Community Initiative Focuses on Character First
character first, character training institute, education, kimray inc., malcolm cain, mayor jim byard,
Everyone thinks of changing humanity,” wrote Tolstoy. “No one thinks of changing himself.”
An initiative in Prattville challenges that notion. From the classroom to the city council chamber, Prattville’s citizens are committed to learning, practicing and teaching the tenets of individual and civic character.
Prattville qualified as a “City of Character” under the Oklahoma City-based Character Training Institute’s “Character First” program. Prattville is only the second city in Alabama to take on the challenge and earn the recognition.
Three years ago, Prattville Mayor Jim Byard visited the first City of Character in Alabama – Tuscaloosa – and returned convinced Prattville should join the initiative.
“I like to joke that Prattville is a city of ‘characters,’ but now we’re a city of character,” Byard says. “We’re promoting character here in a unified voice.”
Civic, business and education groups as well as citizens are united in working toward the goals of the program. Byard says the 450 city employees were first to be trained, following a city council resolution in 2006.
“The goal is to instill character,” Byard says. “We hire for character, train for character and we terminate for character.”
Oklahoma businessman Tom Hill, president and chairman of valve maker Kimray Inc., founded CTI and the Character First program, which involves teaching 49 character traits. Those traits include honesty, loyalty, kindness, forgiveness and personal responsibility.
The Prattville-Autauga Character Coalition formed in 2007 under the direction of Frank Lamar to bring the program into the area communities, the workplace and into school classrooms. Those leading the initiative say making good character a conscious goal is worth pursuing. “We are a good community to live in,” says Mary Beth Pritchard, executive director. “We want to be known as a community of character.”
The next step is to focus the effort within the schools, two each from the county and city and area private schools. Pritchard says Alabama’s education system already requires 10 minutes of character training daily in the classroom. That training has been enhanced through the efforts and involvement of the Character Coalition, which is composed of six committees focusing on business, education, family, faith, government and media relations.
“We have people from the city, county, business and faith communities and the schools participating,” Pritchard says. “Malcolm Cain, one of our volunteers and a retired educator, has been instrumental in getting the Character First© materials into the local schools. We appreciate his support and that of Larry Butler, our superintendent of schools.”
Mayor Byard said the program requires community commitment.
“You can teach anyone to type,” Byard says. “Character takes a bit more.”
Story by Paul Hughes
Photo by Wes Aldridge
