Having the opportunity to learn more about Hopkinsville and how it operates was Luanne Zieman’s motivation in applying for the first City Diplomat Program.
This week she learned she is one of 15 people selected for the inaugural diplomat class, which had 46 applicants.
“I would like us to really be a force to make some change in the community,” she said.
Mayor Carter Hendricks announced the class members Wednesday. They are Tiffany Mumford Brame, Dustin Huber, Christina Jones-Meacham, Billie Lopez, Dawn Meacham, Tony Meacham, Amy Montgomery, Faye Oglesby, Esherica Price, Amy Rains, Jenny Roberts, DeeAnna Sova, Shannon Worden, Mark A. Young and Zieman.
“We are thrilled that so many individuals applied to learn more about their city in an effort to help improve the community,” Hendricks said in a news release. “We are confident that participants will enjoy their experience while learning about city government and community living.”
For Zieman, who is 61, Hopkinsville represents a kind of bookends in her life. She grew up here in the 1960s and then moved with her family to Florida when she was 14 years old in 1972. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Tift College in George and then her master’s degree in mental health counseling at Nova University in Florida. She returned to Hopkinsville 10 years ago and worked for Pennyroyal Center. She’s now a temporary volunteer worker in the office at Grace Episcopal Church, where she is a member, and she participates in local arts events such as The Big Read.
Zieman said she wants to make informed decisions about Hopkinsville and how she can help the city.
The diplomats will meet one evening a month October through March. They will select and perform a service project in December.
The purpose of the program is to give “participants the opportunity to learn how to make municipal government work for them, gain knowledge of local municipal government, and have the opportunity to support their community through service, promotion, and volunteerism,” the mayor’s news release states.
More information is available at the city’s website or by calling City Clerk Crissy Fletcher at 270-890-0210.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
