[Durham INC] Durham Announces Human Relations Award Winners

[Blalock, Amy]

CITY OF DURHAM

Office of Public Affairs

101 City Hall Plaza

Durham, NC 27701

 

 

News Release

 

For Details, Contact:

Amy Blalock

Sr. Public Affairs Specialist

(919) 560-4123 x 11253

(919) 475-7735 (cell)

Amy.Blalock at DurhamNC.gov

 

 

 

 

For Immediate Release: February 24, 2012

 

 

 

Durham Announces Human Relations Award Winners

 

DURHAM, N.C. - Last night, the City of Durham recognized four area
leaders for their commitments to improving human relations among the
people of Durham.

 

In honor of Human Relations Month, the City's Human Relations Commission
and the Human Relations Division of the City's Neighborhood Improvement
Department hosted the 2012 Human Relations Award Ceremony. Reverend
Philip R. Cousin, Jr., pastor at St. Joseph A.M.E. Church and chairman
of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, served as the
keynote speaker for the ceremony. 

 

The winners of the 2012 Human Relations Awards are as follows:

*         Barbara Lau, executive director of the Pauli Murray Project,
won the Carlie B. Sessoms Award, which is the highest and most coveted
award to an individual or organization that has made a major impact on
improving human relations in the City of Durham. This award commemorates
contributions of the late Carlie B. Sessoms, a Durham native who served
as chair of the Human Relations Commission and played a major role in
improving human relations locally and nationally. Lau received this
award because of her work as the executive director of the Pauli Murray
Project at the Duke Human Rights Center and for her work with the
community in organizing events and projects related to civil and human
rights.

 

*         Durham City Council Member J. Michael Woodard won the Human
Rights Award, which is presented to a local, state, or federal lawmaker
who has successful supported or promoted human rights causes and issues.
He received this award for his outstanding and dedicated service in
support of human and civil rights issues throughout the Durham
community. Woodard has stepped into a number of issues to fight for
basic human rights and has lobbied and testified at the General
Assembly. He also introduced the Human Relations Commission's resolution
against the Arizona Law and led the fight to defend Durham's use of the
Matricula Consular. Woodard and his wife have also started a tutoring
and mentoring program at their church, St. Titus Episcopal, tailored for
children in the C.C. Spaulding neighborhood.

 

*         Stephanie Williams, a housing specialist for The Durham
Center, won the Fair Housing Award because of her positive attitude and
outstanding, sustained efforts to promote and establish housing options
for individuals with behavioral health needs. Williams also successfully
assisted in getting a $300,000 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) grant which established two programs in Durham to
house homeless individuals and families in fair-market housing.  

 

*         Mike Shiflett won the Community Housing Award for his
outstanding and dedicated work to strengthen and improve the quality and
sustainability of Durham neighborhoods. Since moving to Durham in 1984,
Shiflett has been deeply committed to Durham's many different
neighborhoods. He believes in learning about how and what causes
neighborhoods to succeed and is a committed volunteer with many
organizations and community associations, not only in his own
neighborhood, but in all of Durham and the Triangle. The number of
organizations that Shiflett has been affiliated with, at last count, was
49 and still growing.

 

For more information about last night's event or the award winners,
contact Delilah Donaldson, human relations manager for the City's
Neighborhood Improvement Services Department, at (919) 560-4107, ext.
34277 or via email at Delilah.Donaldson at DurhamNC.gov. 

 

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