BLOOMINGTON — The Bloomington-Normal branch of the NAACP has announced several award winners who will be honored Sept. 17 at the annual Freedom Fund Gala.
Awards will be presented to the following individuals:
Nikita Richards, Merlin Kennedy Community Service Award. Richards, a U.S. Navy veteran and senior media specialist in communications with Country Financial, previously served as the City of Bloomington’s community relations manager. In 2018, she was appointed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to serve on his transition team for veterans across the state. She has since been appointed by Pritzker to serve her second term on the Illinois Council of Women and Girls, where she works to create policy that promotes equity and opportunity.
Georgene Chissell, Roy Wilkins Award for exemplary service to the local branch. As chair of the Political Action Committee of the local NAACP branch, Chissell works to ensure voter empowerment and to increase awareness and participation in the electoral process. She also owns Divine Cleaning Services of Central Illinois and strives to empower other Black entrepreneurs in establishing their own businesses.
Dr. Jeanne Morris, Woman of the Year. Morris was a curriculum and instruction professor at Illinois State University, where she had major responsibility for developing the university’s bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. Among the first Black professors at ISU in the 1960s, when Black students could not get housing on campus, Morris joined resources with other professors and bought four houses in Normal to rent to African American students. In June, the NAACP Youth Council did a documentary film on Dr. Jeanne Morris and her husband, Dr. Charles Morris, honoring their contributions to education.
Cana Brooks, Harry Hightower Youth Community Service Award. Brooks, a senior at University High School and the daughter of Prentice and Shelley Brooks of Normal, has been instrumental in the Black Student Union at her school, helping to create an inclusive, safe and welcoming environment to discuss topics of race and other areas of social justice and to engage in service to the community. Through her organization, Cana Cares, she created opportunities for young people to serve groups such as the homeless, the elderly, victims of domestic violence, and children in foster care. She plans to attend college and major in psychology, with a future as a child psychologist.
NAACP Youth Council creates documentary on former ISU professors
Additionally, scholarship awards will be presented to Sean Halperin, Naomi Elliott and Michael Coleman.
The Freedom Fund Gala will be held Sept. 17 at the Parke Regency Hotel. More details can be found at www.bnnaacp.org.
The event is the primary fundraiser for the branch in support of scholarships for high school students and community programs including financial workshops, voter registration and education. The 2022 theme is “This is Power,” and the keynote speaker is Bishop Larry Taylor of Bloomington, senior pastor of Center for Hope International Ministries.
For more information, contact Freedom Fund Chair Willie Holton Halbert at dime54@aol.com.