Celebration of Social Justice
The Celebration of Social Justice is our hallmark event. Expanding on the tradition established by Wainwright Bank, this annual celebration honors our Targeted Grant recipients as well as shines a spotlight on an individual whose accomplishments have made a deep impact to further social justice. In 2016, over 1,000 people attended an evening reception held in downtown Boston honoring Marylou Sudders, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and celebrating $1.6 million in grants made to over 200 organizations working to strengthen families in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
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2017 Chau-ming Lee Executive Director Asian American Civic Association
2016 Marylou Sudders Secretary of Health and Human Services Commonwealth of Massachusetts 2015 John E. Rosenthal Stop Handgun Violence Violence Prevention For a list of previous award winners, click here
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Chau-ming Lee
Emigrating from Hong Kong to Boston, Chau-ming Lee began his career as a social worker at New England Medical Center, now known as Tufts Medical Center. In 1982, Lee was appointed the Executive Director of the Asian American Civic Association (AACA). He led the organization to its leadership position in workforce development, adult basic education, social service and immigration service, helping economically disadvantaged and limited English speaking immigrants achieve economic self-sufficiency and citizenship.
AACA serves a diverse population from 125 countries and advises clients on a wide range of immigration matters including adjustment of status, filing for reunion with family members, citizenship applications, and refugee and permanent residency filings through the Immigration Clinic, which Lee founded 20 years ago. He began the NextStep Program in 1993, an advanced ESOL program for immigrants preparing for college entrance and job training, and designed AACA’s unique Case Management Retention model in 2005, which continues to ensure the success of AACA students in college or in their new careers. Lee is perhaps best known for personally helping thousands of individuals with immigration inquiries by being available every Friday at the AACA drop in clinic, where people waited hours for his assistance.
Lee was a council member of the Boston Private Industry Council, Chinatown/South Cove Neighborhood Council and an advisory council member of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. He was a member of the Chinatown Coalition, the Governor’s Advisory Council on Minority Services of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston’s Mayor Task Force on Community Service, and served on the board of the Voluntary Law Project of the American Bar Association.
Community Advocacy
Community Advocacy awards are presented to individuals across the regions we serve. These awards celebrate the accomplishments of local leaders and recognized them for their work within the annual mission of the Targeted Grants.
Jitka Borowick Cleangreen |
Jacqui Budd, Dress for Success Wayne Budd, Goodwin Procter |
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Jim Doremus Concord Family YMCA |
Sue Joss Brockton Neighborhood Health Center |
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Jay McManus Children's Law Center |
Sovanna Pouv Cambodian Mutual Assistance Assoc. |
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Maria Vertkin Found in Translation |