Cumberland County honors interns, declares Native American Heritage Month and recognizes long-serving child-fatality team leader

The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners recognized a new cohort of county interns and adopted two proclamations at its Nov. 3 meeting.

County Human Resources Director Dominique Hall told commissioners the county’s fifth Ignite internship cohort launched Sept. 12, 2025; the program drew 88 applications and placed 14 undergraduate and graduate interns across county departments for a 10-week fall term. Commissioners invited interns forward to receive certificates and several praised the program as a pipeline for local hiring.

The board read and adopted a proclamation designating November 2025 as Native American Heritage Month in Cumberland County. Alex Baker, identified as a Lumbee representative, accepted the recognition and thanked commissioners.

Vice Chair Sheryl Jones presented a separate proclamation honoring Dr. Debbie Jenkins on her retirement after decades of service to Cumberland County’s Child Fatality Prevention Team. Jones said Jenkins led development of review protocols, data-sharing agreements and prevention programs and provided the board with annual mandated reports to the state child fatality task force. Dr. Jenkins accepted the recognition and spoke briefly about local partnerships supporting child-safety work.

Chair and county staff also presented a Veterans Day proclamation to the Cumberland County Veterans Council; the board cited an approximate county veteran population of 53,000. Grille Mitchell, introduced as president of the Veterans Council, thanked the commissioners and noted a missing-man table ceremony scheduled for 11:00 a.m.

Procedural note: all proclamations were presented as part of the consent/recognition portion of the meeting and no formal votes were recorded beyond the consent approval.