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From the Village award announcement:
The Champion of Children Award
The Champion of Children Award was inaugurated
in 2001 by the Village to honor leaders in our community who are
making a difference in the lives of our children.
2006 Champion of Children - Martha Stone Martha
Stone is founder and current Executive Director of the Center for
Children's Advocacy, a non-profit organization dedicated to the
legal rights of poor children. The Center's unique programs - Teen
Legal Advocacy Clinic at Hartford Public High School, Medical-Legal
Partnership Project at CCMC and Saint Francis Hospital - have been
prominently featured in the Connecticut Law Tribune and the national
publication, Clearinghouse Review.
Ms. Stone is an Adjunct Professor of Law at
University of Connecticut School of Law. Whe has been a civil rights
attorney for over 30 years. Before creating the Center, she was
Associate Director of Children's Rights in New York, engaging is
foster care litigation around the country. For 18 years, she was
Legal Director of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union. She is
responsible for bringing the class action lawsuit resulting in the
consent decree involving the Department of Children and Families,
the Consent decree involving the conditions of confinement within
the 3 juvenile detntion centers, and the court order increasing
community-based mental health services for youth in the juvenile
justice system. She is also one of the lead attoarneys in Sheff
v. O'Neill, the educational equity case.
She is the recipient of many awards, including
the Phoebe Bennett Award from the Connecticut Association of Mental
Health Clinics for Children, the Public Citizen of the Year Award
from the Connecticut Chapter of the National Association of Social
Workers, the Distinguished Service Award from the Connecticut Association
of School Superintendents, and the Local Heroes Award from Bank
of America.
Ms. Stone is currently the co-chair of the Connecticut
Legislature's Families with Service Needs Advisory Committee.
Martha Stone received her undergraduate degree
from Wheaton College, and her J.D. and L.L.M. from Georgetown University
Law Center.
For Local Heroes, A Day To Take A Bow
November 10 2006
It truly was a beautiful day in the neighborhood
Wednesday for some hard-working winners of Bank of America's third
annual Neighborhood Excellence Initiative Awards.
Held at Hartford Stage, the awards ceremony
and reception was attended by do-gooders in the community and those
with the money to help them do even more good.
Susan Rottner, president of Bank of America
Connecticut, hosted the event with mom-to-be Kara Sundlun of WFSB,
Channel 3.
"Do you know how intimidating it is to co-host
with Kara Sundlun?" Rottner asked the audience.
The awards, given to individuals and organizations
dedicated to improving the Hartford community, included $200,000
unrestricted grants to Co-Opportunity Inc., which assists with housing,
work-force development, financial literacy and asset-building, and
to Mercy Housing and Shelter.
"Local hero" awards were presented to Raymond
Deck, Bob Rath, Jose Diaz, John Hunt and Martha Stone. Each
of these selfless folks - who do everything from mentoring young
people to improving inmate conditions - was given $5,000 toward
the charity of his or her choice.
And five student leaders with an interest in
improving their neighborhoods were awarded funding to participate
in a paid summer internship at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford.
They are: Amaris Ayon, Aeisha Chenelle Dixon, Jarvis Graham, Mindy
Rodriguez and Jonida Shtembari.
- Teresa M. Pelham, Special to the Courant
Copyright 2006, Hartford Courant.
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