COMMUNITY BUILDER RECOGNITION: A SPOTLIGHT ON WOMEN OF COLOR

Many of whom are “hidden in plain sight.”

Community building work (paid and unpaid) that is intended to benefit all people, strengthen communities, and positively impact all members of society – with particular emphasis on those people and communities who are low-income, have been historically under-represented and under-resourced, and are most vulnerable. Many of whom are people of color and women.

We want to recognize the extraordinary impact of women of color in your respective communities and organizations that YOU feel are making a significant and measurable difference in their communities through exemplary leadership, service, and innovation. That includes Rising Stars who are under the age of 21.

• Individuals who recognize a community need; and, influence meaningful change, create new systems, programs, and/or innovative approaches to achieve positive change;
• Inspire and mobilize others (including “allies”) to become engaged in critical issues in their communities, often engaging in collaborative, cross sectoral partnerships to achieve greater impact;
• Encourage meaningful, and authentic “place-based” civic engagement – working “with”, “in”, and “for” communities;
• Actively encourage civic engagement and public service as a core value, i.e., mentoring activities, strengthening local civic muscle, actively supporting and engaging in local civic engagement and leadership development within under-represented and under-resourced communities;
• Extraordinary acts of human generosity, community caring, and volunteerism;
• Important data collection, research, publications and reports;
• Achieve measurable impacts (quantitative and qualitative).