Contra Costa College Student and Richmond resident D’Vondre Woodards was invited to a dinner with Pres. Obama in Washington D.C. for the president’s State of the Union Address, on January 24th.

Woodards is a member of the city of Richmond’s Peacemaker Fellowship and was invited by Congressman George Miller, D-Martinez as his guest at the State of the Union Address.

Operation Peace Maker Fellowship is a branch of the Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) in the city of Richmond. Their website states that their mission is to “create a viable space for selected individuals…to contribute in a real way to building and sustaining community peace, and community health and well-being, with the express purpose of eliminating gun violence in Richmond, California.”

Director and Founder of Operation Peace Maker Fellowship, DeVone Boggan described in more detail the jobs of the Fellows, “Neighborhood change agents go out into the community and target individuals who have been identified as more likely to commit gun violence in our city. We talk to them about changing.”

Miller and his staff have been working with the Peacemaker Fellowship for several years and Miller was impressed by the group’s success at the National Mentoring Summit, which prompted him to invite a member of the Fellowship.

The Peacemaker Fellowship selected Woodards as their representative.

According to ibabuzz.com, Woodards indicated that his mother and father did not play a large role in his life and that the Peacemaker Fellowship helped him make a personal transformation. He now mentors youths in Richmond through the Fellowship as a result of the mentoring he received from the program.

Woodards, 22, was chosen from a pool of 31 Fellows. Five of those Fellows have reached Senior Fellowship status and Woodards is one of those five. Individuals achieve Senior Fellowship status based on their willingness to work with rival gang members towards conflict resolution. Woodards has achieved senior status despite being involved with the program for just over a year.

The path to Senior Fellowship status involves what is called a “life mat.” Life mats are created by the Fellow upon first joining and according Boggan, “Outlines areas for growth such as family, medical, emotional and spiritual health, school, transport safety, conflict resolution and substance abuse among others.”

Boggan stated, “D’Vondre is one of those individuals who has achieved significant focus in his life mat,” and gave that as the primary reason for the group selecting Woodards.

This was not Woodards’ first trip to the capitol, however. Woodards, along with Boggan and other members of the Peacemaker Fellowship attended the National Mentoring Summit in January of 2011 where Boggan said Woodards was able to sit on a panel and interview Andrea Mitchell, NBC’s News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent.

Woodards attends Contra Costa College and lives with his grandmother in Richmond. Woodards has expressed interest in furthering his education at a four-year college such as Morehouse College, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University or perhaps a southern California school.

When asked about his impression of Woodards, Rep. Miller said, “When you listen to his story, the choices he’s made and the success he’s having, it is very compelling. He understands the importance of the decisions he makes. The Peacemaker Fellowship gave him a second chance and Contra Costa College gave him a second chance. I was not a great high school student and DVC gave me a second chance.”