Allstate Insurance Company recently named Leonard Johnson III – an East St. Louis native, Harris-Stowe State University graduate and graduate student at the University of Missouri-St. Louis – as one of its 2011 Allstate “Give Back Day” Heroes.
The program, a tribute to the heroic community service of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., recognizes those who have helped create positive, sustainable change in their communities by volunteering to address important causes such as domestic violence, elementary education and mentoring at-risk youth.
Johnson will be honored at The King Center’s “Salute to Greatness” awards program on January 15 in Atlanta. He is one of only four 2011 award recipients nationwide.
Johnson, 24, spearheaded a collaborative with Saint Louis University’s Student Government Association to form a St. Louis chapter of Dream Keepers, a coalition of students and young professionals working for racial harmony and economic justice. He credits his experiences at Harris-Stowe State University for developing his leadership skills.
“While at HSSU, I had the opportunity to become president of the Student Government Association, the Welcome Week Committee and Kappa Alpha Psi simultaneously,” Johnson said.
“I was also appointed by Governor Jay Nixon as the student representative to the Board of Regents. This exposure helped foster my leadership abilities and played a crucial role in my quest to co-found and establish St. Louis Dream Keepers.”
Dream Keepers helped raise more than $13,000 for the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project in Washington, D.C. And it cemented a friendship for Johnson with Evan Krauss, then head of student government at SLU.
“He’s become sort of a ‘godbrother’ to me now,”Johnson said. “He nominated me for the award. He never mentioned it, he just sent it in. I was totally surprised to receive such a prestigious honor.”
His success with the Dream Keepers venture and then a sister’s untimely death triggered another opportunity for heroics on Johnson’s part.
When his sister died he volunteered to become legal guardian of his 14-year-old nephew who served as the pioneer of a new mentoring program. He is the first of 11 boys, all members of the Young Men’s Achievement Academy, a pilot program Johnson launched at the Grand Center for the Arts, a charter school in St. Louis. The program’s goal is to pair young men with mentors.
One of many program activities includes college tours – a basketball game at Harris-Stowe or a night with Maya Angelou at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center at UMSL. He will kick off a full program with 25 boys next fall, 50 the next year and 100 the next.
“We’re exposing the young men to new places and experiences, and talking to them about their future,” Johnson said. “We’ve recognized a much greater need across the city, the region, the state. In reaching this generation, we hope to prepare them to be mentors of the next generation.”
Johnson’s aspirations for future generations build on those of his parents, who he credits for his commitment to his community. He was 12 years old when he first volunteered at a local food pantry.
“Many times I saw my parents take a turkey or basket of food to someone who needed it,” Johnson said. “They even took in young people to live with us. I was in the third or fourth grade, and my brother and I brought home a friend of ours who really needed some love. He came to live with us for a while and today he is doing well.”
Johnson graduated from HSSU in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Professional Interdisciplinary Studies, with emphasis areas in education, history and sociology. He is currently pursuing a master’s in public policy administration from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Johnson aspires to obtain a J.D. or Ph.D. by the age of 30. Currently, he works as a graduate assistant in UMSL’s Office of Student Life working with emerging leaders.
“We are so proud to count Leonard Johnson among our graduates,” said Dr. Henry Givens, Jr., president of Harris-Stowe State University. “The positive impact he has created in the St. Louis community through Dream Keepers and its Project Youth program truly embodies the leadership and values we strive to instill in each of our students here every day at the University.”
