Established in August 2019, this award is named in honor of Judy Lyn Kelsey, a pioneer in the local government management profession and long-time ICMA member, who generously gifted $109,000 to ICMA in her estate. With her gift, ICMA established the Local Government Management Fellowship Judy L. Kelsey Scholarship to assist emerging women leaders who have been accepted into the ICMA Local Government Management Fellowship program (LGMF), which places a fellow in a manager’s or department head’s office in a council-manager community.

This year’s winners of the Judy L. Kelsey Award are fellows Amber Cabrera and Jeannetta Maxena.

Amber Cabrera is currently serving as a fellow in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where she works in the City Manager’s Office in the Government Affairs and Economic Division. She is working with local businesses, entrepreneurs, and the city’s partner agencies on reinvestment strategies and growth opportunities.

Amber is also working with public policy and economic development grant acquisitions on the state and federal levels. She graduated from Lynn University with a master’s in public administration in August 2021. Before joining the LGMF program, she worked in the private sector as a senior case manager for the Fenstersheib Law Group.

In her essay, Amber shared, “I firmly believe that as staff in public service, our positive interactions with the community can help restore the broken levels of trust between the public and local government.”

Amber shows an evident dedication to the profession and plans on using the scholarship to take a step closer toward financial recovery after a year of financial drawbacks caused by the pandemic.

Jeannetta Maxena is currently serving as a senior management fellow in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where she works in the City Manager’s Office, Division of Neighbor Support, administering seven different programs and participating in commission meetings to ensure the executive leadership team receives commission action items.

Jeannetta has also administered Community Court, which is a city-wide effort to eliminate the homeless-to-incarceration pipeline. She graduated from the University of Central Florida with a master’s in public administration. Before joining the LGMF program, she worked as a history teacher for Orange County Public Schools and Lake County Schools. She also worked for the Central Florida American Society for Public Administration as a vice president for programming and board secretary.

In her essay, Jeannetta shared, “The Judy Lyn Kelsey Scholarship awards women who are passionate about public service and are in the early stages of their local government career. It is my dream to become a city manager, ensure that the women in my organization earn the same as the men, and mentor the next generation of women leaders.”

Jeannetta shows a commitment to improving the profession and plans on using the scholarship to secure stable housing and explore professional development opportunities to take her career to the next level.

To learn more about the LGMF program visit ICMA.org/lgmf.