City Councilman Johnny Dodd serves area he’s always called home

JACKSON, Tenn. — Each week in February in honor of Black History Month, WBBJ is highlighting someone making a significant impact on our community. Jackson City Councilman Johnny Dodd grew up in public housing in east Jackson.

“Coming from a single family home, I only had a mother, and most of the kids in the community, that’s all they had was there doing all she could,” Dodd said.

Dodd says being in the wrong place at the wrong time landed him in trouble as a teenager and that he got a year of probation.

“I don’t look back on it. I’m not ashamed of it. I just looked at it was a plan that God had for me,” he said.

Dodd eventually went to work for the Jackson Boys & Girls Club and served as program director at the Allenton Heights location.

He went on to win a seat on the City Council in 1999.

Dodd hosted a Youth Empowerment concert at the Civic Center on New Year’s Eve.

“That’s a safe haven for our kids to get them off the streets to get them in something positive,” he said of the event.

Dodd leads crime marches through the streets of Jackson and delivers meals to people in the community.

Mary Weddle says she’s known Dodd for around 30 years and says he never forgets to thank people for their support.

“Somebody was knocking on my door this Christmastime, and there Johnny was with trays of food,” Weddle said. “He’s a servant. He’s been called to serve, and he loves his constituents.”

Dodd says he considers himself a servant for the Lord. “I will continue to fight until I guess the Lord says, you know, your race is done.”