[Archived] Alexandria Commission for Women Honors Outstanding Individuals at 25th Annual Salute To Women Awards Banquet

City Press Release


	City of Alexandria, Virginia Office of the City Manager Alexandria City Hall 301 King Street, Suite 3500 Alexandria, Virginia 22314-3211 www.alexandriava.gov Telephone: 703.838.4300 Fax : 703.838.6343

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 30, 2005
PIO 094-05/rdo

Alexandria Commission for Women Honors
Outstanding Individuals at 25th Annual
Salute To Women Awards Banquet

Almost 300 people attended the Alexandria Commission for Women’s 25th annual Salute to Women Awards Banquet on Monday evening, March 28, to honor 21 outstanding individuals nominated by their fellow residents for their enormous contributions to the Alexandria community. The event, jointly sponsored by the Alexandria Office on Women, is annually held during Women's History Month.

Presiding at the Banquet was Commission for Women Chair Laura Mandala, who began the evening by saluting all award nominees. Thirteen nominees were announced as award winners and recognized by City Council Vice-Mayor Redella (Del) Pepper, Councilwoman Joyce Woodson, State Delegate Marian Van Landingham, and former City Manager Vola Lawson.

The Alexandria Commission for Women also presented a special proclamation to retiring State Delegate Marian Van Landingham for her efforts to improve the lives of women throughout her career. The proclamation saluted Van Landingham for her long service as Delegate of the 45th District, where she accomplished much on behalf of women and all citizens in her district, as well as for her founding of Alexandria's Torpedo Factory Arts Center, the nation's largest visual arts center. The Commission also announced renaming of the Legislation and Public Policy Award in her honor.

The keynote speaker at the banquet was Marie C. Johns, a Managing Member of L&L Consulting, LLC, a full service management, economic development and public policy consulting practice. Ms. Johns is former President, Verizon Washington, DC, and has been an engaged business leader in the Washington metropolitan region for over 20 years. She spoke about her efforts to strengthen education, health care and economic development systems.

For the first time, the Commission for Women sought to make the banquet a fundraiser. This year's proceeds -- expected to be about $10,000 -- are being donated to support the City's Sexual Assault Response and Awareness Program (SARA). While SARA is a City program, it is heavily reliant on funding from grants and private donations. Major sponsors for the Banquet included Mandala Research, McEnearney Associates, Congressman Jim Moran, Inova Alexandria Hospital and Jack Taylor Toyota/Scion. Taylor's gift was given in memory of Nancy Dunning, who was posthumously awarded the Commission's Marguerite Payez Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.

Award winners included:

q Marguerite Payez Lifetime Achievement Award -- Barbara Gilley. Gilley, disabled as a child by polio, defied the odds and raised a family, as well as working for many years in federal agencies. She devoted most of her life to advancing the rights of people with disabilities. She was a board member of the Alliance for the Physically Disabled, and was chair of the Alexandria Commission on Persons with Disabilities. She also served on the Commonwealth of Virginia's Disability Rights Commission, and was a leader in the Coppermine Place project, where state funds are being used to build an apartment building for people with severe physical disabilities. Gilley passed away in December 2004.

q Women's Health and Safety Advocate Award: Jodie Markowitz. After service as an Americorps volunteer with the Northern Virginia AIDS Ministry (NOVAM), Markowitz joined the staff there, where she is now a program manager working with several programs that educate and familiarize young people in personal ways with HIV/AIDS. She is also a board member of Community Partners for Children and is active in other community affairs.

q Youth Community Services Award -- given to adults and/or young people. Three awards were presented in this category this year.
o Adult winner: Officer Charlette Mitchell-Young. Mitchell-Young for many years ran the Police Department's D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) Program in the City's elementary schools, where she was very successful with students. She has received more than 60 letters of commendation in her career, and received the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce Valor Award for saving the life of another police officer.
o Youth Winner: Shannon Scott. Scott is a very active volunteer and excellent student. She has volunteered for many years, using her skill has a dancer to visit nursing homes and other community centers. She participates in many youth service organizations, including the Youth Service Coalition, the Alexandria Youth Council, 4-H and more. She also raises funds for the homeless and for the Alexandria Breast Cancer Walk.
o Youth Winner: Monowara Hossain. Hossain, who came to the US from Bangladesh when she was in 4th grade, has been an active volunteer since 8th grade. She is president of the Z Club at TC Williams, the youth version of Zonta International -- and has led the organization to work in the community with the Red Cross, Christmas in April, Black History Project, UNICEF, ALIVE and Take Our Daughters to Work Day. She has received the TC Williams "Titan Pride" Award and the Alexandria City Council Award for Community Service.

q Cultural Affairs Award -- there are two winners this year:
o Janet Barnett. Barnett is Deputy Director of the City's Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities, where she has played a major role in shaping Alexandria's cultural landscape, creating some of the City's lasting cultural activities, including the Memorial Day Jazz Festival, the Ethnic Festival series, the Alexandria Birthday Celebration in partnership with the Alexandria Symphony. She also works directly with the George Washington Parade Committee, the Days of Remembrance Committee, the Scottish Walk and the Red Cross Waterfront Festival. She also helped created the Commission for the Arts, and worked to launch the new Festival of the Arts.
o Marga Fripp. Fripp, a former journalist and women's rights advocate who came to the US from Romania in 2001, is the founder of Empowered Women International, a nonprofit organization that helps women gain skills in business and self-esteem. EWI says it has served more than 350 immigrant and refugee women, and more than 50 have benefited from coaching. Many more women have participated in empowerment workshops.

q Career Development and Education/Training Award -- Karen Randall. Randall, a leader in vocal music in the City schools for 30 years, heads the Music Department at TC Williams, where she also serves as choral director and music theory teacher. She has worked at every level in the schools, and many of her students have gone on to the nation's top professional music schools and to careers in music. She is also known for exciting all students about music, and for creating the King Street Singers, an a capella group in Renaissance costume that performs for special City functions.

q Legislation and Public Policy – Marian Van Landingham. This award, now named for Van Landingham, honors her for her almost-25 years of outstand service as Delegate from the 45th District, and recognizes her many contributions to the well-being of women during her tenure. She is also the founder of the Torpedo Factory Arts Center, leading the City to partner with her and the arts community in creating what is today the nation's largest visual arts center.

q Rising Star Award - Jennifer Ann Canaff-McNulty. Canaff-McNulty is the volunteer founder of the Northern Virginia Dress for Success program. This program, which recently merged with the Metropolitan Washington chapter in order to expand services, works nationally to help women moving into the workforce or to a better career by assisting them in obtaining professional clothing for interviews and work. Canaff-McNulty worked with the City's Domestic Violence Intervention project to help women in greatest need.

q Women’s Business Award - Joan Wheeler. Wheeler, a pre-school special education teacher, works with children who can easily be lost to society without special support. She has been a leader of the Child Find Team, dedicated teachers who go into the homes of these children to identify, test and advocate for their placement in special programs. She also continues to work with the children's families. This extraordinary educator also chairs the Mentoring Team, which provides guidance and leadership to all special education teachers.

q Woman-to-Woman, Making a Difference Award -- Rosemary Dillard. Dillard lost her husband when Flight 77 dove into the Pentagon on 9-11-01. In order to make sure these tragic losses were not in vain, she helped found and lead the Pentagon Memorial Fund, which has led efforts to raise funds for a memorial on the site. She also was one of the individuals pressuring for the 9-11 Commission's creation and investigation into security and management lapses to make certain this tragic day could not happen again. She also worked on the City's Community Services Board and has helped oversee the passage of the national Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, the largest overhaul of US intelligence gathering in 30 years.

• Vola Lawson Award, given to honor a City employee – Sgt. Scott Gibson. Gibson is credited with creating the City's first Domestic Violence Unit fifteen years ago, which he started from nothing with just a small amount of grant funding. Today, largely because of Gibson's efforts, the Unit has four detectives, a social worker and support staff, all of whom work with magistrates, judges, domestic violence counselors and others to keep women safe in the City. Alexandria's Domestic Violence Unit is a much-praised nationwide model program.

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