Honoring Heroes in the Fight Against Poverty and Inequality
For Immediate Release: Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012
Contact: Donna De La Cruz, ddelacruz@communitychange.org (202) 441-3798
Actress Sonja Sohn, Husband-Wife Philanthropists, CWA and Ohio Group Honored
WASHINGTON—Actress Sonja Sohn, a husband-and-wife philanthropic force, a labor union, and a community rights group are this year’s Community Change Champion Award recipients for dedicating themselves to changing the conditions that create poverty and inequity and who work to build power in low-income communities and communities of color.
“We are extremely proud to honor these worthy recipients in their tireless efforts in the fight for social and economic justice in our communities,” said Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change.
Sohn, best known for her role as Detective Kima Greggs on “The Wire,” received the Community Activism Award for her work empowering youth, families and communities through her nonprofit “ReWired for Change.” Sohn recognizes that people who are often looked at as beyond help have untapped potential and her work to help them improve their lives has been nothing short of remarkable.
“Once filming stopped on “The Wire,” I just couldn’t pack up and leave these kids, their families and these communities behind because I knew they were worth fighting for,” Sohn said. “This has been truly a rewarding role for me.”
Paulette Meyer and David Friedman received the Community Leadership Award and this husband-and-wife team has certainly made an impact in the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally through their anti-poverty work. Meyer founded Women’s Initiative for Self Employment in San Francisco to train and finance low-income women to start their own businesses, and those businesses have added more than 30,000 jobs to the local economy. A structural and earthquake engineer for 37 years, Friedman promotes seismic resiliency around the globe. He also chaired the San Francisco Foundation for many years and is currently leading a campaign to rebuild San Francisco’s public housing to break the multi-generational cycle of poverty in those communities.
“We are honored to receive this award because CCC’s organizing and advocacy work is so closely aligned with our values,” Meyer and Friedman said. “We recognize that building the progressive movement is a long-term process, and we’re motivated to do what we can to strengthen the organizations that are moving us toward a more equitable and just society.”
The Communications Workers of America received the Champion Award in Labor Partnership, in memory of Seth Rosen who passed away unexpectedly this year. Rosen, Vice President for District 5, was the inspiration for and the architect behind “Stand Up Ohio,” a coalition of unions, community, faith, policy and civil rights organizations that in his words “leads the resistance” to the conservative attack on working people and forges a progressive vision for the future.
The Ohio Organizing Collaborative (OOC) received the Champion in Community Organizing Award for uniting community organizing groups, labor unions, faith organizations and policy institutes. The OOC has become a leading statewide organizing model and has emerged as a significant force in shaping Ohio public policy.
The ceremony was emceed by Bob Herbert, a distinguished senior fellow at Demos. Herbert was previously a renowned op-ed columnist with The New York Times.
For more information about the Change Champion Awards, go to http://www.changechampions.org/
