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| 2011 McKinney-Vento Awards |  |
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U.S. Human Rights Fund Stewart B. McKinney Award The U.S. Human Rights Fund is a donor collaborative that provides strategic field-building support to social justice organizations engaged in human rights work in the United States. Since 2005, USHRF has raised more than $20 million and overseen significant growth in the number and capacity of human rights advocates. USHRF has been a vital partner of the Law Center and other advocates in building the movement for the human right to housing in the U.S. Through strategic grantmaking and a robust communications campaign, USHRF, with the Law Center and its partners, has helped re-frame the affordable housing crisis as a human rights issue. Rep. Barney Frank Bruce F. Vento Award
Barney Frank has represented Massachusetts's Fourth Congressional district since 1981 and is the ranking Democratic member on the House Financial Services Committee, which he chaired from 2007-2011. In the aftermath of the economic collapse, Rep. Frank engineered legislation overhauling banking and financial industry regulation and establishing a new consumer protection agency. Rep. Frank has been at the forefront of homeless advocacy for many years and was a key partner for the Law Center's advocacy on the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, which ensures that renters facing living in foreclosed properties have adequate time to find alternative housing. He was also a prominent figure and valuable partner in the passage of the Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act. DLA Piper Pro Bono Counsel Award DLA Piper has recently worked on many projects with the Law Center and is a very valuable partner in the Law Center's work to ensure homeless children have access to school. The firm helped provide key research for an upcoming report on homeless unaccompanied youth, and is updating and transforming the Law Center's materials on homeless children's educational rights into a toolkit for training pro bono attorneys and advocates and into general fact sheets for know-your-rights sessions with homeless families. Perhaps most notably, DLA Piper is taking a national leadership role on an exciting and important new initiative, the Access to Education Pro Bono Consortium. Soon, the firm will begin doing intake and providing technical assistance in homeless children's education cases from around the country. Rob Robinson Personal Achievement Award Rob Robinson spent nearly three years homeless in Miami and New York City. Since overcoming homelessness, he has become a powerful advocate in the right to housing movement. Now a special advisor to the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights and a founding member of the Take Back the Land movement, Robinson joined with the Law Center during the United States' Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2010. Robinson worked with the Law Center to moderate a UPR briefing in New York City, and carried our coalition's message to Geneva, Switzerland, meeting with Human Rights Council members. Robinson worked with the Law Center to organize a series of Congressional field hearings on the right to housing and offered testimony at the Law Center's National Forum on the Human Right to Housing in June. In October 2009, Robinson also served as the New York City chairperson for the first official visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing. About the Awards The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty created the McKinney-Vento Awards to recognize individuals or organizations that have advanced solutions to homelessness and poverty.
In 1987, the late Congressman Stewart B. McKinney was a primary sponsor of landmark legislation, the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, providing federal assistance to Americans experiencing homelessness. With the Stewart B. McKinney Award, the Law Center is proud to honor leaders who exemplify the patriotism and compassion of Congressman McKinney.
The late Congressman Bruce F. Vento served as one of the original authors of the McKinney Act. After his untimely death in 2000, the legislation was renamed the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act in recognition of Congressman Vento's work. The Bruce F. Vento Award honors those who demonstrate extraordinary commitment to solutions to homelessness.
The Law Center presents the Pro Bono Counsel Award to a law firm that demonstrates the commitment of the legal profession to provide pro bono legal services that significantly transform the lives of men, women, and children who cannot advocate for themselves. If you are arriving via Metro, take the L'Enfant Plaza exit and follow signs to the hotel. If you are arriving via car, there is discounted valet parking available for McKinney-Vento attendees at the entrance of the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel. Your sponsorship of the McKinney-Vento Awards supports the national effort to prevent and end homelessness. All sponsorship levels include tickets to the event. Contact Whitney Gent at PRESENTING SPONSOR ($50,000 & above)
EVENT SPONSOR ($25,000 to $49,999)
LEADERSHIP CIRCLE ($15,000 to $24,999)
ADVOCATE ($5,000 to $14,999)
PATRON ($2,500 to $4,999)
FRIEND ($550 to $2,499)
Advocates
Roderick & Ann Marie DeArment
Bruce & Lori Laitman Rosenblum
Patrons |
