For Release
October 6, 2005
Contacts:
Deborah Walter
Leadership for a Changing World, Advocacy Institute
908.522.1677
mediahits@comcast.net

Joe Voeller
Ford Foundation
(212) 573-5128

Ford Foundation Announces Winners of 2005 Leadership for a Changing World Awards
17 Recognized for Outstanding Leadership in U.S. Communities

New York, N.Y. - October 6, 2005 - The Ford Foundation today announced the 2005 winners of the Leadership for a Changing World awards. The 17 awardees, chosen by a national selection committee from a pool of nearly 1,000 nominations, are individuals and leadership teams tackling some of the nations most entrenched social, economic and environmental challenges.

These leaders are a welcome reminder that people can make a difference, says Susan V. Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation. They have brought not only concrete gains to their communities but a determination to stand for justice that builds hope and inspires others. It's never been more important to listen to them.

The program is recognizing awardees for such efforts as helping young people thrive in New York City and Milwaukee, helping low-wage workers gain better wages and benefits in North Carolina and Seattle, and cleaning up environmental hazards in the Southwest. A full list of the Leadership for a Changing World award winners is attached.

Each awardee will receive $100,000 to advance their work and an additional $15,000 for educational opportunities to strengthen their individual or organizational effectiveness over the course of two years. The winners will also participate in a multi-year collaborative research initiative to explore how community leadership is created and sustained.

The Award and Research Program

Launched in September 2000, Leadership for a Changing World is a program of the Ford Foundation in partnership with the Advocacy Institute in Washington, D.C. and the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University. Since 2000, the program has recognized more than 100 outstanding leaders and leadership teams not broadly known beyond their immediate community or field. Leadership for a Changing World provides financial and other support for their programs and leadership, and engages them as partners in ongoing research about leadership.

In honoring these leaders, the program seeks to expand conventional notions of what constitutes leadership, to create a conversation on the nature of effective leadership and to engage new voices in shaping regional and national agendas. Thus far, the Leadership for a Changing World program has recognized 164 individuals from 36 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

The recipients of the Leadership for a Changing World award represent the best this country has to offer, said Jerry Hauser, president and CEO of the Advocacy Institute. On issues from environmental justice to education reform, they bring people together to solve their communities most urgent problems. They show all of us just how much progress is possible when we work together with effectiveness and persistence.

The 2005 Leadership for a Changing World Awardees

Robin Acree, Executive Director, GRO-Grass Roots Organizing - Mexico, Missouri
Will Allen, Executive Director, Growing Power Community Food Center - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Jane Sung E Bai, Chhaya Chhoum, Carolyn de Leon Hermogenes, Helena S. Wong, and Ai-jen Poo, CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities - New York, New York
Joanna L. Brown, Lissette Moreno-Kuri, Ada Ayala, Maria Alviso, and Leticia Barrera, Logan Square Neighborhood Association - Chicago, Illinois
Bhairavi Desai, Executive Director, New York Taxi Workers Alliance - New York City, New York
Bob A. Fulkerson, Director, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada - Reno, Nevada
Esther Gallow, President and Chief Executive Officer, Booker T. Community Outreach - Monroe, LA
Jim D. Hansen, Gloria G. Muñoz, Roger E. Sherman, Lucinda Hormel, and Judith L. Brown, United Vision for Idaho - Boise, Idaho, and Moscow, Idaho
Rev. Nelson N. Johnson and Joyce Hobson Johnson, Beloved Community Center of Greensboro - Greensboro, North Carolina
Ricardo Martínez and Pam Martínez, Co-Directors, Padres Unidos - Denver, Colorado
Shannon Price Minter, Legal Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights - San Francisco, California
Reggie Moore, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Urban Underground - Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Richard Moore, Executive Director, Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice - Albuquerque, New Mexico
Diane Narasaki, Executive Director, Asian Counseling and Referral Service - Seattle, WA
Barbara Poley and Loris Taylor, Hopi Foundation - Hotevilla, AZ
David Jeffrey Utter, Director, Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana - New Orleans, Louisiana
Jason Warwin, Khary Lazarre-White, and Cidra M. Sebastien, The Brotherhood/Sister Sol - New York, New York

The Leadership for a Changing World National Selection Committee

The 2005 National Selection Committee was co-chaired by David Dodson, President of MDC, Inc., and Alice Ito, Program Officer at the Marguerite Casey Foundation.

Members included Barbara Schaffer Bacon, Project Director, Animating Democracy Initiative; Roderick L. Bremby, Secretary, Kansas Department of Health and Environment; Hedy Chang, Independent Consultant; Joan Garner, Executive Director, Southern Partners Fund; Wendy Johnson, Former Program Director, Ruth Mott Foundation; Gara LaMarche, U.S. Program Director, Open Society Institute; Andrew J. Lee, Director of Public Policy, Aetna, Inc.; Tomas Perez, Professor, University of Maryland; Gary Sandusky, Community Organizer, Center for Community Change; Alfonso Wyatt, Vice President, Fund for the City of New York.

The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation, and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.

The Advocacy Institute, founded in 1985, works to make a difference around the world by strengthening movements for political, social and economic justice through leadership support, networking and development. With its partners, it helps make democratic institutions accountable. The Institutes actions link it to a global community of grass-roots activists and nongovernmental organizations that tackle critical human rights issues such as gender equity, peace, sustainable development, public health, ending poverty and protecting the environment.

The Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, established in 1938, offers advanced programs leading to the professional degrees of Master of Public Administration, Master of Urban Planning, Master of Science in Management, and Doctor of Philosophy. Through these programs, the Wagner School educates the future leaders of public, nonprofit and health institutions as well as private organizations serving the public sector. As the largest school of public service in the country, it is committed to preparing people who can translate ideas into action.

MEDIA: Leadership for a Changing World awardees, researchers and representatives of the program are available for interviews. Please contact Deborah Walter at (908) 522-1677 or mediahits@comcast.net.