Awards, Feb 12, 2009

The following awards have been presented for work in advocacy, fund raising, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and other areas:

Community development. Enterprise Community Partners (Columbia, Md.) has presented its 2008 Jim and Patty Rouse Award to Lawrence Community Works (Mass.). The award, which carries a $10,000 prize, recognizes outstanding community-based groups engaged in comprehensive affordable-housing and community-revitalization efforts.

Health. Grantmakers in Health (Washington) has presented its 2009 Terrance Keenan Leadership Award in Health Philanthropy to Gary L. Yates, president and chief executive of the California Wellness Foundation, in Woodland Hills. Mr. Yates was recognized for leading the foundation while it pursued innovative approaches, such as financing public-education campaigns to inform policy makers and other influential people on issues including violence against youth, tobacco control, and the need for an expanded and more-diverse health-care work force. Also, St. Mary’s Health System (Lewiston, Me.) has received the 2008 Foster G. McGaw Prize for Excellence in Community Service. The $100,000 prize is sponsored by the American Hospital Association (Chicago), the Baxter International Foundation (Deerfield, Ill.), and the Cardinal Health Foundation (Dublin, Ohio).

Leadership. The Kravis Leadership Institute at Claremont McKenna College has awarded the Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership to Sakena Yacoobi, the founder of the Afghan Institute of Learning. The prize, which carries a $250,000 award for the winner’s organization, recognizes extraordinary leadership in the nonprofit world. Ms. Yacoobi was honored for her work to provide an estimated 350,000 women and children with access to education and health care each year.

Poverty. The Robin Hood Foundation (New York) has presented its annual Robin Hood Heroes Awards, which honor individuals and groups working to mitigate poverty in New York. Four nonprofit organizations, and affiliated individuals, won awards that were accompanied by $50,000 grants:

— The Food Bank for New York City, which in 2008 distributed 61 million pounds of food.

— John King and the Uncommon Schools, which starts and manages urban public charter schools that try to close the achievement gap and prepare low-income students to graduate from college. Mr. King is the managing director of the Excellence Charter School, an all-boys school in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.

— Steve Coe, Dwayne Mayes, and Community Access, which creates transitional and permanent housing for low-income families and mentally ill individuals.

— Lisette Nieves, Roberto Velez, and Year Up, which is a one-year intensive program aimed at helping young people who live in urban areas gain access to college and jobs in the financial-services industry.

Public interest. Public Citizen (Washington) has presented its Phyllis McCarthy Public Interest Service Award to Laura A. Davidson, director of operations at the Correctional Association of New York (New York), a nonprofit organization that inspects the condition of prisons throughout New York State and reports its findings to the state legislature and the public. It also tries to curb what it views as the state’s overreliance on juvenile detention and incarceration. The award honors those who have worked for lengthy stints at public-interest groups, but have received little acclaim.

Volunteers. The McKnight Foundation (Minneapolis) has announced the recipients of its 2008 Virginia McKnight Binger Awards in Human Service, which honor Minnesota residents who volunteer their time and expertise to improve the lives of people in their communities. The winners,each of whom receive $10,000are: Ibrahim Ayeh (Minneapolis), Isaac Combs (White Bear Lake), Robin and Starla Krause (Minneapolis), and Jimmy Longoria (Hopkins).