Jerry Hawkins

Jerry Hawkins is the Director of Dallas Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (DTRHT), part of a national 14-city initiative by The W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Jerry was formerly the Project Director of Bachman Lake Together, an early childhood collective impact initiative in Dallas, and Director of Children's Services at the Wilkinson Center in East Dallas/Southeast Dallas. Jerry is also a co-founder of The Imagining Freedom Institute (The IF Institute), a thought leadership group that works with organizations and institutions to build their capacity for internal and external equity and social justice work, a programming partner with Young Leaders Strong City and a co-creator of the Race to Equity DFW conversation series. He is currently a Leadership Arts Institute Fellow with the Business Council for the Arts, and sits on the Trustee-appointed Racial Equity Advisory Council for Dallas ISD.

Jerry Hawkins received a Bachelors of Science degree from Southern Illinois University with a double major in Early Childhood Education and Child and Family Services, and completed his Masters of Arts degree in Education with honors at Northeastern Illinois University with a concentration in Inner City Studies. Jerry also studied at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago as a Continuing Studies Early College student from 1990 to 1996, where he studied Studio Drawing, Figure Drawing, Photography, Film, Video, Oil Painting, Graphic Design and Computer Graphic Design.

Jerry began his career at the Chicago Urban League as a Male Involvement Specialist in the Male Involvement Program, where he served for eight years. During his tenure at the Chicago Urban League, Jerry also co-founded The Boys Leadership Institute, a uniquely designed early childhood “Saturday School” at The University of Chicago Donohue Charter School for African- American and Latinx kindergarten and 1st-grade boys from single-mother head-of- household homes. Jerry is a past Fellow with Leadership ISD, and a past Leadership Fellow with D Academy/ D Magazine. Jerry Hawkins has served as an Advisory Board member at Children’s Medical Center for the “Beyond ABC Report: Assessing Children’s Health in Dallas County, and on Dallas ISD’s African American Student Success Task Force.

Jerry has received many awards including KERA’s American Graduate Champion, Leadership ISD Alumni of the Year, 4x Semester Research Assistantship Recipient from Northeastern Illinois University, Merit Graduate Scholarship Recipient from Northeastern Illinois University, Study Abroad Research Fellowship Recipient from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, 2x Semester Teaching Assistantship Recipient fromThe School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Art Resources in Teaching Scholarship Recipient fromThe School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Jerry is an experienced trainer, facilitator and consultant of social justice and racial equity work, and has worked with organizations like FSG, The Carlson Family Foundation, Hope Street Group, The Real Estate Council, J.P. Morgan Chase, Richardson ISD, Dallas Theatre Center, Dallas Public Library, NAPE & Chicago Public Schools. Jerry’s work centers the intersection of race, education and the history of cities. He has been trained by The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, Border Crossers, Race Forward, National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity, Pacific Education Group and Interaction Institute for Social Change.

Jerry and his family, including three children aged 17, 15 and 10, live in Dallas, TX.