Jan. 13, 2012

Seven Valley residents were honored today for their lifelong commitment to creating a compassionate and socially just community at the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards breakfast, “Stand Up For Justice.”

The Arizona Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration and the Phoenix Human Relations Commission recognized recipients of the Calvin C. Goode Lifetime Achievement award and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Living the Dream award during the breakfast.  The event was sponsored by the Arizona Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee.

Recipients are Dr. Gene Blue for the Calvin C. Goode Lifetime Achievement award and Dr. Madelaine Adelman, Dr. Donald Campbell, Dr. Wil Counts, Adam Lopez-Falk, Dr. Carnella Hardin and Detective Jerry Oliver II for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Living the Dream award.

The Calvin C. Goode Lifetime Achievement award recognizes an exceptional individual who has made Phoenix a better place through a lifelong dedication to promoting social and economic justice, defending civil rights and enhancing the dignity of all people.  The award is named for former Phoenix City Councilman Calvin C. Goode, who worked to ensure these rights for all residents during his 22-year tenure with the council.  It was during Goode’s service to the city that the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. state holiday was created.

Dr. Gene Blue, president and CEO of Arizona Opportunities Industrialization Center (AOIC), the recipient of the Calvin C. Goode Lifetime Achievement Award, is recognized for his 40 years of leadership and service to the community.  He joined AOIC in 1970 and served as training director, program development director and deputy director before assuming his current position.  In his years at AOIC, Blue has positively impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of Phoenix residents through training and job placement.  Among his many ongoing community service efforts, he serves on the Downtown Phoenix Partnership Policy Board and the Arizona State University Minority Advisory Council, and is a former chair of the Phoenix Planning Commission.

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Living the Dream Awards recognize six individuals who embody Dr. King’s ideas through their personal commitment to human relations and justice.

The 2011 recipients are the following.

• Dr. Madelaine Adelman is co-founder and co-chair of the Phoenix chapter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a national non-profit education organization whose mission is to create safe, inclusive schools for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The countless volunteer hours she has devoted to education and training, to ensure that all people are treated fairly at school, have been outside her regular duties as an associate professor at Arizona State University.  Adelman provides training and resources for all Phoenix residents through her work with schools, government and nonprofit agencies, youth organizations, employers and religious institutions.
• Dr. Donald Campbell has demonstrated a personal commitment to inner-city youth through his volunteer work with Project Challenge, an educational program for high school dropouts; Percy L. Julian Elementary School; and MentorKids USA, a mentoring program that matches caring adults with youth. Campbell’s lifelong commitment to his community also is demonstrated by his service on the Roosevelt Elementary School District Governing Board and as a six-term member of the Maricopa Community Colleges Governing Board. He is the first African-American to earn the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Arizona Air National Guard.
• Dr. Wil Counts’ decades-long contributions to the south Phoenix community began in the 1970s with his opening and operating the TERROS drug rehabilitation center, which successfully treated and rehabilitated Hispanic, African-American and Native-American residents addicted to drugs and alcohol. He was instrumental in founding the Juneteenth Scholarship Program for inner city youth and adults, and expanding the Martin Luther King Scholarship Program for college students. His passion for education led him and two other educators to teach college courses to inner-city residents, which ultimately led Counts and his colleagues to become the founders of South Mountain Community College. The lives of inner city residents are better today due to his exceptional contributions.  
• Dr. Carnella Hardin’s commitment to racial equality and social justice has spanned her life and professional career. A community activist since the late 1960s, Hardin’s many accomplishments include assisting needy city residents to access government services, helping prison inmates earn college credit while incarcerated and doubling minority enrollment in the Maricopa Community Colleges District during her tenure as a faculty member. She currently serves as vice-chair of FIBCO Family Services, Inc., the social services arm of First Institutional Baptist Church, which provides social services to the homeless, addresses the healthcare needs of the elderly, and ensures housing for unwed teenaged mothers and at-risk girls. Over her lifetime, Hardin has been instrumental in improving the quality of life of untold numbers of Phoenix residents.
• A fifth-generation Arizonan, Adam Lopez-Falk is dedicated to serving his community as well as engaging youth in community service. In his early 20's, in 2008, Lopez-Falk was elected to the Alhambra Elementary School District Governing Board where he has focused on engaging parents and community members in education and advocating for minority and immigrant students and their families. He is co-founder of the Granada Neighborhood Partnership, a Block Watch program dedicated to eradicating prostitution and accompanying crimes in the west-central Phoenix community. Lopez-Falk’s other volunteer efforts include teaching art to children at local Boys and Girls Clubs and mentoring children on behalf of AIDS Project Arizona.
• Detective Jerry Oliver II is an Arizona native and 22-year veteran of the Phoenix Police Department. Oliver’s law enforcement experience includes serving with the department’s Bias Crimes Investigation Unit, for which he received local and national recognition as a hate crimes investigation expert. He is the Police Department liaison to community groups, including the African-American, Liberian, Somali, Sudanese and Nation of Islam communities. Oliver has helped bring community partners and law enforcement together to create a better future for Phoenix children, and his efforts to protect individual civil rights have made the city a better place to live and work for all its residents.

The Phoenix Human Relations Commission partners with the city of Phoenix Equal Opportunity Department and the Arizona Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee to coordinate the awards program.  For more information call 602-495-0358/voice or 602-534-1557/TTY or visit phoenix.gov/eod.
 

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