January Facilitator: Jerry Hawkins, M.A.
Jerry Hawkins, M.A., is the Executive Director of Dallas Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (DTRHT), part of a national 14-city initiative by The W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Jerry was formerly the Project Director of Bachman Lake Together for The Zero To Five Funders Collaborative/The Dallas Foundation, an early childhood collective impact initiative in Dallas, and Director of Children's Services at the Wilkinson Center in East Dallas/Southeast Dallas. Jerry is also a co-founder of The Imagining Freedom Institute (The IF Institute), a thought leadership group that works with organizations and institutions to build their capacity for internal and external equity and social justice work, and a co-creator of the Race to Equity DFW conversation series. He is a recent Leadership Arts Institute Fellow graduate with the Business Council for the Arts, and sits on the Trustee-appointed Racial Equity Advisory Council for Dallas ISD. Jerry Hawkins received a Bachelors of Science degree from Southern Illinois University with a double major in Early Childhood Education and Child and Family Services, and completed his Masters of Arts degree in Education with honors at Northeastern Illinois University with a concentration in Inner City Studies. Jerry also attended The School of The Art Institute of Chicago as a Continuing Studies student and semester assistant from 1990 to 1996, where he studied and taught Studio Drawing, Figure Drawing, Photography, Film, Video, Oil Painting, Graphic Design and Computer Graphic Design. Jerry began his career at the Chicago Urban League as a Male Involvement Specialist in the Male Involvement Program, where he served for eight years. During his tenure at the Chicago Urban League, Jerry also cofounded The Boys Leadership Institute, a uniquely designed early childhood “Saturday School” at The University of Chicago Donohue Charter School for Black and Latinx kindergarten and 1st grade boys from single-mother head-of-household homes. Jerry is a past Fellow with Leadership ISD, and a former Fellow with D Academy/ D Magazine. Jerry Hawkins has served as an Advisory Board member at Children’s Medical Center for the “Beyond ABC Report: Assessing Children’s Health in Dallas County, and on Dallas ISD’s African American Student Success Task Force. Jerry has received many awards including KERA’s American Graduate Champion, Leadership ISD Alumni of the Year, 4x Semester Research Assistantship Recipient from Northeastern Illinois University, Merit Graduate Scholarship Recipient from Northeastern Illinois University, Study Abroad Research Fellowship Recipient from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 2x Semester Teaching Assistantship Recipient fromThe School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Art Resources in Teaching Scholarship Recipient from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Jerry is an experienced trainer, presenter and consultant of social justice and racial equity work, and has worked with and/or provided keynotes for organizations like FSG, The Carlson Family Foundation, Hope Street Group, The Real Estate Council, J.P. Morgan Chase, Richardson ISD, Dallas Theatre Center, Dallas Public Library, National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity & Chicago Public Schools. Jerry’s work centers the intersection of race, education and the history of cities. He has been trained by The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, Border Crossers, Race Forward, National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity, Pacific Education Group and Interaction Institute for Social Change. Jerry and his three children, aged 18, 16 and 11, live in Dallas, TX.
