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The Centralina Regional Council announced the City of Albemarle has received the Region of Excellence Award in the category of cross-community collaboration for the city’s Firefighter Cadet Academy.

The city received the award for demonstrating the value of partnerships across communities to achieve better outcomes for the community.

In collaboration with Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and Stanly Community College, the Firefighter Cadet Academy provides 18 weeks of instruction through classroom and hands-on training led by City of Albemarle firefighters and special skilled instructors.

Created in 2021, the Firefighter Cadet Academy has trained new members of Albemarle’s department and firefighters in neighboring communities by allowing their departments to sponsor recruits attending the academy.

“This award truly belongs to the entire City of Albemarle Fire Department. From Assistant Chief Kenny Kendall, who developed the academy, to the chief officers through firefighters, every rank in our department has been critical to making the Firefighter Cadet Academy a success,” City of Albemarle Fire Chief Pierre Brewton said. “We’re grateful to our city leaders and academy partners for supporting us and seeing our academy’s potential to make a long-term positive impact on communities. We also thank the judging panel for recognizing our efforts and the value of this work.”

Presented annually, the Region of Excellence Awards recognize individuals, communities and organizations for their achievements over the previous calendar year in support of Centralina’s mission to expand opportunity and improve quality of life in the nine-county region that includes Anson, Cabarrus, Gaston, Lincoln, Iredell, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Stanly and Union counties.

An independent panel of judges selected the award winners.

“Congratulations to all of our Region of Excellence Award winners for making significant and positive advancements in our region,” said Geraldine Gardner, executive director of Centralina. “We are excited to celebrate the successful initiatives, collaboration and innovative local government action that make our region a better place to live and work.”