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Innovative Youth Development and Non-Traditional Health
Programs Dominate This Year's Robert Wood Johnson Community Health
Leadership Awards
$1.2 Million Awarded to Health Innovators in Nine States
and the District of Columbia
Detroit,
MI - June 27, 2006 From a judge in Idaho who founded a
unique court that metes out appropriate treatment and sentencing for
offenders with mental illness to a visually- challenged Atlanta woman who
is enriching the lives of children isolated by their blindness with social
and educational programs, the 2006 Robert Wood Johnson Community Health
Leaders (CHLP) were announced today at a ceremony in Princeton, New Jersey.
“This award is given to 10 people who have demonstrated through ingenuity,
perseverance and social commitment, that moving the needle to improve the
health and well-being of people in their communities and giving a voice to
those who may need help in raising their own, can be achieved,” said
Catherine Dunham, Ed.D, CHLP Program Director.
The winners receive $120,000 each ($105,000 for their program and a $15,000
personal award) for their work in solving some of the most complex health
and social service problems of our day. They were chosen from more than 300
nominations submitted nationwide. This year's award winners represent urban
and rural areas of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho,
Louisiana, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Nevada,
and the District of Columbia.
“This outstanding group of people has demonstrated creative leadership to
address problems that affect both the health care and health of those we
serve,” said Risa Lavizzo-
Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “We celebrate their accomplishments in
inspiring and leading change, and creating solutions to challenges faced by
the most vulnerable in our nation.”
Since 1992, CHLP has distributed 140 awards in 47 states, Washington,
D.C. and Puerto Rico.
Those chosen are nominated by civic leaders, health professionals,
government representatives and others inspired by their efforts to provide
essential health services to their communities.
Leader
summaries:
2006 ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON COMMUNITY HEALTH LEADERS
ELIZABETH ARENALES, Healthcare Policy Director, Colorado Center
on Law and Policy, Denver, CO. Attorney Elisabeth Arenales
advocates for health care justice for all, collaborating with doctors, the
business community, and the state legislature. But when the stakes are
high, she’s not afraid to take matters further. In 2004 when a state-
designed computer screening system failed, cutting off life-sustaining
services to seriously ill people, Arenales
successfully sued the state and won a court order to restore services.
SHARON BASKERVILLE, Executive Director, D.C. Primary Care Association,
Washington, DC Sharon Baskerville’s passion for social justice began in the
70s, when, as a poor single mother on welfare, she walked into a
neighborhood clinic seeking services for her family. Today, as a result of
her tenacity Baskerville directs the most progressive health coverage
system in the country, including a $145 million Medical Homes D.C.
Initiative to bring primary and specialty care facilities and doctors into
underserved neighborhoods.
YOLETTE BONNET, CEO, Comprehensive AIDS Program of Palm
Beach County, West Palm Beach, FL.
Her own experience with injury and poverty shaped Yolette
Bonnet’s decision to work directing an HIV/AIDS program in a county with
one of the highest HIV/AIDS and uninsured rates in the nation--one out of
every 166 people is living with HIV or AIDS. Today the organization has
expanded its HIV prevention and education services reaching all communities
of Palm Beach
County, and serves
nearly 3,000 HIV/AIDS patients annually. And work soon begins on a 28,000
square-foot community health center that will be the first non-profit, non-
governmental, federally qualified health center in Palm Beach County.
GREGG CROTEAU, Executive Director, United Teen Equality Center, Inc., Lowell, MA.
Gregg Croteau’s experience has shown him that
truly successful youth programs must engage the young people in the work.
The United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) is run by and for young people
between the ages of 13 and 23, providing a safe haven for youth development
programming and grassroots organizing. One of the most daring and
successful of UTEC’s programs is the Streetworker Program, which facilitates mediations with
gangs on a daily basis and coordinates peace summits. Last year alone UTEC
conducted more than 50 successful mediations and a highly successful peace
summit between two leading rival youth gangs.
MONTY FAKHOURI, Director of Public Health and Youth Services, Arab American
and Chaldean Council (ACC), Detroit,
MI. Monty Fakhouri is a man with a mission: to provide the poor residents
of Metropolitan Detroit, including Arab-Americans and African-Americans,
with access to culturally- appropriate health care and prevention services.
He also recognizes the importance of serving the needs of youth and recently
helped to develop a new ACC
Youth Center
that offers a safe place to play and study. The National Football League
agrees. It has selected Fakhouri to lead the ‘One World One Team’
multicultural activities for youth during the 2006 Super Bowl in Detroit.
ANNIE MAXWELL, Director, STARS and Volunteer Services, Center for the
Visually Impaired, Atlanta GA. Blind from birth, Annie Maxwell is often
compared with another “Annie,” the legendary Annie Sullivan who taught
Helen Keller. When she became the director of the Social Therapeutic and
Recreational Services (STARS) program, she gave hope and more to a
generation of socially isolated and educationally deprived children and
their families, by offering visually impaired children after school
enrichment programs, field trips, a summer day camp, athletic programs and
important mentoring.
BRENT MOSS, District Court Judge, 7th Idaho
Judicial District, Rexburg,
ID. For years, Judge Brent
Moss saw defendants come before his bench with severe mental illnesses.
Knowing full well that a prison sentence was unlikely to offer
rehabilitation or treatment, Moss succeeded in opening one of the few
mental health courts in the nation. The court uses regular hearings,
frequent drug tests, an assertive regimen of treatment for defendants who
come before it, serious consequences for those who don’t follow the rules,
and rewards for those who do. Since its launch in 2002, the court has
reduced jail time for its participants by a remarkable 85 percent and
hospital time by 97 percent.
KRISTY NICHOLS, Director, Bureau of Primary Care and Rural Health, Baton Rouge, LA.
Kristy Nichols grew up in the south around people she saw struggling
financially and without access to adequate health care. This experience
inspired Nichols to make her life’s work that of enabling those most
vulnerable to act on their own behalf. As head of the Bureau of Primary
Care and Rural Health, she has improved the health status of rural
residents and has been instrumental in increasing the number of federally qualified
health centers serving rural Louisiana
by almost 50 percent. As a result, in 2005 the state went from the bottom
of the list of states receiving federal funding to third in the nation.
MICHAEL RODOLICO, Executive Director, Health
Access Washoe
County, Reno, NV.
Michael Rodolico’s passion for health care was
shaped by his experiences as a combat medic assigned with the U.S. Army
Special Forces Civic Action Teams helping villagers in Southeast
Asia. Today Rodolico has built a
community health center with 60,000 client visits every year. He opened the
area’s first dental clinic, now providing nearly 18,000 dental visits every
year. Leaving no stone unturned or any person without needed care, Rodolico also developed the area’s first women’s health
program, first pediatric mental health clinic, a pharmacy, a diabetes
service, and a free clinic for the homeless.
BEV TITTLE-BAKER, President/CEO, Community Asset and Resource Enterprise
(CARE) Partnership, Mesa, AZ. Negotiating a truce among seven rival gangs
around her kitchen table and running after school programs in her backyard,
was not exactly what Bev Tittle-
Baker had in mind when she retired a decade ago. Instead, Tittle-Baker built a major holistic youth development
program that has expanded it to include the needs of the entire community.
Today, CARE runs a pediatric and family planning clinic with on-site
prenatal care - programs for youth, adults and the community- emergency
food pantry, clothing bank and holiday assistance program—and plans are underway
for a dental clinic.
Arab American and Chaldean Council
ACC
is the largest non-profit human service organization to provide services to
the Middle Eastern Community in Southeast Michigan.
For more information on ACC services, please visit us at www.myacc.org.
Website: http://www.myacc.org
The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health
care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy
devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans,
the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals
to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely
change. For more than 30 years the Foundation has brought experience,
commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect
the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping
Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation
expects to make a difference in your lifetime.
Website: http://www.rwjf.org
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