Gwendolyn Brown’s fingerprints can be found all over Manatee County | Opinion

I suspect we can all agree that the foundation of a community is largely equal to the education of their youth. Gwendolyn Brown understood that. She was a home-grown girl, graduated from Palmetto’s Lincoln Memorial High School in 1969 and went on to earn her doctorate degree. A very well-educated woman. She was known for her work with Head Start and believed that our kids needed their eyes opened to possibilities before kindergarten so that their minds would be prepared to learn.

I was proud this weekend to join my Manatee County Housing Commissioners to honor Gwen with the dedication of a new community building at Pine Village, a local public housing development. The “Gwendolyn Brown Resident Center” will be a central hub where Pine Village residents and other neighbors can meet for classes, meetings, tutoring, and activities that will promote growth amongst a population where few opportunities exist. And if it couldn’t be more perfect, this new center is located in District 4, the area I represent on the Manatee County Commission. I am doubly proud of this new facility.

I knew Gwen was pretty special from the day I met her in 1988, at my first planning job out of college with Manatee County. She was running against Ed Chance that year, a guy who solidly held his commission seat and was loved as a good-ole-boy, with whom you did not want to cross. Taking on that race was my first clue that she was one tough lady. She lost that election, but learned along the way that minorities running a county-wide race had little chance of winning and set out to change it. She pushed, along with the NAACP, the League of Women Voters and others to create five districts and two at-large seats on the county commission,which is our current structure. Gwen eventually won a seat in 1994 as the first African-American Manatee County Commissioner. She later became chairman of the commission, another first for African-Americans in Manatee.

Gwen was a policy maker who was cognizant of the needs of our most vulnerable citizens, like those living in public housing, those without jobs, or not enough food. Her fingerprint is throughout her district. Her lobbying efforts resulted in the money needed to build the Bradenton Village development through a Hope VI grant, replacing the blighted Rogers Gardens apartments. She was also key in securing $250,000 to build the 13th Avenue Community Center, a building that is a vibrant space for low income youth today, and helped to create Lincoln Park where we will soon have a community pool. Those who knew Gwen can imagine her signature huge smile if she were still here to see that future pool unveiled. Gwen is also credited with expanding 17th Street East in Palmetto and secured millions for other infrastructure improvements. Gwen served with a calm and kind demeanor and never got caught up in unnecessary drama — another quality I greatly admired.

Being the first African American commissioner, and a woman, I know that Gwen inspired a generation of young girls in Manatee County by showing them a path to success. I saw it first hand about 20-years ago when I witnessed a young girl in the board chambers whisper excitedly and point to her hero seated at the dais. I’m sure there were many others like that young lady. Gwen was bold, brave, kind, and always straight-up. Having a building named in her honor, located in one of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in the county, will inspire young people for generations to come. They will hopefully learn to see past their limitations, just as Gwendolyn Brown did, and create a bridge to the future.

Misty Servia is a Manatee County Commissioner for District 4 in south county. You can reach her at misty.servia@mymanatee.org