At one point, Randy Morris’ family had up to 12 children living in the same house in Arkadelphia. Morris is the youngest of two children, but his father, Johnnie Morris II, had three children from a previous marriage, and his mother, Josephine Morris, took in her nieces and nephews.
“At a young age, one of my aunts got killed, so they always believe if you can help, you do,” Randy Morris said.
“They took in her three children, and one of my father’s children from a previous marriage wanted to move down here. Years later, one of my aunts passed away, and she had three younger children. It was a pretty large family. It was quite a few,” he said.
“I love the idea of helping individuals, not just with a hand up but showing them how to better themselves, because I lived it,” Morris said. “That’s where I came from — a large family that didn’t have a lot.
“I am now in a situation where I am able to help even more.”
Morris was recently hired as the executive director for the Central Arkansas Development Council. He replaces former executive director Larry Cogburn, who retired this summer. The CADC is a private nonprofit organization that “provides a hand up, promoting self-help in our neighborhoods and for our families,” according www.cadc.com.
“We didn’t have a lot, by no means. I have told this story before. The reason I love this so much is because I distinctly remember at a young age, my mother and father taking me through the commodities line,” Morris said.
“Now I am one of the ones helping individuals get commodities. I remember the struggle,” he said. “They wanted to help whoever they could, sometimes to their own detriment.
“I come from a background, I can, I will. That’s just my motto. I heard once, ‘You have to go out of your way to find a way to be a blessing to somebody else,’ and I believe it 110 percent.”
Morris graduated from Arkadelphia High School in 1993, and he attended Ouachita Baptist College for two years before dropping out because of family circumstances and situations.
“I saw my mom struggling, and in her words, ‘You aren’t quitting school,’” Morris said. “But I’m living at the house, and I am seeing her struggle paying these bills and putting food on the table — I can’t continue to go to school.
“I told her, ‘I’m sorry, I know you are disappointed, but I have to work to help you.’”
He was eventually able to go back to school, after accepting a position with College of the Ouachitas in Malvern in 2006. He worked there for eight years, holding numerous titles. He said the college has a partnership with Franklin University, and he used that partnership to earn a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s in business administration.
“I have always partnered with CADC with other jobs that I have had with different organizations, and I have always been intrigued by the things that they do,” Morris said. “I didn’t know the entirety of everything they did or their outreach.
“I knew they provided a quality of service to some of the participants that I had in other programs. I always thought this was an A-1 organization that I wouldn’t mind being a part of.”
Chris McKinney worked with Morris when he served as the adult education director at College of the Ouachitas. She has known him since 2000 and said Morris is “a dedicated and responsible person, and loves people.”
“He will do anything he can for you,” she said. “He is just a great person all around.
“I think he will do a great job at CADC because he believes in doing whatever he can to help people. And he believes in working with the people that are under him as a team.”
McKinney now works for College of the Ouachitas as the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) case manager.
“He believes in coming together with his people and finding out how he can best help the people we serve, or even us as individuals,” McKinney said. “He will sit down and talk to everybody one on one and get everybody’s point of view to find out what he could do as a leader to help the changes that need to be made.
“That’s what I think he will do at CADC.”
Cogburn officially retired from the CADC in July after serving 46 years. There was some overlap between Cogburn and Morris, and Morris said it was very beneficial.
“He’s all-knowing,” Morris said. “I told him, when he had his retirement party, that I still had his phone number, and I am still calling him because there is so much to learn.
“There is so much to learn and do with community action. He has some kind of knowledge on almost everything. I was very happy with the overlap that I was able to get.”
Cogburn said the overlap was brief because he had to go to the hospital for surgery, but he said Morris seems like “a very sharp individual.”
Morris said he does not feel overwhelmed by his new position.
“There is a lot that I still have to learn, but I feel like I am up to the challenge,” Morris said. “I feel like this is the best job I have ever had.
“I love what I do.”
Morris said one of his goals as executive director is to have the CADC be an example to the nation of what community action should look like.
“One of the changes that I am going to give is that we no longer make excuses about [finding] solutions,” Morris said. “We are CADC, and we have the answer to your problems.”
He said one of his biggest goals is to achieve the Pathways to Excellence award through the Community Action Partnership. Pathways to Excellence will look at every aspect of the organization, including its policies and procedures. Morris said he wants to make sure the CADC is at an exceptional level.
“I know there are going to be some changes that will have to be made because there are no perfect organizations. They have a specific outline for what they feel like is excellence,” Morris said.
“I know it is gong to be a lot of hard work, with the changing of some old guards and thinking outside the box,” he said. “The staff I have here and throughout the 19 counties is exceptional.
“I know they are up to the task.”
He said one of his other goals is to have everyone on staff become certified community-action professionals. He said he currently has two on staff.
“Just earning that will help our program managers open their eyes more to see what we can evolve into. I think they are open to it now, but this will open it to the wide spectrum,” Morris said.
“Let’s look outside the box to see what we can do and do better,” he said.
“It is just amazing where the path takes you because I was once in this situation and remember it vividly,” Morris said. “To know I am able to help individuals who are in the same situation, I’m more or less an example.
“You can go through this, receive this assistance, and you can make it out.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.