Community Child Care Council Honored Seven Individuals at the 2016 Champions for Children Awards
The Community Child Care Council of Sonoma County (4Cs), along with hundreds of business and community leaders honored seven individuals at their 6th annual Champions for Children award luncheon and fundraiser. The event was held at the Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club on November 3, 2016.
4Cs requested nominations for the award categories and engaged the public in recognizing outstanding community members who have worked on behalf of children throughout the past year. Each nominee must have lived or performed the work on behalf of children in Sonoma, Marin or Napa County. An independent Selection Committee reviewed all of the Champions for Children nominations and decided who would be the honored champions. This year’s selection committee was Angie Dillion-Shore, Executive Director, First 5 Sonoma County; Brad Bollinger, Publisher, North Bay Business Journal; Deborah Dalton, Executive Director, Mentor Me & Past Champions winner; Ernesto Olivares, Santa Rosa City Council Member; and Jennie Snyder, Deputy Superintendent, Sonoma County Office of Education.
This year’s award categories were based on the five protective factors for families. Parental Resilience; Positive Social Connections; Concrete Support in Times of Need; Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development; and Social and Emotional Connections. This year the committee also added a special award for Community Engagement. “This year we received over 37 nominees across the categories” said Tiffani Montgomery, Community Relations Director for 4Cs. “The selection committee had some very difficult choices to make.”
The seven 2016 Champions for Children award recipients express the values and principles of 4Cs by advocating and working on behalf of youth.
Inspired Start: 0-5 Early Care and Education - Lia Thompson, Sonoma State University Children's School
Empowering Youth: K-12 Education - Nancy Ricciardi, Bennett Valley Union School District
Strong Families: Public Service/Agency - Cheryl Parkinson, The Living Room
Healthy Children: Health/Medical - Ramona Faith, Petaluma Health Care District
Secure Surroundings: Business/Foundation - Lisa Wittke Schaffner, The John Jordan Foundation
Positive Social Connections: Peer Leadership - Itzel Martinez, Community Action Partnership
Community Engagement - Glen Weaver, Free Bookmobile of Sonoma County
The event offered attendees an inspirational afternoon. The focus on celebrating and recognizing the champions, who tell their stories through a video presentation. Proceeds from The Champions for Children luncheon benefited 4Cs, supporting thousands of low-income families in need of child care or preschool services. The funding enables 4Cs to continue to improve the quality of care for children and keeps parents in the workforce.
Video of the winners can be found on the 4Cs YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrLrFjrbsJ7BPGcubrKg7nA