Our Founder

Linda Dickerson Lamar Leads our effort to promote and expand our transformational work to engage more young people in leadership and civic engagement with schools and communities across Southwest Dallas County.

Linda founded the Dickerson Center in 2009. Inspired by her late father’s (Reverend H. L. Dickerson) decades of servant leadership, her goal is to continue his legacy. His life was spared after being beaten after voting in his Louisiana hometown in 1952. He dared to educate citizens about their rights and responsibilities of citizenship, including voting. She was also inspired by Barack Obama’s slogan “Yes We Can.”
She has 30 years of experience in federal government, corporate, non-profit, and academic arenas. She has served as Grant Manager for the African American/Latino Male Initiative at Dallas County Community College (Dallas College), Health Careers Promotions Coordinator/Health Careers Promotion for the University of North Texas (Denton), Career Manager and Workforce Development Coordinator for Gulf Coast Community College (Gulf Coast College), Panama City, Florida as well as served in other non-profit roles, including United Way of Metropolitan Dallas.
As the previous chair of the DeSoto Public Library Board, Lamar helped to implement a community-wide initiative – DeSoto Reads. She served on American Cancer Society boards in Florida and the Community Council of Greater Dallas.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Bishop College, Dallas, and a master’s in Urban Affairs from UT Arlington (Texas).
Our work is essential in investing in our future democracy.
She is married to Louis Lamar, Sr., and has one son, Louis, Jr., and one grandson.