Two well-known Guilford County residents are going to be honored by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners at the board’s Thursday, Feb. 1 meeting after being chosen to receive the state’s Dogwood Award – an honor that’s presented “to citizens working to improve the health, safety and well-being of their fellow North Carolinians.”

NC A&T State University Chancellor Harold Martin, who has helped make that school the Historically Black College or University with the largest enrollment in the country, will be honored publicly at the meeting – as will Guilford County Family Justice Center Catherine Johnson who directs the Guilford County department responsible for reducing and addressing issues such as domestic abuse, senior abuse, hostile family living conditions, violence and threats of violence against family members, and similarly related family-adjacent issues.

At the meeting, the honors will be presented by Board of Commissioners Vice Chair Carlvena Foster.

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein awarded five North Carolinians from central North Carolina the Dogwood Award this year. These awards are given annually to people whose work is improving the lives of others in the state and, this time around, 34 Dogwood awards were given out statewide.

Officials who selected the winners cited Johnson’s collaborative leadership of the Family Justice Center that has “helped ensure a pathway for victims of domestic violence, as well as those experiencing child and elder abuse.”

Martin is being praised by the way his leadership has grown NC A& T and made it one of the leading and most inovative HBCU schools in the country.