Awards, Jan 06, 2005

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

Community development. The Open Society Institute (New York) has announced its 2004 Baltimore fellows, each of whom will receive $48,750 over 18 months to carry out projects to help disadvantaged neighborhoods in Baltimore. The recipients:

— Maria Broom, who will establish Dance Girls of Baltimore, a program for girls attending some of Baltimore’s most challenging public elementary schools.

— Allison Brown, who will strengthen the New Song Arts program in Baltimore’s Sandtown neighborhood by introducing choreography suited for a gospel choir, media production, and other elements.

— Nancy Lewin, who will foster greater access to public health services by revamping three community-based clinics operated by the City of Baltimore.

— Stan Markowitz, who will work with Baltimore’s American Indian Center to emphasize Native American culture and help combat poverty, substance abuse, and other social problems prevalent among American Indians.

— Sarah E. Penna, who will document the stories of uninsured people through surveys and case studies that she will collect in a publication and in a short video documentary for the Maryland Citizens Health Initiative.

— Abbie A. Riopelle, who will work with the Office of the Public Defender to identify and help meet the educational needs of young people involved in the juvenile-justice system.

— Jay Wolf Schlossberg-Cohen, who will help residents of Baltimore’s Midtown Edmondson neighborhood to revitalize their community by using art to enhance public spaces, structural facades, and interiors along its main corridor.

— Zara Urgiles, who will collaborate with CASA of Maryland to establish Mujeres Para la Justicia (Women for Justice), which will organize, educate, and train Latina immigrants about human and labor rights.

— Charlotte Walters, who will create the Emerging Women’s Program, which will match professional women with teenage girls who have been identified by the Baltimore City Public School System as being at high risk for long-term suspension or expulsion.

— Jodie Zisow, who will establish the Forum for Creative Organizing, an interactive art and educational program designed to help citizens resolve problems facing their neighborhoods.

Corporate giving. The Center for Corporate Citizenship of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Washington) has announced the winners of its 2004 Corporate Citizenship Awards in several categories:

— The Citizenship in Action Award went to Home Depot (Atlanta) for its response to the hurricanes that struck Florida and the Southeast this year and for its support for U.S. troops returning home from Iraq.

— The Corporate Stewardship Large Business Award went to Office Depot (Delray Beach, Fla.) for its work to sell recycled-paper products and for its education and environmental programs.

— The Corporate Stewardship Midsize Business Award went to University Bank (St. Paul) for its innovative products and services geared toward low-income communities.

— The Corporate Stewardship Small Business Award went to Seventh Generation (Burlington, Vt.) for its paper, household, and other products that use natural ingredients that don’t harm the environment.

— The International American Chamber Community Service Award went to AmCham Singapore for its philanthropic activities, which include a workplace HIV/AIDS-education program.

In addition, the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise (Washington) and the Center for Corporate Citizenship of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce presented the annual Henry Morrison Flagler Builder Award for Leadership in Society and Business to Millard Fuller, founder and president of Habitat for Humanity International (Americus, Ga.).

Grass-roots leadership. The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation (Winston-Salem, N.C.) has presented its annual Nancy Susan Reynolds Awards, which recognize grass-roots leaders from North Carolina who have worked largely without recognition. The winners: for advocacy, Paul Braun, of Morganton, who waged a successful seven-year campaign to save nearby Lake James and 9,000 adjacent acres of land from uncontrolled development; for race relations, Tony Foriest, of Graham, who created Closing the Gap, a group that works to achieve greater parity in test scores among black and white students in Alamance County; and for personal service, Maria Pavón, of Siler City, an immigrant from Mexico and domestic-violence survivor who now serves as a counselor for abused Latinas in Chatham County. Each award carries a $25,000 cash prize, of which $5,000 goes to the individual and $20,000 to a charitable organization designated by the winner.

Poverty. The Robin Hood Foundation (New York) has presented its annual Robin Hood Heroes Awards, which honor individuals and organizations working to mitigate poverty in New York City. Each recipient received $50,000 for the organization they represent. The awardees:

— Ellen Baxter and Julissa Ventura of Broadway Housing, which provides homeless people and families with homes and support services in six buildings in the Harlem and Washington Heights neighborhoods.

— Daliah Heller of Citiwide Harm Reduction, which offers comprehensive social services and a needle-exchange program for substance abusers.

— Maggie Runyan-Shefa and Jackie Gathers of K.I.P.P. Star, a school that has duplicated the success of the KIPP Academy, a charter school in New York.

— Steve Stathis of Graybeards, a nonprofit group in Rockaway that has brought counseling and additional services to firefighters, police officers, and other local residents intensely affected by the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Public interest. Public Citizen (Washington) has presented its Phyllis McCarthy Annual Public Interest Service Award to Sally Whelan, a founder and 25-year staff member of the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, which produces the book Our Bodies, Ourselves. The award honors people who have worked for lengthy stints at public-interest groups, but have received little or no acclaim.