National Child Labor Committee Honors Those Who Stand Up for America's Kids

NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) today announced the recipients of the 25th Annual Lewis Hine Awards for Service to Children and Youth.  The Awards recognize unheralded individuals who have dedicated themselves, as professionals or volunteers, to the health, education, and well-being of young people.  The Awards will be presented at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on the evening of Monday, January 31st.

Named for the acclaimed NCLC photographer who documented early-20th century exploitation of children, the Hine Awards recognize men and women who come from many walks of life and from across the United States.  The recipients, who this year hail from as far away as Anchorage, Alaska and as close as Glen Cove, New York, are selected by a distinguished panel of judges from among hundreds of nominations submitted each year by business, community, and non-profit leaders.

This year's program will be chaired by William J. Mullaney, President of U.S. Business for MetLife.  According to Mullaney,

"Children hold the key to our nation's collective success and prosperity. MetLife and MetLife Foundation have a longstanding commitment to improving the health and well-being of young people and preparing them for the future. We are proud to join NCLC in recognizing these distinguished honorees for their dedication and hard work toward making the welfare of all children a priority."

The National Child Labor Committee is proud to recognize the following honorees of the 2011 Lewis Hine Award, the inaugural David T. Kearns Award for Excellence and Innovation in Education, and the Distinguished Service Award. For a more detailed description of the recipients, please see the full press release.

THE 2011 LEWIS HINE AWARD HONOREES INCLUDE:

Professionals

Raquel Castro of Worcester, Massachusetts, Advisor and Mentor, Dynamy Youth Academy,  www.dynamy.org,  will be honored for her work as an advisor and mentor to at-risk teenagers.  

Joe McLaughlin of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Director of Youth Programs at the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES) in New York, www.cases.org, will be honored for his work over the past twenty years with court involved young people. 

Robert J. McMahon of Glen Cove, New York, Executive Director, SCO Family of Services, www.sco.org, will be honored for his nearly four decades serving New York's most vulnerable children and families, providing them with the support and tools needed for a stable, healthy, and successful future.

Terrie Rose, PhD, LP of Edina, Minnesota, Founder and Executive Director, Baby's Space, in Minneapolis, www.babyspace.org, will be honored for her effective and innovative approach for supporting academic and social-emotional success of children and their families beginning at birth.  

Dixie van de Flier Davis, EdD of Parker, Colorado, Founder, President, and Executive Director of The Adoption Exchange in Aurora,  www.adoptex.org, will be honored for her efforts to connect children who wait in foster care with families who seek to adopt.

Volunteers

Betty Wade Coyle of Norfolk, Virginia, Advocate for Children, Prevent Child Abuse Hampton Roads, www.ucantbeatkids.org, will be honored for her three decades of work on behalf of children.

Vincent John Grippa III of Pembroke Pines, Florida, President, West Pembroke Pines Optimist, www.westpinesffl.info, will be honored for his two decades of work using sports to help improve the lives of disadvantaged and/or disabled youth.

Damien Horne of Madison, Tennessee, Professional Musician, Concerts 4 A Cause, www.DamienHorne.com, will be honored for using his talents as a singer-songwriter, to raise funds for at-risk youth, as well as special-needs, hospitalized, and terminally ill children.  

Frances A. Macon of Anchorage, Alaska, Licensed Foster Parent, State of Alaska/Division of Juvenile Justice, www.hss.state.ak.us, will be honored for her forty years of work with impoverished and troubled youth.  

Jordyn Schara of North Freedom, Wisconsin, Teenager and Founder, Foundation for HOPE (Helping Our Peers Excel), Project READ (Reading Equipment for America's Defenders), C4C (Comics for Change), and WI P2D2 (Wisconsin Prescription Pill and Drug Disposal),  www.dosomething.org/project/wi-p2d2-prescription-pill-and-drug-disposal, will be honored for her various community service projects and the inspiration she provides to other teens to get involved.  

DAVID T. KEARNS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE AND INNOVATION IN EDUCATION

New to the Awards program this year will be the David T. Kearns Award for Excellence and Innovation in Education.  Named after the former CEO of Xerox Corporation and Assistant Secretary of Education, this important honor is intended to recognize distinguished leaders from the business community who have devoted extraordinary effort and resources to improving and expanding the education of American children and youth.  The inaugural award will be given to Vincent Mai, Chairman of AEA Investors, Inc. and Chairman of the Board of Sesame Workshop, www.sesameworkshop.org.  Mai will be honored for his lifelong fight to bring educational parity to at-risk, disadvantaged children in the United States and around the world.

DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD HONOREES

As part of the Awards, the NCLC also presents Distinguished Service Awards to business leaders and individuals in the public eye who have had a positive impact on the welfare of children and youth.  This year's recipients will be:

Andre Agassi, President and Founder, Andre Agassi Foundation for Education, Las Vegas, Nevada, www.agassifoundation.org, will be honored for serving as a champion to the underprivileged, abused, or abandoned children in his home city of Las Vegas. Mr.  Agassi's Foundation is dedicated to transforming U.S. public education for underserved youth. The Foundation drives reform by engaging in practice, policy and partnerships that provide quality education and enrichment opportunities. 

Stephen H. Spahn, Chancellor and Headmaster, The Dwight School, New York, New York, www.dwight.edu, will be honored for his more than 40 years as an educator to pre-kindergarten through grade 12 students at The Dwight School.  Mr. Spahn is currently the longest-tenured headmaster in New York City's independent schools.  His life's work has been to inspire and bring out the "spark of genius" in every student, instill the importance of doing community service in the United States and around the world, and create a dialogue across world cultures.

Elaine Wynn, National Chairperson, Communities in Schools,  www.communitiesinschools.org, and Director, Wynn Resorts, Limited, Las Vegas, Nevada, will be honored for her more than 15 years of advocacy for improvements in education provided to children and youth in her home state of Nevada and nationwide.  She is co-chair of the Greater Las Vegas After-School All Stars, www.afterschoolallstars.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping Las Vegas students safe and healthy by providing critically important after-school activities in education, sports, and the arts.

About Lewis Wickes Hine and the Lewis Hine Awards:

Lewis Wickes Hine is well-known for his work photographing child labor practices.  Beginning in 1908, Hine became a staff photographer for the NCLC with a difficult and unusual assignment.  Often hiding his camera and tricking his way past bosses, Hine even learned to write with his hand inside his pocket in order to get accurate captions without giving himself away.  His work—famously never touched up for effect—depicting children laboring in sweatshops, coal mines, textile mills, and on farms outraged the public and shamed the government into acting.  His photographs provided the NCLC with the leverage it needed to advance the enactment of state and federal laws to protect the rights of children in the workplace, including the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which was the first major Federal child labor law ever enacted.

In the 1980s, to honor Hine's work, the NCLC created an award in his name.  Over the past two decades, more than 200 people have received the Lewis Hine Awards. The Awards recognize 10 individuals, both paid professionals and volunteers.  Each award Honoree receives $1,000 and a trip to the Awards ceremony in New York City, accompanied by a guest.

David T. Kearns Award for Excellence and Innovation in Education is named for David T. Kearns who is considered “The Father of Public School Reform.” He is Chairman Emeritus of the New American Schools Corporation, a private, nonprofit, bipartisan organization established by American corporate and foundation leaders in 1991 to restore American education to world preeminence. Kearns was appointed by President George H.W. Bush as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and as White House liaison to help resolve the conflict in Los Angeles following the Rodney King riots. He was also a faculty member of Harvard University's Graduate School of Education where he taught for two years. He currently serves on the Executive Committee for the Harvard Project on Schooling & Children. Kearns has served on the board of trustees for the Ford Foundation, Time Warner, Dayton Hudson, and Ryder. He is also a former Chairman of the National Urban League.

Past recipients of the Distinguished Service Award include: Paul Allaire, Frank Bennack Jr., Geoffrey Boisi, Michael Bolton, Raymond Chambers, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Joan Ganz Cooney, Tipper Gore, David T. Kearns, Ann M. Marchetti, John McIvor, J. Richard Munro, Susan Saint James, Charles Schulz, William Steere, Laurie M. Tisch, and Janice Weinman. Other past special honorees include:  Karen Bass, Speaker of the California State Assembly; Harry Belafonte; Edward Lewis, Founder and Chairman of Essence; Deval L. Patrick, Executive Vice President, The Coca-Cola Company and Governor of Massachusetts; Diane Patrick, Partner, Law Firm Ropes & Gray and First Lady of Massachusetts; Hugh B. Price, President and CEO, National Urban League; Lisa Quiroz, Senior Vice President of Time Warner; Jorge Ramos of Univision Television Network; Dennis Walcott, NYC Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development; Oprah Winfrey; and Raul Yzaguirre, President, National Council of La Raza.

About MetLife and MetLife Foundation:

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) is a leading global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs, serving 90 million customers in over 60 countries. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.metlife.com.

MetLife Foundation was established in 1976 by MetLife to carry on its longstanding tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. Grants support health, education, civic and cultural programs. For more information about the Foundation, visit www.metlife.org.

To learn more about this year's awards or to speak with any of the Honorees, the LHA Chair, or the NCLC Committee's Chairman and the Executive Director, contact Joyce Appelman, 516-482-1016 or at [email protected].

Photographs of the Honorees are available. Please visit www.nationalchildlabor.org

For more information on The National Child Labor Committee's Lewis Hine Awards,

please visit www.nationalchildlabor.org

SOURCE MetLife Foundation