and my body allows me to do these things, I will,” she said. “He sends people to keep us encouraged, and He says, ‘You know, I am not through with you yet. You have more to render and share.’
“God knew exactly what He was doing when he sent me to Lipscomb and put me under its wing.”