Best of CASE District I Award
 

Institution: Colby College

Title of entry: Daniel Franklin: Keeping His Promise

About this entry: This story idea about Jenna’s Promise began with an email from a Colby graduate who had just secured a grant from the Vermont legislature to support a recovery community that he operated. He wanted to know if we were interested in noting it.

Were we ever. When we looked into the life and career of Daniel Franklin, we discovered one of those gifted human beings who is able to make a positive impact in his community because he has a daring vision, bold ideas, and a personality that brings people together to work for common goals.

In this case, he helped create a novel new recovery community known as Jenna’s Promise in the town of Johnson, where the woolen mills have almost all closed and where the destructive force of opioids have thrived. Named after a community member who died of an overdose in 2019, the organization serves people in recovery from addiction, survivors of sexual and domestic violence and human trafficking, and formerly incarcerated individuals.