THOMASVILLE- Former City Councilwoman Wanda Warren is taking her knowledge of government to the next level, as she was recently appointed by Governor Brian Kemp to the State Use Council.
Warren explained she was approached by Kemp prior to rolling off of City Council earlier this month.
“I met him (Gov. Kemp) when he was visiting in the late summer,” Warren said. “We got to talking and he said he needed smart people helping him out and I joked that I fit the bill.”
Warren said she and Kemp continued to talk, where he explained he was looking for individuals to sit on certain committees. Warren shared her interest with Kemp, stating she would love and feel honored to serve in any way possible.
Shortly after their conversation, Kemp’s team reached out to Warren and asked her to join the State Use Council.
“The State Use Council oversees a bucket of funding that has been allocated for rehabilitation services throughout the state,” she explained. “The Council is responsible for creating policy and seeing how these services are carried out.”
Warren went on to say these rehabilitation services are organizations across the state that employ people with disabilities and the funding allows for additional hires.
Since being tapped to sit on the Council, Warren has already attended her first meeting.
“It went really well,” she said. “It’s a great council and for me, I wanted to make sure I understood how the Council interacted with all these different organizations from across the state.”
While her first meeting was mostly getting up to speed on the inner workings of the Council, Warren said she was able to already provide some recommendations.
However, she does not believe this would have been possible without her history of knowledge from the Thomasville City Council.
“The Council helped me prepare for this because while I was on it, I was able to learn a lot, attending meetings and functions throughout the state,” she said. “At these meetings you network and hear things, gathering information, which helped me beef up my knowledge of what our state has to offer its citizens.”
From a Board perspective, Warren said she also learned to develop a thicker skin, understanding that not everyone will always agree on the same course of action.
“During my first meeting, I sat there poised and didn’t let certain things bother me,” she said proudly. “Having that role, I also better understood the role of a Council member, meaning I’m here to help support and move forward the mission.”
Warren said her goal while on the State Use Council is to help beef up the marketing, making sure organizations understand the Council’s offerings and services provided.
She also has a personal mission of making sure rural Georgia sees the same offerings and services as those in metro areas.
“I want to see the funding and services pushed down and let the state know that Georgia is more than just the metro areas,” she said. “This is near and dear to my heart and will be my pet project.”
Warren said she is the only Council member south of Macon, but this allows her to give a broader scope of what is needed across Georgia.
“I think one of the biggest things I can communicate is that there is another Georgia because we get caught up in our daily and only see things we have experienced,” Warren said, explaining most of her new council members have not traveled to this area of Georgia. “We only know what we know and if people aren’t reminded about the other parts of the state, including rural Georgia then decisions about those communities won’t be made.”
Warren looks forward to helping her new Council with these decisions while representing her community as one of the first to take on a state-level position.