Posted on April 17, 2007

Kellogg Foundation Announces 2007 Leadership Award Winners

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan, has announced the 2007 recipients of its National Leadership in Action Award.

Candidates for the award, which celebrates innovative approaches to connecting resources of time, funding, and know-how in communities of color, are peer-nominated and screened by a committee of nonprofit and philanthropic leaders from across the United States. Each of this year's recipients will receive a $50,000 grant and a piece of art created by an ethnic artist, and will be recognized at the foundation's national conference, "Cultures of Giving: Philanthropic Leadership for Social Change", in May.

This year's award winners are the New York City-based Asian American Federation, for its efforts to advance the civic voice and well-being of Asian Americans; Asian Immigrant Women Advocates in Oakland, California, for its efforts to empower low-income, limited-English-speaking Asian and Latina immigrant women; Baltimore-based Associated Black Charities of Maryland, for its efforts to represent and foster coordinated leadership on issues of special significance to the state's African-American communities; the First Nations Development Institute in Longmont, Colorado, for its work in assisting Native peoples in controlling their own assets and building capacity in ways that complement their cultures; and San Francisco-based Hispanics in Philanthropy, for its efforts to increase philanthropic investment in Latino communities, support Latino participation in philanthropy, and promote policy changes designed to enhance equity and inclusiveness.

"We're pleased to recognize these important organizations that are working to elevate innovative leadership practices within their respective communities — and in the process are expanding the traditional view of what 'philanthropy' means," said Kellogg Foundation president and CEO Sterling Speirn. "They offer powerful examples of giving that significantly advance the nation's progress toward a mutually just and responsible society."