Jennie Helderman

Jennie Helderman is a Pushcart Prize nominee whose narrative nonfiction As the Sycamore Grows won six literary awards and voted Book of the Year by a network of 500+ book clubs. Helderman won the Alumnae Achievement Award, the highest award offered by Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, an organization of 180,000 women in the US and Canada.

Helderman's article on the Sandy Hook teacher who saved her first-graders by hiding them in the bathroom, took top honors among features in alumni magazines.

So far she's written four books and numerous magazine articles while pursuing a career in community and women's issues.

Jennie was born into a story-telling and creek-bank-fishing family in north Alabama. She produced her first play and broke a glass ceiling at age 10 by becoming the first girl page in the Alabama State Legislature. That surge of girl power would not be the last time she saw a need to put women’s issues at the forefront.

In the 1970s, after she helped set up a crisis-call center in an old house, a cry for help at the other end of the phone line incised her memory with indelible ink. That call was the catalyst; eventually, the empty bedrooms upstairs served as the community’s first shelter for victims of domestic abuse.

From there, Helderman began work with women’s issues and leadership, community development, public relations and communications, beginning in Gadsden, Alabama, and reaching to national levels.

As VP of Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, she oversaw all PR and publications, including chairing the editorial board of the 150,000 circulation alumnae magazine, The Key. As Director of Chapters, she held responsibility for chapters on 122 campuses in the US and Canada.

At the community and state level, she has championed women’s and children’s issues and worked with child abuse victims. From 2000 until her term expired in 2006, she presided over the six-member board of the Alabama Department of Human Resources, which serves 520,000 clients each month and oversees all family abuse issues in the state.

Helderman’s hobbies include photography, bridge, travel and history. She made the pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago de Compostella in Spain in 2000. In the summer of 2002, she worked as a photographer on an Earthwatch archaeology project at the Scavi in Pompeii, Italy. She has hiked and rafted the Grand Canyon twice; visited 47 US states; climbed Mt. Vesuvius; photographed the Masai people and wild animals in Kenya and Tanzania; toured China and Tibet.

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Resume: Jennie Miller Helderman

Writing/Publications

• Nominated for 2007 Pushcart Prize, “Angel at the Crossroads,” flashquake, Spring 2006.
• Gival Press, LLC, 2004 Finalist, “Bridget” (one of three finalists).


Community and Civic Leadership

Board of Trustees, Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity, an international women’s organization with 150,000 membership; an elected office.

Director of Chapters. 1990–1992. Responsible for the programming and physical property of chapters on 122 college campuses in the United States and Canada, totaling approximately 14,000 collegiate members. Initiated new chapter management system; developed new leadership training model; implemented programs in women’s health, risk management, personal safety, and self-esteem issues. Monthly newsletter received first place award from National Panhellenic Conference.

Vice President. 1988–1990. Responsible for public relations, auxiliary income, and publications, including the quarterly magazine, The Key. Introduced business principles and commercial advertising to the magazine. Dealt with media representatives, publicists, campus authorities, and attorneys regarding publicity and public relations. Developed new training manuals. Supervised updating of trademarks. Instigated development of Greek Properties, Inc., a licensing consortium of 20+ sororities and fraternities. Served on the Board of the Heritage Museum for preservation of home of governor of Ohio during Civil War.

Founding Member of Board of Trustees of Kappa Kappa Gamma Foundation. 1989–1992. The Foundation produces programs aimed at intellectual development, leadership skills, and health and safety issues of women. The Foundation produced the CD Insight on Domestic Violence, distributed annually to 134 college chapters and 340 alumnae organizations since 1991, and KeepSafe, a brochure about personal safety given to each new member, about 2,600 annually, as well as the 134 college chapters and 340 alumnae organizations, and other organizations.

Chairman of Advisory Boards of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Responsible for recruiting, training, and supervision of 1,200 alumnae advisers in US and Canada. 1986–1988.

Office of Congressman Tom Bevill, Washington, DC. Spring 1985. Staff work while pursuing MPA. Constituent services, wrote news releases and radio scripts, met with visiting constituent groups.



Education

Masters in Public Administration, Jacksonville State University
BA in English, University of Alabama
Associate in Mental Health Technology, Gadsden State Junior College


State and Community Service

Vice Chair and Member of Board of Trustees of Alabama Department of Human Resources: Served six-year term on six-member board, 2000–2006. Presided as Vice Chair, 2004–2006. Responsible for oversight and policies of state social services in Alabama, including services to children, families, and the elderly, assisting about 520,000 clients per month. Recognizing that many of its clients fall into high-risk categories for domestic abuse, DHR works in collaboration with the Alabama Coalition on Domestic Violence. DHR maintains a domestic violence expert in each of its 67 county offices. DHR is Alabama’s largest government agency, with a budget of $1.6 billion and 5,000 employees.

President and Member of Board of Directors of Northwest Alabama Children’s Advocacy Center. 1995–2004. Chaired Board of Center serving abused children in six-county area with 2,400+ clients annually. Presided over reorganization and training of Board; doubled size of physical facilities; added forensic examination staff and clinic.


President and Member of Board of Directors of Voices for Alabama’s Children, 1995–1999. President, 1998 and 1999. Statewide child advocacy organization uniting the efforts and interests of many organizations in Alabama, such as Children’s Hospital, PTAs, Kiwanis of Alabama, Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation, the Alabama Civil Justice Foundation, and others. Conducted twelve awareness-building and advocacy training meetings annually around state. Advocated with state officials and the legislature for laws affecting the welfare of children. Set up statewide notification network to track legislation and aid in lobbying. Successful in gaining a cabinet-level Department of Children’s Affairs; increased budgeting for schools; and passing law benefiting children. Set up program for newborns-to-age-five, Babies Are Born Learning, with presentation to and subsequent endorsement of the entire legislature and Appeals and Supreme Courts. Published and distributed Alabama Kids Count, an annual data book of indicators of children’s welfare; this data is used by many other agencies, schools and individuals in gaining grants to aid children.

Leadership Alabama, class of 1996. An organization of more than 600 citizen leaders of Alabama.

Leadership America, class of 1995. National leadership program for women. Network of 2,200+ women in business and government. Sponsor of The Women’s Museum in Dallas, Texas.

Incorporator and President-elect of Gadsden Area All America City, Inc, a citizen’s group organized to improve the quality of life in the Gadsden, Alabama, area. This group succeeded in winning the 1991 All America City award of the National Civic League. Worked personally with George H. Gallup in conducting a poll about community needs; then coordinated twelve citizen task forces to meet those needs. Moved to Florence, Alabama, prior to assuming presidency. 1991-1993.


Personal

Married, mother of two adult children, grandmother of three.

Membership in Organizations: The Authors Guild; The Atlanta Writers Club; The Alabama Writers Forum; Writers and Critters (an international online women’s writing group); Ghost Ranch Writers (a fiction critique group); Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity; Episcopal church; Leadership America; Leadership Alabama.