Awards, Jun 28, 2001

The following awards have been presented for work in management, philanthropy, and volunteerism:

Community health. The Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program (Boston) has announced the 2001 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:

— Connie Bremmer, director of the Blackfeet Eagle Shield Senior Citizens Center (Browning, Mont.), who developed several programs to improve the quality of care and provide social opportunities for clients.

— Luis Centeno, founder of the Proclaimers of Hope Ministries (Philadelphia), a program that provides addiction-prevention and recovery services for local residents that has grown to 200 volunteers offering arts, counseling, and physical-education programs for individuals and families.

— Susan Chasson, founder and board president of the Children’s Justice Center (Provo, Utah), which provides a comfortable setting for children to talk about experiences of physical and sexual abuse.

— Mary Fleming, coordinator for agricultural health at Grady Memorial Hospital (Delaware, Ohio), who began programs to raise awareness of farming safety, including training emergency-service providers to handle farming accidents and providing low-cost first-aid kits to farmers.

— Alvin Jackson, medical director of Community Health Services (Fremont, Ohio), who created a mobile clinic to reach the area’s 8,500 migrant farmworkers and their families.

— Victor Joseph, director of the Recovery Camp Program of the Tanana Chiefs Conference (Fairbanks, Alaska) and an Athabascan Indian, who used his own experience of recovering from addiction as the basis for a program for Athabascan and other Alaska Native people to learn traditional values and life skills while overcoming substance abuse.

— The Rev. David Kalke, program developer at Central City Lutheran Mission (San Bernardino, Calif.), who created educational and reproductive-health programs for teenagers in a neighborhood with a high rate of gang-related violence, pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases among young people.

— Charlotte Keys, founder and executive director of Jesus People Against Pollution (Columbia, Miss.), who created the organization to improve environmental conditions after many workers at a local chemical plant became ill.

— Arneatha Martin, co-president and chief executive officer of the Center for Health and Wellness (Wichita, Kan.), which offers preventive health care to low-income blacks and allows clients to volunteer time at the center in exchange for services.

— Gina Upchurch, founder and executive director of Senior PharmAssist (Durham, N.C.), a program that helps poor, elderly people obtain expensive medications and monitors prescriptions for drug interactions, reducing clients’ emergency-room visits by a third.

Corporate giving. Siemens Information and Communication Networks (Boca Raton, Fla.) has been named the 2000 Corporate Leader of the Year by America’s Charities (Chantilly, Va.), which also recognized the work of the corporation’s community-relations manager, Gabriele Estill. The award recognizes the company’s donations of technology equipment, its grants that match employees’ gifts to education organizations, and its sponsorship of volunteer projects for employees.

Management. The Washington Council of Agencies named Miriam’s Kitchen the recipient of the 2001 Washington Post Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management. The award is given annually to a Washington-area nonprofit group and carries a $5,000 prize. Four honorable mentions with prizes of $1,000 each were given to Arena Stage, Choral Arts Society of Washington, Fairfax Area Christian Emergency and Transitional Services, and Homestretch.

Public interest. The Stern Family Fund (Arlington, Va.) has presented its 2001 Public Interest Pioneer award to Jeff Chester and Joe Lovett. Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy at the Center for Media Education (Washington), has worked to inform the public about how changes in the telecommunications industry could affect Internet accessibility, and has assisted efforts to secure consumer protections under the merger of America Online and Time Warner. Joe Lovett, a lawyer and founder of the Appalachian Center for the Economy and the Environment at the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy (Charleston), litigates environmental cases and advocates sustainable-development alternatives for using natural resources in economic development. The award gives each a $100,000 grant for advocacy projects, which is renewable for a second year.