Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Celebrating Those Who Work to Build Community

 This blog entry is reposted from our Leaders for Communities website.

By Sara Varela 
NeighborWorks America
Community Building and Organizing
communications specialist

At the recent NeighborWork Training Institute in Atlanta (February 18) NeighborWorks America presented the third annual National Award for Excellence in Community Building and Organizing (CB&O). We honored nine outstanding individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to the field, encourage resident leadership development, support resident led activities and help communities build social capital.

Winners included Julia King from LaCasa Inc in Indiana; Kathryn Benner and Priscila Cisneros, Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation in California; Carol Bronson, NeighborWorks Great Falls, Montana; Alexis Collins, Orlando Neighborhood Improvement Corporation in Florida; Kevin Johnson, Madison Park Development Corporation, in Boston; and Douglas Le, Belinda Yee and Johanna Contreras, Asian Americans from Equality in New York City. I am honored to work with these individuals on a regular basis and to have an opportunity to recognize their hard work.
Award winners during the ceremony (Back, left to right): Carol Bronson; Alexis Collins, Kathryn Benner, Julia King,
Kevin Johnson, Eileen Fitzgerald, Douglas Le (Front) Priscilla Cisneros, Belinda Yee, and Johanna Contreras

These outstanding practitioners are passionate about their work in encouraging and facilitating the development of local talent, so residents can lead the change they want to see in their communities. Thanks to them and to all the other CB&O practitioners in the field. Their work is very important to NeighborWorks America and the communities in which they work.

To see additional photos of the event visit our Flickr page, and watch this video from the local ABC Channel in Great Falls Montana for a piece on Carol Bronson, read the press release from Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation and this article that talks about Julia King in the local paper The Elkart Truth.