In 1999, a citizen of Queen Anne's County proposed to the Community Partnerships for Children, our local management board, that they hold a public forum to discuss the issue of violence to children. First on the list was to provide children in our county with after-school programs and second was to promote character development in our children. Since after-school programs were currently being offered and the Community Partnerships was an active member with this effort, the Community Partnerships for Children began gathering information pertaining to character development and methods to bring this idea to the community. By proclamation of the Queen Anne's County Commissioners, an Advisory Council was formed to partner with the people of Queen Anne's County to support and embrace character development in all aspects of our lives. November 2010 marked the 10th anniversary of the Queen Anne's County Character Counts! Hundreds of Character Coaches have been active in the schools and forty-seven local businesses have become Businesses of Character over the past ten years. This initiative has reached literally thousands of Queen Anne's County citizens!
