The Jacksonville University Public Policy Institute announced July 22 that Dante Jennings and Rhianna Scyster are recipients of the 2020 Master of Public Policy Minority Fellowship.
“We established this program to identify and prepare exceptional African Americans who can become the future leaders of Northeast Florida,” said Charles Wodehouse, in a news release.
Wodehouse is a university advisory board member who helped establish the fellowship in 2018 in partnership with the city.
The recipients:
Jennings is regional assistant principal with Duval County Public Schools, supervising 80 educators at three middle schools.
He was named a National Urban League Emerging Leader in 2020 and served as president of the Jacksonville Urban League Young Professionals.
Jennings holds a master’s in organizational leadership from Columbia University and a bachelor’s in criminology and philosophy from Florida International University.
Scyster is an exceptional student education support specialist at Lake Shore Middle School and an enrichment specialist at The Sanctuary on 8th Street, which provides after-school and summer camp programs for Jacksonville children and families who live in areas of concentrated poverty.
She has a bachelor’s degree in exceptional student education from the University of North Florida.
Jennings and Scyster will receive full tuition scholarships to complete their Master of Public Policy degrees at JU, be provided internship opportunities by the city, and will be mentored by community leaders associated with the program.
In return, fellowship recipients agree to spend at least three years after graduation in Northeast Florida.
“The Minority Fellowship program has already diversified and enriched enrollment in the Public Policy Institute. Hopefully, it can also serve as one example of how we can begin to ensure more diversity among the public policy makers who must tackle the myriad problems across all our neighborhoods in Northeast Florida,” said JU Public Policy Institute Director Rick Mullaney in the release.
Applications for the 2021 Minority Fellowship will open in August.
The JU Public Policy Institute offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Its goal is to shape the future through preparing a new generation of leaders, public policy expertise and providing a neutral gathering place for public policy discussion, education and debate.
For more information about the institute, ju.edu/publicpolicy/.
