Awards, Jun 17, 1999

The following awards have been presented for work in philanthropy, fund raising, volunteerism, and non-profit management:

Arts. Americans for the Arts (Washington) recently presented its National Arts Awards to five honorees: Mrs. Vincent (Brooke) Astor, long-time arts patron, for arts philanthropy; First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, for arts advocacy; Agnes Gund, founder of Studio in a School (New York), for arts education; Jacob Lawrence, the Harlem Renaissance painter, for lifetime achievement; and Sanford I. Weill, co-chairman and co-chief executive officer of Citigroup (New York), for corporate citizenship in the arts.

The McKnight Foundation (Minneapolis) has presented its second McKnight Distinguished Artist Award to Warren MacKenzie, a world-renowned potter who works from his studio in Stillwater, Minn.; he is a professor emeritus at the U. of Minnesota and a founding member of the Minnesota Crafts Council. The award, which carries a $40,000 prize, is given annually to a working artist who has had a significant long-term impact on the arts in Minnesota.

Community health. The Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program (Boston) has announced the 1999 recipients of its annual awards, which recognize individuals who have “overcome daunting odds to expand access to health care and social services to underserved and isolated communities across the United States.” Each award carries a $100,000 prize, which consists of a $5,000 personal stipend and $95,000 for program development. The winners:

— Elizabeth Burke, Pittsburgh, program coordinator at the Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, for developing a coordinated medical and social-services response to meet the needs of domestic-violence victims.

— Martha Cook Carter, Scott Depot, W.Va., executive director of WomenCare/FamilyCare, for providing the only women’s-health and family-planning services available to poor people in rural Putnam County, W.Va.

— Megan Charlop, Bronx, N.Y., director of the Montefiore Medical Center Lead Poisoning Prevention Project, for creating a comprehensive lead-poisoning prevention and response program, including providing shelter for families who discover that their homes have dangerous levels of lead.

— Tyrone Chatman, Detroit, associate executive director of the Michigan Veteran’s Foundation, for expanding health, legal, vocational, and other support services for disadvantaged war veterans, and for insuring that homeless veterans are counted as part of Detroit’s 2000 census.

— Rosalina (Rosie) Freeman, Morristown, Tenn., executive director of Reachout, for helping Latina factory and farm workers obtain prenatal and obstetric care through home and work-site visits.

— Carey Jackson, Seattle, medical director of the Community House Calls Program at Harborview Medical Center, for incorporating the use of “cultural mediators” to improve health-care services for newly arrived refugees in Seattle.

— Janet Chang Needman, San Jose, Cal., program coordinator of the Family Support Center, for creating a program that helps homeless students succeed in school and for leading a program through which young people who want to break from gangs can have gang-related tattoos removed free of charge.

— Juan Carlos Ruiz, Milwaukee, community organizer at Wisconsin Citizen Action, for directing a campaign to end lead poisoning in children from inner-city Milwaukee households.

— Claudia Sowell, Hopkinsville, Ky., director of the St. Luke Free Clinic, for increasing access to disease-prevention and health-promotion programs and education in her rural Kentucky town, despite the fact that she suffers from multiple sclerosis and is wheelchair-bound.

— Emma Torres, Somerton, Ariz., project manager at Puentes de Amistad, for advocating improved services for migrant farm workers, particularly in the areas of substance abuse, teen-age pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases.

Corporate philanthropy. Newman’s Own (Westport, Conn.) and George magazine have named the travel-industry company Idyll Ltd. (Media, Pa.) and its president, Hal Taussig, as the recipient of the Newman’s Own/George award for innovative and significant corporate philanthropy. Most of Idyll’s profits are donated to the Idyll Development Foundation, which invests in projects and small businesses that create jobs and low-cost housing in impoverished areas of the United States, Brazil, and Vietnam. The award’s prize of $250,000 is donated to a charity designated by the recipient.

Economic development. The Committee for Economic Development (New York) has presented its CED Corporate Citizenship Award to Chase Manhattan Bank (New York). The award recognizes companies that “demonstrate a carefully considered commitment to social and community responsibility.”

Education. The Conference Board (New York) has announced its 1999 “Best in Class” awards, which recognize innovative corporate programs to improve education. The recipients:

— The Sun (Baltimore), for the “Reading by 9″ program to increase the percentage of Baltimore-area 9-year-olds able to read at or above the third-grade level.

— Chase Manhattan Bank (New York), for the Chase Lincoln-Douglas Debate Program, which fosters critical thinking and improved skills in research, writing, speaking, and communication.

— The Hewlett-Packard Company (Palo Alto, Cal.), Intel Corporation (Santa Clara, Cal.), and Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, Wash.), for their “Applying Computers in Education” program, a joint effort to strengthen teachers’ use of computers in the classroom.

— IBM Corporation (Armonk, N.Y.), for the “Reinventing Education” program, which uses innovative technologies to improve student achievement.

— Phillips Petroleum Company (Bartlesville, Okla.), for the “Oklahoma Education Summits,” a comprehensive statewide approach to improving Oklahoma educational systems.

— United Technologies Corporation (Hartford, Conn.), for the Connecticut Pre-Engineering Program, which provides minority and female students with increased opportunities in mathematics, science, and technology.

Fund raising. The Institute for Charitable Giving (Chicago) has presented its 1999 Laureate Award — which honors lifetime achievement in major-gift fund raising — to Rita Bornstein, president of Rollins College (Winter Park, Fla.) and to James Daughdrill, president of Rhodes College (Memphis).

Health. The California Endowment (Woodland Hills) has honored four community organizations for their contributions to improving the health of Californians: Asian Pacific Community Counseling (Sacramento, Cal.), creator of a multimedia educational program for Asian Americans interned during World War II; Blind Children’s Center (Los Angeles), which trains parents of blind or visually impaired children to serve as effective advocates for their children; Community Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (Los Angeles), which develops and organizes local leaders to reduce violence, improve access to health services, and create positive opportunities for young people; and El Concilio (San Mateo, Cal.), a coalition of groups that provide health education and services to Latino families.

Museums. The American Association of Museums (Washington) has announced the recipients of several awards:

— The 1999 Nancy Hanks Award for Professional Excellence went to Marilyn Weiss Cruickshank, director of education at the USS Constitution Museum (Boston), for her contributions to the museum’s educational programs, including the creation of the “All Hands on Deck: Learning Adventures Aboard ‘Old Ironsides’” curriculum for students and teachers.

— The 1999 Award for Distinguished Service went to Peter H. Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden (St. Louis) since 1971; under his leadership, the museum’s audience has grown significantly and several large programs have been instituted, including the Danforth Plant Science Center.

— The 1999 AAM Medal for Distinguished Philanthropy went to Dayton Hudson Corporation (Minneapolis) for its commitment to the arts and to museums nationwide, including the “Arts-Centered Education” program in Detroit.

— The 1999 Accessibility Award went to the Chicago Zoological Park/Brookfield Zoo, which has initiated various programs to expand access to its exhibits and programs for disabled people.