Judge Cheryl D. Grant to be inducted into MLK College of Ministers and Laity

Contributed

Judge Cheryl D. Grant has been selected to be inducted into the 40th Annual Martin Luther King Jr. College of Ministers and Laity in the Martin Luther King International Chapel at Morehouse College in Atlanta during the Collegium of Scholars Benjamin Elijah Mays Crown Forum at 11 a.m. on Thursday, October 2.

The invitation to her was signed by F. Dubois Bowman, Ph.D,, 13th President, and Lawrence Edwards Carter Sr., Ph.D., Founding Dean.

Judge Cheryl D. Grant retired from the Hamilton County Municipal Court after serving 20 years. Judge Grant received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cincinnati; Juris Doctor from the University of Cincinnati, College of Law; and Master of Divinity, from Palmer Theological Seminary, Eastern University, Philadelphia, PA. 

The Supreme Court of Ohio licensed Judge Grant to practice law. The Chief Justice Thomas Moyer appointed her to the Ohio Supreme Court Commission on Technology and the Courts, and the Advisory Committee on Interpreter Services. She annually attended the National Judiciary College, University of Nevada at Reno and Economic Institutes for Judges. 

Judge Grant, prior to attending law school, served as a social worker, Memorial Community Center and a Cincinnati Police Officer. Judge Grant received a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow; served as Congressional Aide to Congressman Thomas Luken; Assistant Professor of Business Law, University of Cincinnati; and Law Director of Lincoln Heights, Ohio. She served as Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Chief Investigator of the Cincinnati Office of Municipal Investigation (OMI); Hamilton County Assistant Public Defender; Ohio Assistant Attorney General; and owner of C. D. Grant & Associates, Attorneys-At-Law. 

Judge Grant held membership in various civic and social organizations, such as Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority; Black Career Women, Inc.; Elisha Chapter 89 Ohio Eastern Stars, PHA; a member of Board of Directors of Crossroads Center Inc., and Associate Minister, Zion Baptist Church, Cincinnati, Ohio. She served as President of Memorial Community Center and member of University of Cincinnati Foundation Board.

Judge Grant listed in Who’s Who in Black America, recognized as a YWCA Career Woman of Achievement Award; received the Living Legend Award, University of Cincinnati and Harriet Beecher Stowe Historical Cultural Association’s African American Millennium Award and many other recognitions and honors. Judge Grant received nomination for induction to October 2025 Class of MLK Jr. Collegium of Scholars, Morehouse College, Atlanta Georgia. She received recognition from the following institutions: The University of Cincinnati, 2012 Distinguished Alumnus Award, the BLAC Distinguished Service Award, the Imperial Court Daughters of Isis Cincinnati Hall of Fame Award; the University of Cincinnati African American Alumni Linda Bates Parker Legend Award; and the Mallory Historical Association Distinguished Political and Judicial Achievement Award.

Former Cincinnati Mayor, Bobbie Sterne, appointed Judge Grant to the Mayor’s Task Force for Police Community Relations. The Ohio Governors Rhodes and Celeste appointed her to the Ohio Youth Advisory Board. She served as president of the Memorial Community Center.  Judge Grant also traveled to China as a member of the People-to-People national delegation of the U.S. Criminal Justice professionals to consult with the Chinese government officials on criminal justice systems.