Betty Dunn

Betty Dunn has been a prominent figure within Shawnee County for decades. In September 2014, the Shawnee County Board of County Commissioners honored her years of community service by unanimously voting to rename Adams Park to Betty Dunn Park.

Located at 3300 SE Adams St., the neighborhood park offers a play structure, a number of shade trees, and a generous amount of open space to best serve the adjacent residential neighborhood.

Ms. Dunn sat as councilwoman on the Shawnee County Board of County Commissioners from 1995 – 2003 and is former president of the Hi-Crest Neighborhood Improvement Association. She also served on numerous boards, including the Salvation Army, Community Resources Council, Community Action, Boys Club, Senior Citizen Advisory Council, Chamber of Commerce Women’s Division, Topekans Against Crime and YWCA.

Ms. Dunn also served on a Judicial Nominating Committee and was a delegate to the World Leadership Conference. She co-chaired a Child Abuse and Neglect Program and served on the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women. She was secretary for the Community and Economic Development Advisory Council, a Juvenile Probation Court volunteer, a president of Highland Park High School Scots Club, and member of the Silver-Haired Legislature and the American Business Women’s Association.

She also received a Good Neighbor Award from the Topeka Association of Neighborhoods; was named Outstanding African-American Woman of the Year for the Midwest; received the African History Drum Majors Award, the Community Action Velma Paris Humanitarian Award, Americans with Disabilities Act Award from Topeka Independent Living, and People’s Choice Best of Topeka City Council award from the Topeka Capital-Journal; and was a delegate at the Kettering Foundation World Leadership Forum.