WEST ORANGE, NJ — The spotlight turned in a different direction as the American Conference on Diversity highlighted the work of five community activists, who have dedicated their lives to ensuring that the underrepresented will always have a voice, at the 68th annual Statewide Humanitarian Awards at the Pleasantdale Chateau in West Orange on April 7.
The conference’s annual fundraising dinner, which included a silent auction of artwork, sports memorabilia and fine jewelry items, supports the organization’s mission to build just and inclusive schools, workplaces and communities through awareness, education and advocacy.
The award recipients came from widely varied life experiences, but all have one common goal: to increase knowledge about and to be inclusive of marginalized groups.
This year’s honorees included the Luing family, which received the Legacy Award for 50 years of influencing education at of Berkeley College and ensuring that all students continue to have access to higher education. Jennifer Allyn, who serves as the diversity strategy leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, received the Corporate Ambassador Award for her work in organizing programs and heading initiatives that promote diversity in the workplace.
Deborah Dagit, who is nationally known and recognized for her work both during her time with Merck and as the principal of Deb Dagit Diversity, received the Diversity Ambassador Award for her work on behalf of those with disabilities. Sue Henderson, a counselor at Ocean High School, received the Diversity Champion in Education Award for her counseling work, commitment in building gay-straight alliances within her high school and for ensuring that her students’ educational experience is positive. Seham Abdala, director of the Islamic Network Groups of New Jersey, received the Diversity Champion in Interfaith Award for her efforts to promote information and education about the Muslim community with those of other religious beliefs.
“We keep an eye out on individuals throughout the state, and what kind of work they are doing in their communities,” American Conference on Diversity CEO Elizabeth Riley said in a recent phone interview with the West Orange Chronicle. “We take note of those who have a proven track record and are noteworthy, watching people for a few years to see their significant accomplishments, their work with other sectors, or their work with the media or young people.”
Riley also said one of the unique features of the annual awards is that, although the focus is always on diversity and inclusion, the award categories change each year to reflect the specific contributions of the honorees and their journeys.
“It’s a wonderful evening of storytelling and reflection; you learn a lot about people’s journeys, their victories and their struggles,” she said. “Oftentimes they don’t get recognized and we are paying tribute to people who are doing amazing work and aren’t often awarded for their work.”
The proceeds from the evening will go toward sponsoring the organization’s signature youth program, Lead for Diversity, which empowers high school students in the arena of social justice learning and works with them to take specific action plans back to their schools and communities.
“The Lead for Diversity program schools often don’t have funds to pay for participation. Students do fundraising, but when you look at it the cost can really add up. It’s a very comprehensive program and it really does make a difference in their lives,” Riley said. “Corporate executives come and spend time with them and brainstorm and then they spend the next school year trying to put that plan in place.
“We have had over 3,200 graduates that have gone through the program since its inception in 1995. Students have done work on everything from gender equality to bullying; some have made presentations to school boards or worked with teachers on campus,” she continued. “We hope the more dollars we raise and the more programs we have, as they enter the work force and embrace their careers, we will have people that had contact with us and when they have a seat at the decision-making table they will strive for diversity and inclusion.”
Diversity Ambassador Award honoree Deborah Dagit also said training people as early as possible on the topics of diversity and inclusion can only be an asset to the workforce.
“Companies invest a lot of time and effort in diversity and inclusion training, and it really helps when people have already had a head start. The work that American Conference on Diversity does is authentic and credible and they’re scenes that play out in our communities and homes every night,” she said in a recent phone interview. “They clearly address challenging topics in a way that helps students feel more comfortable about having discussions and speaking out and having cross-cultural conversations.”
Dagit played a role in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act through her lobbying efforts, and testified before the U.S. Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee in 2011, regarding best practices for improving employment opportunities for people with disabilities. She is married and has three grown children with disabilities.
“I think that having an opportunity to learn about the dimensions of diversity, everything from appropriate language to how to think and talk about what’s going on in our community, people of all ages need those tools and the information to be able to engage in meaningful conversations,” she said. “We all find ourselves in situations every day where we are comfortable navigating the space, and we notice people feeling uncomfortable and vulnerable and we can reach out to those individuals to make their experience more productive and more comfortable, and I don’t think we do that enough. We think it’s up to the top dogs to make it happen, but the truth is that anyone can do it.”
Photos Courtesy of J. Foster Imagery
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