The City of Concord honored 63 residents and business owners for their successful completion of the Concord 101 program. During the annual graduation ceremony, Mayor Bill Dusch and members of City Council recognized the graduates’ dedication to learning more about City operations and services, and becoming City ambassadors and leaders within their community.
The 2025 class is the largest in-person graduating class in the program’s 24-year history. Over 14-weeks, graduates learned about Concord’s history and present-day amenities, services, and opportunities that make it one of the nation’s safest, most affordable, and desirable places to live, work, and visit.
Each week, participants visited a different City facility and by the end of the course they met with every City department, including public works, police, fire, and visited Concord-Padgett Regional Airport. To be eligible for graduation, participants must attend at least one City Council meeting and can miss no more than two sessions. The 2025 graduating class includes 13 participants with perfect attendance.
The Concord 101, Class of 2025 graduates are: Abe Abdallah, Emilie Atherton, Nancy Ballard, Bill Barbee*, Cindy Barringer, Pablo Bianco Lascaray, Mary Brady*, Ron Brady*, Gary Brannen, Denise Brannen, Debra Bunker*, Beth Butchko*, Joanne Carl, Wayne Childress, Corey Conner, Brian Corona-Macedo, Betsy Cunningham, Joy Marie DeBlock, Rob DeBlock*, Ashlyn Doby, Nichelle Fitch*, Kathleen Francus, Bill Gardner, Cason Gardner, Michelle Gaston, Margaret Gilligan, Peggy Grab, Rachel Hamilton, Woodrow Hathaway, Jr., Sandy Johnson*, Cindy Johnson, Genevieve G. Jones, Carl Jones, Eugene Lane, Todd Lankford, Amelia Lenke, Joni Liebel, Karen Loveday*, Alex Manning, Sandie Matthews, Carol McCormick, Wendy Miller, Thomas Monks*, Stephanie Morris, Sandra Odell*, Hannah Parker, Anita Parks, Asit Patel, Barbara Patterson, Brenda Rackoff, Carson Reed-Moretz, Vicky Reynolds, Caronda Robinson, Daniel Robinson*, Reed Robinson*, Joe Salerno, Michelle Salerno, Alex Secki, Jimmy Simpson, Kristy Simpson, Tom Small, Alyce Williams, and Prudensia Zamora. (*Denotes perfect attendance.)
The Concord 101 program is offered annually in the fall, from August through November. The course is free, and classes are held on Tuesday afternoons and evenings. More information about the program is available at concordnc.gov/Concord101.
