CBN Awards Ceremony 2015 Inspirational and Emotional

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On March 19, the Community Builders Network (CBN) of Metro St. Louis and Rise hosted the 2015 Community Builders Annual Awards Reception at the Cortex One Building on Forest Park Avenue. As part of the ceremony Rise honored recipients of its 2015 Regional Neighborhood Support Collaborative Grants. This is the third year for the now annual event and by far the most inspirational.

Bonita Cornute of Fox 2 News did  wonderful job as  Mistress of Ceremonies. Hank Webber, Executive Vice Chancellor for Administration at Washington University,  provided a powerful and heartfelt keynote speech on the importance of community development efforts in St. Louis and reminded us that “history is not destiny”.

This year’s eight CBN Award winners were:

Anita Telkamp, St. Charles Office of Community Development for Excellence in the Public Sector, Cynthia Jordan, Citi for Excellence in Banking, Floyd Wright, Southwest Garden Neighborhood for Excellence in Resident Leadership, Greater Saint Louis Community Foundation for Excellence in Philanthropy, Guy Slay, Mangrove Redevelopment for Excellence in Business,  the Workday, a Ministry of Restore St. Louis and New City Fellowship for Excellence in the Faith Based Community, DeSales Community Housing for Excellence in Community Building, and ex-offico board member and a woman who has been an ally of Rise almost since its inception, Debra H. Moore, representing St. Clair County who received the award for Outstanding Achievement in Community Building.

Loura Gilbert, Vice President of Community Development with Commerce Bank, and  the chair of the CDC Capacity Building and Collaborative Grants Program committee for Rise announced our 5 recipients:

DeSales Community Housing Corporation for the Jefferson Collaborative Heath Initiative, Greater Alton Community Development, Inc. for the Block Build Project, Lemay Development Corporation & Lemay Housing Partnership for Start-up of the CommUnity Link Newspaper, Northside Community Housing, Inc. for their Minor Repair, Beautification and Gardening Program, and Tower Grove Neighborhoods Community Development Corporation for their Tenant Screening Program.

The event was well attended with over 225 people and there were some truly inspiring moments that brought tears to the eyes of some of the awardees and the audience.

Congratulations to all of the winners and well done CBN! Rise is proud to be a partner in your efforts to build and lift our communities!