The Evansville-Vanderburgh County Human Relations Commission will hold its Annual Dinner and Mayor’s Celebration of Diversity Awards on Friday, November 1, 2024, at 6:30
p.m., at the Old National Events Plaza. The keynote speaker will be Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II.

Mayor Stephanie Terry will present the 2024 Mayor’s Celebration of Diversity Awards. The following are the 2024 Mayor’s Celebration of Diversity Awards recipients.
Sadelle Berger Award
Dr. Trinisia Brooks
Sadelle Berger Award
Philip Siegel (Posthumous)
Willie Effie Thomas Development Award
Wendy Chinn
Sue Woodson Community Relations Award
Misty Hartmire
Sue Woodson Community Relations Award
LaToya Johnson
Leadership Award
Community Action Program of Evansville
Workforce Diversity Award
Deaconess Health System

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is President and Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach; Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival; Bishop with The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries; Executive Board Member of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ; Professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy; and Founding Director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School.

He is the author of four books: We Are Called to Be a Movement; Revive Us Again: Vision and Action in Moral Organizing; The Third Reconstruction: Moral Mondays, Fusion Politics, and The Rise of a New Justice Movement; and Forward Together: A Moral Message for The Nation.

His new book White Poverty: How Exposing Myths about Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy was released in June 2024. Dr. Barber is regularly featured in media outlets such as MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Nation magazine. He was named one of 2020’s BET 100 Entertainers and Innovators, and one of the 2019 recipients of the North Carolina Award, the state’s highest civilian honor. He is a 2018 MacArthur Foundation Genius Award recipient, a 2015 recipient of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award, and the recipient of the Puffin Award. Dr. Barber has had twelve honorary degrees conferred upon him. He earned a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Central University, a Master of Divinity from Duke University, and a Doctorate from Drew University with a concentration in Public Policy and Pastoral Care.

The deadline to purchase tickets has been extended until Friday, October 18. For additional
information, please contact the Human Relations Commission at (812) 436-4927,
hrc@evansville.in.gov or visit 2024 Human Relations Commission Annual Dinner.

Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry will host the city’s next Block-by-Block neighborhood cleanup this Friday, October 18, from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. in the Bellemeade Bayard Park Neighborhood.

City employees and volunteers from across the city will meet at Stanley Hall (800 S. Evans) at 9:00 a.m. to begin working in the neighborhood. Volunteers will be broken into three groups – Trash Pick-Up, Lawn Care, and Community Outreach – and will also spend time on graffiti removal and tree and shrub trimming in the neighborhood.

“We launched Block-by-Block in August with the goal of helping to beautify our neighborhoods, and to strengthen our connections in the community,” Mayor Terry said. “We’re using data from departments like the Building Commission and the Evansville Police Department to determine which neighborhoods have the greatest needs, and then we’re working to meet those needs.

“Even more, though, we’re also working to make government and the services that we can offer as a city accessible to those neighborhoods that need them the most.”

This will be the second Block-by-Block program, after Mayor Terry launched the program in Jacobsville as part of the city’s 812 Day celebration. That August cleanup saw a team of 90 city employees and volunteers demolish a home, service four blocks with lawn care and heavy trash pickup, and provide substantial tree-trimming. This second event aims to build on that momentum and carry it into the first full year of Block-by-Block programs, which will launch when Spring begins in March 2025.

Community members interested in volunteering in the Block-by-Block initiative should contact Ariah Leary, Community Affairs & Special Projects Director for the Office of Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry, at aleary@evansville.in.gov.