Advisory Board Member – Joanne Jackson

Joanne served as the Minority/Small Business Enterprise Coordinator for Anne Arundel County, MD, a position housed in the Office of Central Services for the past 30 years. Born & raised in Albany, New York, she earned a BA degree in Business Administration from Howard University and a Master’s Degree in Urban/Regional Planning from the University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public & International Affairs.  Joanne is a longtime resident of Prince George’s County & serves on the County’s Commission on Common Ownership Communities under appointment from Council Chair Dannielle Glaros.

Throughout her career, Joanne has provided technical assistance to community groups and business organizations as an urban planner with the City of Albany & New York State Department of Housing & Community Renewal and as a business development specialist with the Arlington County Department of Community Planning & Housing Development.  As an Economic Development Consultant, Joanne worked with local officials in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Tennessee, Missouri and Florida.

One of her greatest accomplishments has been the creation of the Christmas-in-April program in Anne Arundel County in 1991.  Serving in a voluntary capacity as Vice President for 10 years, Joanne organized the program’s Board of Directors, recruited homeowners, contractors & volunteers, and solicited corporate sponsors who contributed over $350,000 annually to repair hundreds of homes owned by senior citizens & the disabled in Anne Arundel County.

During her tenure at Anne Arundel County, Joanne was a Community Partner/Member of the Women Presidents’ Educational Organization-DC which certifies women business owners for opportunities in Corporate America. WPEO is an advocate for women business enterprises & helps to foster relationships between WBEs, major corporations & government. She currently conducts site visits for WPEO Certification Review Committee in the Baltimore/DC metro area & upstate New York.

Some of her other accomplishments in Anne Arundel County include:

• Assisted staff at the Anne Arundel Community Action Agency in obtaining its first County contract for senior nutrition services from the Office on Aging
• Ensured utilization of minority contractors during renovation/adaptive reuse of the historic Wiley H. Bates High School
• Assisted minority contractors in obtaining work in the construction of the Bay Forest Senior apartment complex
• Enlisted participation of over 60 minority & women-owned businesses in developing policy & programs as members of the County’s Minority Business Enterprise Committee
• Increased participation of minority & women-owned businesses in the County’s procurement process from $1.5M in 1987 to over $47M in 2017 without benefit of local legislative mandates
• Hosted a Contractors’ Forum in honor of Norman Cully, one of the region’s premiere minority contractors and a highly respected member of the Annapolis/Anne Arundel County community
• Received the prestigious 2003 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drum Major Award from the MLK Dinner Awards Committee-Anne Arundel County
• Received the 2003 Women in Government Service Award from Maryland Women for Responsive Government
• Received the 2007 Carroll H. Hynson, Jr. Public Service Award from the Black Chamber of Commerce-Anne Arundel County.
• Served on the 2007 Governor O’Malley Transition team for Minority Business Enterprise
• Received the prestigious Parren J. Mitchell Gladiator Award during the Top 100 MBE ceremony from the City of Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Minority & Women Business Development (2014)
• Received 2015 Black History Heroes Award during the Black History Month ceremony sponsored by Maryland Live Casino & MWMCA of Baltimore
• In addition, as a Board Member/Arundel Habitat for Humanity, Joanne organized a volunteer “kick-off” of the organization’s first Women Build campaign in Edgewater. In conjunction with the Anne Arundel Medical Center and the Baltimore Washington Medical Center, Joanne hosted a Minority Healthcare Forum designed to expand opportunities for minority/women-owned business and giving special tribute to notable healthcare professionals, Dr. Faye Allen and Dr. Donald Roane for their life-long achievements and service to the Anne Arundel County Community,