Pace University Professor Kimberly Collica-Cox was honored by the Jefferson Awards Foundation in Washington, D.C., for her community service work, some of which has taken her into prisons. Collica-Cox received an award in the category Greatest Public Service by an Employee.
The Jefferson Awards Foundation is dedicated to inspiring and celebrating public service. It was founded in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Sen. Robert Taft Jr., and community service advocate Sam Beard.
Collica-Cox has spent nearly 19 years working with incarcerated populations and implementing programs to support them. She developed a civic engagement course, which resulted in the creation and implementation of the Parenting, Prison and Pups (PPP) program. In partnership with the Good Dog Foundation, PPP is an animal-assisted therapy-integrated parenting program offered to female inmates at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan and at the Westchester County Jail in Valhalla. Therapy dogs are brought into the prisons for help female inmates learn parenting skills and develop empathy.
“Recognizing individuals who are making a positive difference in their communities ”“ and encouraging people to follow their lead ”“ has never been more important,” said Hillary Schafer, the Jefferson Awards Foundation”™s CEO.
