Community Child Care Council to honor eight Individuals/business at the 2018 Champions for Children Award

October 03, 2018

The Community Child Care Council of Sonoma County (4Cs), along with hundreds of business and community leaders will come together to honored eight individuals/businesses at their 8th annual Champions for Children award luncheon and fundraiser. At the Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club on November 9, 2018.

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 Govinda Crozat, Crozat Family Foundation; Scott Ormerod, Leap Solutions Group; Tom Schwedhelm, City of Santa Rosa; Herman Hernandez, PG&E; and Jodi Given, Redwood Credit Union.

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 The Heart of a Champion. “This year we received over 47 nominees across the categories” said Tiffani Montgomery, Community Relations Director for 4Cs. “The selection committee had some very difficult choices to make.”

The eight 2018 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, Nancy Alcott, Lattice Educational Achievement Preschool
  • Empowering Youth: K-12 Education, Letitia Hanke, The Lime Foundation/ARS Roofing
  • Strong Families: Public Service/Agency, Grace Harris, Child Parent Institute
  • Healthy Children: Health/Medical, St. Joseph’s Health
  • Secure Surroundings: Business/Foundation, Kate Jonasse, K-Tech Automotive
  • Positive Social Connections: Peer Leadership, Wayne Ingraham, Link Creative/Active 20-30 #50
  • Sonoma Strong, Debra Sanders, Sonoma County Office of Education
  • Heart of A Champion: Family Justice Center

The event offers 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.