Cheri Hartman is Roanoke’s 2021 Citizen of the Year—recognized for multiple good works benefitting youths and adults facing adversity.
Officials surprised Hartman with the award at a ceremony held Monday to recognize “people in our community that get things done,” as Mayor Sherman Lea put it.
The city also honored a number of outstanding neighborhood advocates.
Hartman, 70, “focused her career on science-driven approaches to the prevention of school dropouts, teen pregnancy, obesity and substance misuse and worked primarily with youth until her shift into the addiction treatment field,” according to a city statement.
“This award could not go to a more deserving person than you,” Councilwoman Stephanie Moon-Reynolds told Hartman.
Hartman told the audience that the city is a community of people who have come together to face challenges time and again.
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“I’m just connecting the dots,” she said in an interview.
This year’s top citizen was born in Anaheim, California, raised in Caracas, Venezuela, and obtained a doctorate in educational psychology from Temple University. She found a niche as a community volunteer in program development at nonprofit organizations in the 1990s. The Teen Outreach Program, which she brought to Roanoke as a Junior League volunteer, responded to the city’s once state-leading teen pregnancy rate and an issue with young people dropping out of high school. It still operates.
During 15 years of employment at Family Service of the Roanoke Valley, she spearheaded creation of the Community Youth Program, an enrichment program for at-risk children in grades four through eight. It still operates.
“Cherie is a legend in Roanoke in the nonprofit world. Everyone knows her and wants to be like her and have the stamina that she has,” said Jackie Smith, who directs the Community Youth Program, which is based at St. John’s Episcopal Church but is not religiously affiliated.
After leaving Family Service, Hartman went on to establish an adolescent addiction treatment program at Carilion Clinic called Back on Track. It still operates.
She currently manages an adult treatment program for substance use disorder at Carilion that she and her husband, David, developed. She serves as a faculty member and researcher at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine also focused on the addiction field.
In addition, Hartman’s long resume of community volunteer work includes leading a fundraiser to create a new Northwest Roanoke park last year. The $400,000 Kiwanis Centennial Park, a project of the Roanoke Kiwanis club that marked its 100-year anniversary, was designed for inclusivity and has mulch that a person can roll over in a wheelchair. The alphabet is displayed in braille, for those who are blind or have reduced vision, as Hartman’s husband does.
In an upcoming phase, advocates hope to expand the park to include a nature trail and natural areas.
The 18th Annual Neighborhood Partnership Awards were also given out Monday. The categories and the winners were:
City Partnership Award, Katie Hedrick, bilingual program support specialist; Community Partnership Award, Chillin’ Shaved Ice, Andrew Beltram and Melanie Crovo; Improvement Award, One Valley Council, The Carver Community Garden; Youth Volunteer Award, Kids in the Community, John P. Fishwick Middle School; Communication Award, Airlee Court Neighborhood Newsletter, Ben Burch; Neighborhood Arts Award, “We Are Art,” a rap cypher featuring Kahlil Alexander, Eboni Harrington, Dylan Dent, Dionte Hall, Bryan Hancock, Tyler Langhorn, and Laquisha Moore; Outstanding Leadership Award, Spence Robertson, Southeast Action Forum; All-Star Award, The Foundry.