The following awards have been presented for work in advocacy, fund raising, nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, and other areas.
Arts. The Business Committee for the Arts (Long Island City, N.Y.) and Forbes magazine (New York) have presented their 2004 Business in the Arts Awards, which honor companies that have shown commitment, innovation, and leadership in fostering partnerships with arts organizations. The awards were made in five categories:
-- The Founders Award, for long-term leadership in developing alliances with arts groups: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Bethesda, Md.).
-- The Leadership Award, for a business leader who has developed and advocated business-arts partnerships: Raymond D. Nasher, chairman of the Nasher Company (Dallas).
-- The Commitment Award, for corporate support of the arts for 10 years or more: Fitzpatrick Family Companies (Stockbridge, Mass.) and United Technologies Corporation (Hartford, Conn.).
-- The New Initiative Award, for support of the arts for one to five years: Price Chopper (Schenectady, N.Y.).
-- The Innovation Award, for a groundbreaking arts alliance: Harsch Investment Properties (Portland, Ore.) and the Monsanto Company (St. Louis).
The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize Trust (New York) has announced the recipient of its 2004 award, which honors “trailblazers who have redefined their art and reshaped the cultural landscape.” This year’s prize went to Ornette Coleman, the jazz composer and saxophonist who developed the “harmolodic” approach to music, which broke from conventional uses of harmony, melody, and rhythm. The Gish Prize carries a cash award of approximately $250,000.
Education. The McGraw-Hill Companies (New York) has presented its 2004 Prize in Education, which honors individuals dedicated to improving education in the United States. The recipients, who each received $25,000, are:
-- Geoffrey Canada, president and chief executive officer of the Harlem Children’s Zone (New York), which provides disadvantaged children and their families with both educational and economic opportunities.
-- Cecilia Cunningham, founder and director of the Middle College National Consortium (Long Island City, N.Y.), which provides professional-development opportunities for secondary and postsecondary educators who work with underprivileged students.
-- Janet Lieberman, co-founder of the Middle College High School at LaGuardia Community College (Long Island City, N.Y.), a model of public high schools that feature small classes, high-quality teachers, and extensive counseling and that are located on college campuses.
-- Robert Moses, founder and president of the Algebra Project (Cambridge, Mass.), which helps low-income and minority middle-school students achieve the mathematics skills needed to pursue a college-preparatory math sequence in high school.
Health and human services. The National Assembly of Health and Human Service Organizations (Washington) has presented its 2004 Essence of Leadership Awards in the following categories:
-- The Award of Excellence in National Board Leadership went to Francis X. Burnes III, managing director of JP Morgan Chase (New York), for his work with Girls Incorporated (New York).
-- The Award of Excellence in National Executive Leadership went to Charles W. Gould, president and chief executive officer of Volunteers of America (Alexandria, Va.), and to Roxanne Spillett, president of Boys & Girls Clubs of America (Atlanta).
-- The Award for Excellence by a Member of the Media went to E.J. Dionne Jr., a columnist for The Washington Post.
Nonprofit leadership. Independent Sector (Washington) has presented its 2004 Leadership IS Award to the Western Law Center for Disability Rights (Los Angeles). The center, which is based at Loyola Law School, provides legal services designed to advance the rights of disabled people, as well as public awareness of those rights. The award, which is accompanied by a $10,000 grant, recognizes a nonprofit organization that promotes leadership among its board and staff members, volunteers, and clients. Independent Sector also awarded Honorable Mention to the Orange County Human Relations Council (Santa Ana, Calif.), which fosters local collaboration among low-income people, immigrants, Latinos, blacks, and other clients who are often disenfranchised.
Social change. The Ford Foundation (New York) has announced the recipients of its 2004 Leadership for a Changing World awards, which honor individuals and groups of people who are tackling critical social issues.
The awards are given in partnership with the Advocacy Institute (Washington) and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York U. Awardees each receive $100,000 to advance their work and $15,000 for supporting activities over two years. The recipients are:
-- Pablo Alvarado, national coordinator at the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (Los Angeles), which serves as an umbrella group for 25 community-based groups nationwide working to bolster the rights of day laborers and advocate legal status for undocumented immigrants.
-- Sandra K. Barnhill, executive director of Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers (Atlanta), whose organization works with families, legislators, and judges to assist children whose mothers are incarcerated in Georgia prisons.
-- Campaign to End the Death Penalty (Chicago), through which Greta Holmes, Alice Kim, Noreen McNulty, and Joan Parkin have succeeded in securing the pardon of four death-row inmates in Illinois as well as the governor’s commutation of all death sentences in the state last year.
-- Ron Chew, executive director of the Wing Luke Asian Museum (Seattle), who uses exhibits on the culture and history of Pacific-Asian Americans to help bring together diverse ethnic groups in the urban Seattle neighborhood where the museum is located.
-- Colonias Development Council (Las Cruces, N.M.), through which Diana Bustamante, Rubén Núñez, and Mary Ann Benavidez work with both private- and public-sector groups to bring better housing, utilities, child-care facilities, and other services to communities along the U.S.-Mexican border.
-- Dázon Dixon Diallo, founder and chief executive officer of SisterLove (Atlanta), which works to advance women’s reproductive rights and sexual health, with a primary focus on HIV/AIDS among women of African descent.
-- Carolyn Dowse, executive director of the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society (Ga.), which seeks to improve economic conditions in the island’s Hog Hammock community, whose residents are direct descendents of Sapelo Island’s original slave inhabitants, and to help preserve the community’s Gullah/Geechee traditions.
-- East Bay Asian Youth Center (Oakland, Calif.), through which David Kakishiba, Isabel Toscano, Dung Thi Tran, Rosa Vicente, Lew Chien Saelee, and Evangelina Lara assist Asian-American youths and organize low-income parents living in multiracial Oakland neighborhoods.
-- Hugh Espey, director of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Des Moines), a membership organization that combats crime, slum landlords, and predatory lending in urban areas, and that promotes family farms and sustainable development in rural areas of Iowa.
-- Anthony Flaccavento, executive director of Appalachian Sustainable Development (Abingdon, Va.), which works in 10 rural counties of Tennessee and Virginia to counter pollution and high rates of unemployment while creating economic opportunities tied to sustainable agriculture and forestry.
-- Jill Morrison, organizer of the Powder River Basin Resource Council (Sheridan, Wyo.), who helps Wyoming residents influence legislation on accountable government, agricultural trade, conservation, and renewable energy.
-- Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (New York), through which Monifa Akinwole-Bandele, Pamela Sah, and Sarah Ludwig help monitor government regulatory policies concerning homeownership and provide legal assistance to community groups in New York City.
-- Rebecca Project for Human Rights (Washington), through which Malika Saada Saar and Imani Walker help women incarcerated for nonviolent offenses speak out in support of better substance-abuse services, family solidarity, and changes in the criminal-justice system.
-- Juan E. Rosario, community organizer at Misión Industrial de Puerto Rico (San Juan), who works with individuals, communities, and religious and governmental organizations to advance anti-pollution efforts in Puerto Rico.
-- Vic Rosenthal, executive director of Jewish Community Action (St. Paul), which works through multifaith and multiethnic coalitions to stem gun violence, promote low-cost housing, and support the rights of Russian-speaking Jewish immigrants.
-- Beatrice Clark Shelby, executive director of the Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center (Marvell, Ark.), an organization that works to create better housing, jobs, and preschool education in rural Phillips County, Ark.
-- Mily Treviño-Sauceda, executive director of Organización en California de Líderes Campesinas (Pomona), whose organization attends to the domestic-violence and health-care problems faced by female, primarily immigrant farmworkers.
-- Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger (Burlington), through which Robert Dostis and Joanne Heidkamp have successfully lobbied state legislators to pass a law requiring all public schools to offer breakfast and lunch programs to poor students.