students
YMCA Salute Gala Celebrated Achievers
I just wrapped up working on a wonderful project – the Salute to YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Gala.
David Garibaldi, known the world over for his amazingly unique stage entertainment, brought his show to our region for the very first time as he created four 6 ft tall masterpieces before a filled Bank of Kentucky Center arena with more about 550 seats sold – at the Salute to YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Gala. The evening was a celebration of the potential of young people when inspired by caring adult role models who are volunteers of the YMCA.
The YMCA Salute Gala honored local professionals who are giving back as volunteers of the YMCA’s college readiness program. Also honored were eight teens selected to receive YMCA scholarships, including Breana Marie Nicholson – who was honored as 2011 YMCA Teen Achiever of the Year. Lisa Martin-Patterson and Olivia Darks were honored as YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Program Community Volunteers of the Year. James T. Cowan, MBA, and Chrystal Davis, were honored as YMCA Adult Achievers of the Year.
One of the largest regional programs of its kind, the YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Program motivates students of color to further their education and goals with help from successful, professional role models. Since its beginning, the Program has served over 6,000 teens, awarded over $200,000 in scholarships, assisted youth with over $4 million dollars in awarded scholarships and engaged more than 4,500 adult volunteers through a network of corporate and community partners.
The Salute Gala also raised essential funding so that the Program can continue to offer this valuable experience to hundreds of area youth, paving their path toward college and a career.
(photos by Mark Bowen)
YMCA Scholarship Recipients Received A Special Gift
At the Salute to YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Gala, in addition to honoring adults who are giving back, we also had the great pleasure of recognizing eight of our 2012 graduating YMCA Teen Achievers who have earned YMCA scholarships. It was so special when they all were invited to a fitting with Macy’s stylists for their first business suit. The professional attire is a gift from the downtown Macy’s store (Macy’s is a major sponsor of our YMCA Salute Gala) and Mrs. Kay French, a YMCA of Greater Cincinnati board member. I am enclosing a few photos from the fitting day.
YMCA Teen Achiever honorees:
Breana Marie Nicholson, Princeton High School – YMCA Teen Achiever of
the Year
Other YMCA Teen Achiever scholarship recipients:
Jada Calhoun, Princeton High School
Ryan Darks, Roger Bacon High School
Aquil A. Frost, Wyoming High School
Tamika Lawson, Colerain High School
Mallory Screws, Walnut Hills High School
Robert Stevenson, Butler Technical High School
YMCA To Honor Greater Cincinnati Professionals
Their careers are in finance, 
graphic design, broadcast media, education, nonprofit management, strategic brand marketing, recruitment and retail. They have achieved milestones in their personal lives and their careers – and they ALL have a common interest in wanting to help young people succeed. On November 4, 2011 the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati will celebrate these 37 professionals as YMCA Achievers at the 33rd annual Salute to YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Gala. Unique to this event is that all YMCA Achievers are selected by their respective companies and commit to volunteering for the YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Program that motivates students of color to further their education and goals.
Honoree bios are here: 2011 YMCA Achiever honoree bios
Featured entertainer for the Salute Gala is David Garibaldi, who is known the world over for his amazingly unique stage entertainment combining exhilarating music with hip-hop moves as his arms flail with paint transforming a blank canvas into a graffiti-style masterpiece. David knows from his own childhood the important role of adults who care, or perseverance, and of believing in your dreams. It was as a young, impressionable boy growing up in unfriendly streets when he was first lured to the urban art called graffiti, but David’s ability to focus on bigger goals transformed that talent into a sought after performance artist who has been featured on MTV, NBC, PBS and others.
For the past several months, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Salute Gala. My overarching role is to coordinate the messaging and communication surrounding it – which includes relationship building with the honorees and their circles, writing their bios, and this year putting together video snippets of them sharing their personal thought about the honor; coordinating the copy and graphics for much of the printed program; working with our three media partners, as well as other media and social media relations and other efforts to raise awareness about the Program and event; and writing the script for the Gala evening. This is my fourth or fifth year working on the Gala and it is such a meaningful project for me.
Listen to what Kimberly Forsyth, a 2011 YMCA Achiever honoree has to share.
2011 Salute to YMCA Black & Latino Achievers Gala
November 4, 2011 beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Bank of Kentucky Center on NKU Campus
To read about all of the 2011 YMCA Achiever honorees, please click here.
To learn more about the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati Black & Latino Achievers Program & the Gala, please click here.
To reserve your seat for the upcoming YMCA Salute Gala, please call 513-362-2012.
West End Branch Library Looking For Young Writers
It’s that time of year again. The West End Branch Library of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County holding its annual Mary E. Finley Memorial Essay and Speech Contest for students in grades 6 to 12 who either attend school or live in Cincinnati’s West End. Essays should be about what the Public Library means to them and need to be submitted by Saturday, October 22 to the branch. (805 Ezzard Charles Drive) The top prize is a laptop computer; and second, third and fourth place awards will be cash prizes.
Why the contest?
As a librarian Mary E. Finley had the power to make a meaningful impact on a young boy (and most likely many more) who grew up in Cincinnati’s West End. She was one of the first African American librarians hired by the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, retiring in 1972 after 44 years of service. She passed away in 2000.
Now in her memory that boy who has since grown up and followed her career path until his retirement – George Ferguson – is sponsoring this contest to inspire other students to enjoy reading.
“Mary strongly encouraged African Americans to learn to use the library and to make certain their children were avid readers,” said Mr. Ferguson. “I became a librarian in large part because of the strong encouragement I received from her. She was a remarkable lady.”
Group Health Associates Employees Filled 39 Backpacks For Beech Acres Kids
For parents with financial hardships who are learning through Beech Acres Parenting Center how to better help their children thrive, having to worry about paying for school supplies makes that job even tougher. Seventy employees of Anderson’s Group Health Associates removed that obstacle by donating school supplies for 39 children through Beech Acres’s Fill-A-Backpack collection.
The GHA effort led by Heather Murray, Allison Dill and Lindsey Laine through the company’s Care Committee. They created a ‘giving bus’ and posted tags with needed supplies on it. Employees chose a tag and purchased those items. Enlarging their impact, Dill recruited employees of GBBN Architects to donate additional supplies.
“This effort really builds employee morale. Because we feel great working together to give back to our community, we can give better customer service here,” said Dill, a certified medial assistant in pediatrics at GHA.
Thanks to the generosity of Group Health Associates and GBBN Architects employees, and other community donors, Beech Acres Parenting Center was able to provide filled backpacks to 150 children whose parents are working on strengthening their skills for nurturing positive growth.
Beech Acres Parenting Center supports parents and caregivers in the most challenging and important job of their lives: raising children today who are able to thrive tomorrow. With a mission of Strengthening Families for Children, Beech Acres provided over 17,000 services for children, parents and educators across greater Cincinnati last year with a broad range of unique services in homes, schools and in the community to strengthen parenting and relationship capabilities. For more information, please visit www.beechacres.org
