The Earl Carl Institute honored four for their service to the Houston community and held the first Marcia Johnson Outstanding Public Service Award event. The inaugural winners are Natasha Malone (Student Leader), Joseph Do, executive director, Annam Community Development Corporation (Community Organization), Opal Mitchell Lee and Georgia Provost (Community Leader). Lee’s daughter, Deborah Davis, accepted the award on her mother’s behalf. All four were selected based upon a competitive review of service in three areas: student, community leadership and service through a non-profit organization.

Marcia Johnson, professor in the Thurgood Marshall School of Law, created the Earl Carl Institute for Legal and Social Policy in 1992. The Institute is designed to be a training ground for law students who will defend and support historically disenfranchised communities. The Institute is dedicated to identifying academic and grassroots solutions to legal and social issues impacting the minority community, finding opportunities to promote policy change for the betterment of the urban community, and to fulfill the missions of the Institute, the Thurgood Marshall School of Law and Texas Southern University.