The Garrett County Democratic Central Committee (GCDCC) is pleased to announce that the Committee’s Community IMPACT Award and INSPIRATION Award were presented at the 2025 Annual Roosevelt-Kennedy Democratic Dinner on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. The awards were created to honor individuals or groups who have done outstanding work on behalf of the entire Garrett County Community in partnership with or aligning with the values of the Garrett County Democrats.
Said Judy A. Carbone, GCDCC Chair, about the two recipients, “Democrats have a long tradition of caring for our community with acts of service. This year, we are thrilled to recognize Garrett County Community Action and Garrett County Pride for the positive impact they have had on our community. They inspire us all in Garrett County, no matter our political affiliation, to think bigger and act more boldly for the betterment of our neighbors.”
The IMPACT Award Recipient: Garrett County Community Action Committee
The GCDCC unanimously selected Garrett County Community Action Committee, Inc., as the recipient of the 2025 IMPACT Award. Written on the award certificate about Community Action is “Awarded this day, June 17, 2025, for their impactful work in empowering Garrett County families and individuals to turn opportunities into forward moving life steps. Through their partnership with the Garrett County Democratic Club, Community Action has made possible the Let’s Drive Program providing driver’s education to hundreds of young people and the Seniors on the Move Program providing transportation to local seniors. It is also the first partner on the GCDCC initiated Community Works Program. Service and community are primary values of the Democratic Party, and we are grateful for our partnership.
We all do better when we all do better.”
With a holistic approach and collaboration with partners, Garrett County Community Action Committee (GCCAC) Inc. empowers people by removing barriers and offering pathway opportunities to achieve aspirational goals through advocacy and services while building community capacity to bridge needs. In this mission, Garrett County Community Action partners with the Garrett County Democrat on several important community service programs.
In 2021, Garrett Community Action and the Garrett County Democratic Club partnered to initiate Seniors on the Move to provide free transportation to County seniors for group meals at local Senior Centers and fitness classes at Garrett College. Building on that partnership, the Let’s Drive scholarship program was launched to provide drivers education classes to Garrett County high school students, prioritizing those with financial need. Envisioned by the Garrett County Democratic Women and spearheaded by Lori Richards, herself a GCDCC IMPACT Award recipient in 2022, these community service programs provide essential services in our County.
The partnership with Community Action, a 501(c)3 organization, allows people to make tax-deductible donations for these programs through Community Action. Just this year, the Let’s Drive program received grant funding from United Way, the Community Trust Fund, M+T Bank, and the Oakland Civic Club, and sponsorships by First United and other local banks.
Seniors on the Move has provided almost 10,000 free trips to seniors. Let’s Drive scholarships have been awarded to almost 200 local students. Recently, because of the success of Let’s Drive and the attention it brought to the fact that driver’s ed is no longer in the high school curriculum, the GC Public Schools will be reinstating driver’s ed in school for some students.
Additionally, this year, Community Action has partner with the Garrett County Democratic Central Community on Community Works Garrett County, a new initiative building trust among neighbors across political difference through volunteering. Chris Mullet, President of Community Action, has been with the leadership team on this program since the idea’s inception earlier this year. The program was officially chartered as a chapter of the national Community Works Program of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, Inc., in April 2025. Recently Community Works Garrett County volunteers helped with preparation of the new 360 Access Hub space with the help of 16 volunteers who donated over 56 hours in one afternoon. It was only the first of many more volunteer days with Community Action.
Said Carbone, “The effect these programs have had on our local community is still being measured, but the partnership between the Garrett County Democrats and Garrett County Community Action has clearly made a difference in our community.”
The INSPIRATION Award Recipient: Garrett County Pride
The GCDCC members also unanimously selected Garrett County Pride for the 2025 INSPIRATION Award in recognition of its outstanding and inspirational work to amplify LGBTQIA+ voices by educating the community, honoring LGBTQIA+ heritage, advocating for LGBTQIA+ culture, and celebrating our diverse society in Garrett County, MD. Said Carbone as she presented the award to members of the Garrett County Pride Board, “This work aligns with the values of the Democratic Party, and we are grateful for our partnership. We are proud to again be a sponsor of and vendor at the Second Annual Garrett County Pride Festival, which was held on June 14 this year in Friendsville, MD. ”
Garrett County Pride is a 501(c)3 non-profit with the mission to promote love, acceptance, equity & diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community by organizing events (including Garrett County Pride Festival), providing education, and creating safe places in our community, Garrett County Pride strives to end discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people, work towards a world of acceptance and equity for all, and lift the diverse voices of the community. Garrett County Pride envisions a world where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people — as well as community members who use different language to describe identity — are ensured equity and embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and throughout the community of Garrett County and Western Maryland.
The organization held the first ever Pride Festival in Garrett County in June 2024. The Garrett County Democratic Central Committee was a sponsor of and vendor at that inaugural event.
Almost all other Maryland counties host or are part of coalitions that host a Pride Festival, and while Garrett Couty is one of the most recent additions, it is not the last county. In a recent article in The Republican on the 2025 Garrett County Pride, the staff writer stated: ““Something we kept on hearing: ‘Never in a million years would I have thought there would be a Pride Festival in Garrett County!’ Well, it didn’t take a million years. And we don’t have to dream about it anymore,” said Devin Barroga, founder and chairperson of Garrett County Pride, Inc.”
Said Carbone, “The values of Pride are in line with our Democratic party values, which include a strong commitment to equity and inclusion for all of us.”
The Garrett County Democratic Central Committee is constituted as the governing body of the Democratic Party in Garrett County with rights and privileges granted under the Constitution and Laws of Maryland, and the Constitution and Bylaws of the Maryland Democratic Party. The Garrett County Democratic Central Committee promotes the election of Democratic candidates in Maryland and Garrett County and conducts the business, organizes the activities, and fosters the growth of the Democratic Party in Garrett County. For more information, please visit www.gcdems.com or send an email to gcdemcc@gmail.com.
Photo cutline: 1st picture (Pictured from left to right: Judy A. Carbone, Chair of the Garrett County Democratic Central Committee; Chris Mullet, President of Garrett County Community Action; Shanna Humphrey, Director of the Garrett County Area Agency on Aging; Community Action Board Members, Wendy Sharpless and Chair Melissa Rank). | 2nd picture (Pictured from left to right: Judy A. Carbone, Chair of the Garrett County Democratic Central Committee; Garrett County Pride Members Ezra Duncan, Vice President; Stormi Martin, Secretary; Mary Martin; and Haeli Gustafson, Treasurer, with daughter Juniper.)
