Since 1964, the Humanitarian Award Celebration has honored one or more individuals who have demonstrated a significant commitment to building inclusive communities.
2023 Humanitarian Awardees
Caroline Stevenson
Caroline Stevenson has dedicated most of her life to promoting peace through inclusive activism. Stevenson is a founder of the Pilgrimage for Peace, which brings together a diverse group of Arkansans for an interfaith peace walk and remembrance service to honor Arkansans killed by violence each year. A long-time volunteer at the Clinton Presidential Center, Caroline has provided housing to over fifteen Clinton School students.
Dr. Gloria Richard
Dr. Gloria Richard-Davis, MD, MBA, NCMP, FACOG is a fierce advocate for health equity, education, and mentoring. She has mentored, coached, and sponsored students, residents, and faculty, many of whom are national leaders in women’s health today.
Rebecca Cowling
Rebecca Cowling has influenced national legislation in the area of inclusion.
Her efforts helped ensure healthcare privacy and minimization of systemic discrimination against LGBTQ+ individuals by promoting fair housing policies at the governmental and private business levels.
2022 Humanitarian Awardees
Benito Lubazibwa
Benito Lubazibwa is the Chief Executive Officer of ReMix Ideas and Founder and Executive Director of Advancing Black Entrepreneurship (ABE). The mission of ReMix Ideas and ABE is to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem that is rooted in equity and empowers Black entrepreneurs to start, grow, and scale their businesses.
Dr. Michelle Smith
As Director of the Office of Health Equity at the Arkansas Department of Health from 2010-2022, and now as the new Director of Dillard University’s Minority Health and Health Equity Research Center Dr. Michelle R Smith has been a trailblazer in innovative approaches to reduce health disparities. She created Sisters and Brothers United, a community-based program with Black fraternities and sororities, to address the state’s high infant mortality rate among African Americans.
Ruth D. Shepherd
Ruth D. Shepherd was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Oklahoma State University. However, once she moved to Little Rock in 1970, it’s safe to say she found her home. Indeed, ever since she took her first teaching position at Hall High School, she has built quite an impressive resume and has garnered much respect and admiration among her peers throughout the state.
2021 Humanitarian Awardee
Rosanne Cash
When it comes to Rosanne Cash, it’s hard to know exactly where to begin when describing this dynamic human being.
Obviously, when speaking of Cash, her music career would be the first thing that comes to mind. And it’s no wonder—with 15 studio albums, 21 chart-topping Country hit songs, along with four Grammy Award wins as well as eleven Grammy nominations and one SAG/AFTRA Lifetime Achievement Award for Sound Recordings.
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