We are proud to announce our founder, Bill Milliken, received the 2009 National Jefferson Award for Public Service, in the category of Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged.
“I am touched and honored to receive this award. Caring about young people is not just a job, it’s a calling, and it is the foundation of all that we do at Communities In Schools,” said Milliken. “Each year, one out of three young people in America doesn’t gradate high school. This is a fundamental moral justice and civil rights issue that affects all of us, and it’s an issue that we cannot ignore.”
Milliken, one of the country’s leading youth advocates, began his work on the streets of Harlem before launching Communities In Schools in Atlanta in 1977. He has received numerous awards, and has authored several books, the most recent being The Last Dropout: Stop the Epidemic!
Regarded as the “Nobel Prize” for outstanding community and public service, the Jefferson Awards were founded in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and U.S. Senator Robert Taft. The awards are based on the simple but powerful premise that one person can make a difference in the lives of others.
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