The William C. Friday Fellowship for Human Relations, the flagship program of Wildacres Leadership Initiative, has named Deborah Dicks Maxwell to its 2017-19 class, according to a news release.

Dicks Maxwell will join 23 other North Carolinians in this cohort and a network of more than 200 other Friday Fellows alumni, officials said in the release. Already a longtime community leader, she is a retired public health social worker.

Dicks Maxwell serves as president of the New Hanover County NAACP and the organization’s district director for the region. She also sits on the boards for Cape Fear River Watch and NC Child.

The William C. Friday Fellowship is a competitive statewide program for cross-sector leaders. Friday Fellows receive free leadership training over the course of two years in locations across North Carolina, including Carteret, Durham, Tyrrell and McDowell counties.
 
The Friday Fellowship program immerses active leaders in a system where they exercise leadership privileges and responsibilities. Class members gather for six four-day development seminars facilitated by core faculty and staff. 

Extensive reading, writing exercises, coaching and interim full group and subgroup meetings are included in the training.
 
“Positive change requires leadership rooted in human values, civil dialogue and full inclusion of all people. The Friday Fellowship seeks a balance between the inequities of rugged individualism and the crippling effects of social and economic entitlement,” Abdul Rasheed, executive director of William C. Friday Fellowship, said in the release.