After a chance encounter with the leader of a national organization, one young leader in southwest Michigan has been tapped for a nationwide role.
Berrien County Commissioner Chokwe Pitchford has been named to two committees by the National Association of Counties. Pitchford told Benton Township Comissioners Tuesday he will sit on the Committee on Workforce Development and Economics, as well as the Economic Mobility Leadership Network.
Pitchford said Benton Township Comissioners Tuesday that it all happened after a chance encounter with NaCo president Matthew Chase at the Michigan Association of Counties Leadership Conference.
“I was in the foyer and I was reading our capital improvement plan – because that’s what I find to be a good time,” said Pitchford, of the encounter. “A guy walked up to me and he’s like, ‘how old are you?’ And at the time, it was before my birthday, I said, ‘I’m 23.’ And he said, ‘I think you’re the youngest commissioner in the country.’ … So we had a back and forth, and come find out on Monday he was the executive director of NaCo. That’s where all of these committees have come from as he wants me to kind of help them nationally from a younger perspective with what people are experiencing, especially in county government.”
Pitchford also updated trustees on his efforts to secure a $2 million grant from the MDHHS Community Violence Intervention Program. He said there is currently an applicant, who wishes not to be named yet.
“Next week I will have more to share on this topic,” he said. “They’re asking me not to say their name publicly until they submitted the application because it’s a lot of work that they’re trying to do.”
He requested Benton Township draft a letter of support for the submission for its next board meeting. He said the program creates an executive committee that inherently tracks community violence and addresses specific ways to prevent it, as well as builds a mentorship program that rebuilds the idea of “it takes a village to raise a child.”
