In May 2007 friends and supporters of Changing Worlds celebrated our 5th annual fundraising gala at the Chicago City Centre Hotel. Nearly 300 guests enjoyed a cocktail reception with a silent auction and a special performance by students from the Merit School of Music. During the dinner program, students from our Literacy and Cultural Connections (LCC) school partnership program inspired the audience with the power of storytelling by reading stories they had written in the LCC program. A display of the student artwork gave guests another glimpse of the integrated learning taking place in the LCC program.
More than $90,000 was raised from the event, which was led by our co-chairs Lisa Moultrie and Joseph Glossberg and was emceed by Tyronne Stoudemire of Hewitt Associates.
During the gala Changing Worlds was proud to present its 2007 Connecting Cultures Award to Ted Oppenheimer and Selamawi (Mawi) Asgedom in recognition of their work to promote cross-cultural understanding and learning. The Connecting Cultures Award recognizes Chicagoans whose work promotes cross-cultural understanding and learning.
Connecting Cultures Award Recipients
2007 Inspiring Teachers: Building Communities
Ted Oppenheimer, President, Oppenheimer Family Foundation, has devoted his life to education. He has been a teacher in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), a principal of two independent schools and the Executive Director of the nonprofit Citizens Schools Committee, which supported the creation of local school councils. As President of the Oppenheimer Family Foundation, he initiated the foundation’s Teacher Incentive Grant program.
Selamawi (Mawi) Asgedom, author and inspirational speaker, uses his life story to inspire teenagers to believe in themselves and overcome challenges. As a refugee from civil war in Ethiopia he survived a Sudanese refugee camp and ultimately moved with his family to Chicago. Mawi graduated from Harvard University. His first book, Of Beetles and Angels, is a memoir of his family’s journey from Ethopia to the United States.
2006 Honoring Our Past: Building Our Future
Hayelom Ayele, Director of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations Advisory Council on Immigration and Refugee Affairs, for advancing cross-cultural understanding, social justice and human rights.
Kay Berkson, Changing Worlds’ Founder and Photographer, for her vision and leadership, and for her commitment to social justice.
2005 The Power of Story
Timuel Black, Jr., Historian, educator and civil rights activist, for his oral history book Bridges of Memory Chicago’s First Wave of Black Migration that documents the development of Chicago’s African-American community from the 1920’s to present.
Jeff Libman, Teacher, musician, and social justice advocate, for his book An Immigrant Class: Oral Histories of Chicago’s Newest Immigrants, a compilation of stories from interviews with former immigrant students of Truman College.
2004 Connecting Cultures
Shirley Jahad, National Public Radio Correspondent, for her award-winning documentary Dreaming in Farsi.
