From Open House to Open Doors: Daughters of Zion and William and Johnson Career College Bring Career Pathways to Avon Lenox High School
By the Shelby County Observer Education & Community Affairs Staff
September 29, 2026 | Memphis, Tennessee
MEMPHIS, TN — On Friday morning, inside the multipurpose room at Avon Lenox High School, an ordinary school open house carried a larger message: what happens after high school matters just as much as what happens inside it.
Avon Lenox’s Parents’ Meet & Greet Open House, held Friday, September 25, brought families, educators, disability advocates and community partners together for a morning centered on connection. The program included remarks from Principal Margaret McKissick-Larry, introductions of school staff, performances by the Avon Lenox Choir and Spirit Squad, family-resource information, a presentation from Disability Rights Tennessee advocate Keitha Broyles, PTO information and other community presentations.
Among those in attendance was Monique Wade, coordinator and recruitment officer for Daughters of Zion’s William and Johnson Career College, whose presence represented something especially relevant to the young people Avon Lenox serves: a bridge between education, independence and the world of work.
For Daughters of Zion, attendance was not simply ceremonial. Wade spent time meeting families and students and discussing pathways beyond high school, including healthcare training through William and Johnson Career College. One young woman photographed with Wade during Friday’s event has already been connected with the college as a student for its upcoming October Certified Nursing Assistant class.
It was the kind of small encounter that can carry enormous consequences. A conversation at a school open house can become an application. An application can become training. Training can become a credential. And a credential can become a first paycheck, a career and, for a young adult preparing to leave the structure of high school, a new measure of independence.
A School Built Around Transition and Independence
Avon Lenox is not a conventional high school. Its stated mission is to help students reach their maximum potential for independent living and functioning in a diverse society, while its vision specifically focuses on ensuring that students with disabilities develop the skills needed for successful post-graduation placements. Students assigned to Avon Lenox are referred through their IEP teams and the district’s Division of Exceptional Children.
That mission is reflected in programs such as community-based instruction, work-based learning, adaptive physical education, Project SEARCH and the school’s PAES laboratory. Avon Lenox describes its curriculum as functional and age-appropriate, with an emphasis on skills that have value in adult life.
That emphasis makes partnerships with organizations offering workforce and community opportunities particularly significant.
Daughters of Zion Expands Its Work with Tennesseans with Disabilities
The state agency involved is the Tennessee Department of Disability and Aging, rather than the Department of Mental Health. The department was created in 2024 when Tennessee merged its former Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities with the Tennessee Commission on Aging and Disability.
Daughters of Zion has been a recipient of the department’s disability-focused grant funding. In 2024, Daughters of Zion received $25,000 through a statewide initiative designed to create or expand respite opportunities for families with an individual with intellectual and developmental disability. In April 2026, William and Johnson Career College which is operated by Daughters of Zion received a $130,000 grant to provide individuals with intellectual and developmental disability the opportunity to receive training as a Certified Nursing Assistant, workforce development assistant and other support services for employment. And in July, the Tennessee Department of Disability and Aging again named Daughters of Zion among 21 organizations receiving funding through a $500,000 Department of Disability and Aging initiative supporting non-academic youth recreational programs. The state said the initiative is intended to help programs expand their ability to serve school-aged young people of differing abilities, including participants with complex medical needs.
That growing disability-focused work makes Friday’s outreach at Avon Lenox particularly timely. The challenge is not simply ensuring that students with disabilities finish school; it is making sure families can see tangible possibilities waiting on the other side of graduation.
A Healthcare Career Can Begin With Five Weeks of Training
One of those possibilities is the Certified Nursing Assistant training through William and Johnson Career College, a Daughters of Zion institution located at 4400 Hickory Hill Road in Memphis. The college is listed on the Tennessee High Education Commission list of authorized postsecondary institutions, with CNA training among its longstanding workforce programs.
Daughters of Zion has previously used scholarships and grant-supported initiatives to remove financial barriers for CNA students. Its training model has produced graduates who have gone directly into healthcare employment, and the organization has repeatedly used its workforce programs to reach people who might otherwise struggle to access short-term career training.
Friday provided a glimpse of how that pipeline begins.
Not with a graduation ceremony.
Not with a hospital badge.
But with someone showing up.
Someone asking a question.
Someone on the other side of the table saying, there may be a place for you here.
For the young woman photographed alongside Wade, that conversation may now continue in an October classroom.
And for Avon Lenox families, the larger significance of the morning may be found in exactly that possibility: students with disabilities should not reach graduation only to encounter a cliff. The transition should lead somewhere — toward continued learning, meaningful community participation, employment and as much independence as each individual can achieve.
On Friday at Avon Lenox, community organizations came through the school’s doors.
The hope is that, eventually, those students will walk through new doors of their own.
Need CNA Training or Daughters of Zion Services?
Individuals and families with special needs interested in the Daughters of Zion / William and Johnson Career College Certified Nursing Assistant program, including the upcoming October class, may call 901-260-9933 or email info@daughtersofzion.org.
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