JUNIOR CIVIC LEAGUE Educator to speak at anniversary dinner

BOARDMAN -- The Junior Civic League of Youngstown will celebrate its 50th anniversary during a dinner Saturday at Mr. Anthony's, 7440 South Ave.
The event will begin with a social hour from 6 to 7 p.m. Dinner music and music for dancing afterward will be provided.
Dr. Alison Harmon of Troy, Mich., a former league member and native of Youngstown, will be the keynote speaker.
Tickets are $35 per person and may be obtained by calling Kathleen Adams at (330) 788-6211 or Rose Williams at (330) 788-1170.
Geri Woods is dinner chairman, and Betty Bogan is league president.
Speaker's background: Dr. Harmon began her career in education in 1975 as a special-education teacher in Youngstown City School District. From 1980-88 she worked for Girard City Schools as a resource-room teacher, principal and project director of state and federal programs.
In 1988 Dr. Harmon joined the faculty in the Department of Elementary Education and Reading at Youngstown State University, where she taught curriculum methods courses.
She and her husband, Robert Harmon Sr., moved to Troy in 1990 because of his job transfer. There she joined the faculty of Eastern Michigan University College of Education until 2001.
Dr. Harmon is a senior program officer and education specialist for The Skillman Foundation, a private grantmaking foundation that uses its resources to improve the lives of children in metropolitan Detroit.
Education: Dr. Harmon graduated with a bachelor's degree in education from Bowling Green State University and a master's in education from Kent State University. She earned a doctor of education degree in educational administration at the University of Akron. She has a certificate in West African studies from the University of Ghana, West Africa, where she was an exchange student, and a certificate in leadership development from Yale Child Study Center School Development Program.
She has presented papers nationally on her research on urban school reform, parental involvement and site-based management. She has been awarded nearly $3 million in grant funding to improve the lives of urban children.
While in the Youngstown area she also was a member of the Junior League and Youngstown Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She is a trustee of the Delta Research and Educational Foundation in Washington, D.C., a regional officer with Jack & amp; Jill of America Inc. and a member of Grantmakers for Education.
The Harmons have two sons.
About the league: Organized in 1952 by the Civic League, the Junior Civic League's original mission was to operate the Rhoda Johnson Well Baby Clinic at the West Federal Street YMCA. The clinic provided medical care to minority infants and young children until this service was absorbed by local hospitals and state and federal programs.
The league, one of Youngstown's oldest and most prestigious black women's organizations, is dedicated to volunteerism and community service, and has received a number of awards and citations recognizing its efforts.
Among the nonprofit organizations benefiting from the league during the past 49 years are Mahoning County Crippled Children and Adult Society, Urban League, Hospice of the Valley, Associated Neighborhood Centers, American Heart Association and American Cancer Society.
The league belongs to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.