Nominations Open for 2018 Awards

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BRIGHT PROMISES FOUNDATION OPENS NOMINATIONS FOR 2018 AWARDS

Bright Promises Foundation, a Chicago-based public charity serving children since 1869, announced that nominations are now being accepted for the 2018 Awards, which recognize those who have demonstrated outstanding service and commitment to low-income and at-risk children in a professional or volunteer capacity.

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“It is not often in life that we are rewarded for what we do,” said  Dr. Barbara Bowman, co-founder of Erikson Institute and recipient of the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award, “With these awards, Bright Promises Foundation shows its commitment to the well-being of every child, and validates the importance of the care and education of young children.”

There are three categories of awards:

● The Champion for Children Award is presented to a civic or community leader.

● The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to a professional with 10+ years in children’s services.

● The Ed Marciniak Bright Star Award is presented to an early career professional and accompanied by a $5,000 honorarium for professional development.

The Bright Promises Foundation Board of Directors invites the public to submit nominations for these awards by 5:00 pm on Friday, April 27.

Nominations can be submitted online here: https://goo.gl/forms/91v2gRjn8Kwi8T8l1

The 2018 Awards will be presented on Tuesday, September 25, at the University Club of Chicago. This event is free to attend; for more information, visit www.brightpromises.org.

ABOUT THE AWARDS

Champion for Children Award

The Champion for Children Award recognizes and honors an individual, family or business whose commitment and belief in building a better future for Chicago kids is exemplary. This award is presented for exceptional dedication, commitment and belief in building a better future for Chicago kids to a person or organization who has helped the child-serving community attain new levels of success. 

Past honorees:

• Gigi  Pritzker (2016) - Founder of the Pritzker Early Childhood  Foundation and former Board Chair of the Chicago Children’s Museum. Ms. Pritzker is also President of Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation.
• Thomas  Hale (2017) - President of the Board of The Montessori Network  and The Montessori School of Englewood.

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Lifetime Achievement Award 

The Lifetime Achievement Award  recognizes a professional  who has made 10+ years of outstanding contributions to the welfare of children and to programs benefiting disadvantaged children during his or her lifetime.

Past honorees:

• John  Horan (2005) - Dean of Students of North Lawndale College  Preparatory Charter High School.
• Mark  Duhon (2006) - A Co-Founder and Director of HighSight, an  organization that helps tutor vulnerable children.
• Dr.  Joseph DiCara (2007) - Founded Chicago Youth Programs, Inc, a non-profit  organization that strives to improve the life opportunities and health of  at-risk youth in the Cabrini Green, Washington Park and Uptown communities of  Chicago.
• Jerome Stermer (2008) - Founding President of Voices for Illinois  Children, a statewide group of child advocates working for all children to  improve child wellbeing in communities throughout the state.
• Bernice  Weissbourd (2009) - Founded Family Focus, a non-profit agency which  provides comprehensive programs for children and their families in low-income  and minority communities in the Chicagoland area.
• Dr.  Barbara Bowman (2010) - Chief Officer, Early Childhood Education  (Prekindergarten & Kindergarten) Chicago Public Schools, Founder and Past  President Erikson Institute, Past President NAEYC
• Dr.  Katherine Kaufer Christoffel (2011) - Attending Physician at Children’s Memorial  Hospital of Chicago and Professor of Pediatrics and Preventative Medicine at  NWU’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Medical and research Director for CLOCC,  Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children.
• Prudence  Beidler (2012) - Past Chair of Chicago Children’s Museum, Planned  Parenthood of Chicago, Jane Addams Hull House and YWCA of Lake Forest and  Lake Bluff. Leadership on multiple boards and volunteer work for  child-serving agencies.
• Marjorie  Craig Benton (2013) - Co-founder of the Chicago Foundation for Women  and the Peace Museum, former chair of the United Nations Children’s Fund.
• Bryan  Samuels (2014) - Executive Director of Chapin Hall, one of the  nation’s leading research and policy centers focused on improving the  well-being of children and youth, families, and their communities. Before  joining Chapin Hall, Samuels was appointed by President Barack Obama as  Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF).
• Alex  Kotlowitz (2015) - Journalist and author, his book There Are No  Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America, was  a national best seller and was selected by the New York Public Library as one  of the 150 most important books of the twentieth century.
• Ron  Manderschied (2016) - President of Northwestern Settlement House  Association and child advocate.
• Dr.  Linda Gilkerson (2017) - Director of the Irving B. Harris Infant Studies  Program at Erikson Institute and the founder and executive director of its  Fussy Baby Network.

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Ed Marciniak Bright Star Award 

The Ed Marciniak Bright Star Award is given to an early or mid-career professional in children's services with less than 10 years of professional experience who shows great motivation, enthusiasm and promise in exemplifying our mission to benefit disadvantaged children in Illinois. The Bright Star Award is presented at our annual Awards event and is accompanied by an honorarium of $5,000. The Ed Marciniak Bright Star Award is given in memory of Ed Marciniak who served on the Board of Bright Promises Foundation, formerly known as the Illinois Humane Society, from 1955 until his death in 2004. Marciniak also served as president of the Institute of Urban Life at Loyola University from 1973 until 2004. He advised scores of community agencies and schools and founded many organizations linking faith and work, including the Chicago chapter of The Catholic Worker and the National Center for the Laity. He was best known for founding the Catholic Labor Alliance in 1943 and publishing its hard-hitting newspaper titled Work. The Bright Promises Foundation Ed Marciniak Bright Star Award focuses on former Board President Ed Marciniak’s interest in reaching out to individuals early in their career and encouraging them to stay involved in the lives of children.

Past honorees:

• Angela  Devore (2009) - Child Welfare Supervisor, Children’s Home + Aid
• Khalila  Worley (2009) - Program Manager, Holy Family Ministries
• Casey  Holtschneider (2011) - Associate Director of Programming, Teen Living
• Sarah  Elizabeth Ippel (2012) - Founder and Executive Director,  Academy for Global Citizenship
• Eduardo  Bocanegra (2013) - Executive Director, YMCA of Metro Chicago,  Department of Youth Safety and Violence
• Mariame  Kaba (2013) - Founder and Executive Director, Project Nia
• Scheherazade  Tillet (2014) - Co-Founder and Executive Director, Long Walk Home
• Dominica  McBride (2015) - Founder and CEO of Become,  Center for Community Engagement and Social Change
• Maria  Munoz (2016) - Academic Program Coordinator,  Erie Neighborhood House’s Youth Option Unlimited
• Anthony Vincent Clark (2017) - Founder and Executive Director, Suburban Unity Alliance

ABOUT BRIGHT PROMISES FOUNDATION

The mission of Bright Promises Foundation is to address the most urgent, unmet needs of low-income and at-risk children in the Greater Metropolitan Chicago Area. The Foundation carefully selects leading community-based social service agencies and provides the necessary expertise, experience, and financial support to assist these agencies to implement and expand cutting-edge programs for children and families.

Currently, Bright Promises Foundation is working to address such critical issues as promoting resilience in children who have experienced childhood trauma, engaging parents in children’s healthy social and emotional development, and ensuring access to high-quality early childhood education for low-income children.

Alex Kotlowitz, national best-selling author of There Are No Children Here, who received the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award applauds the transformative impact of Bright Promises’ one-of-a-kind approach to grantmaking: “Their commitment to vulnerable children inspires. Bright Promises ability to find the cracks, to fund programs that otherwise might atrophy is what makes the Foundation’s work so remarkable.”

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