2018 Spirit of Portland Awards

Tuesday, November 13—City of Portland Office of Community & Civic Life had the honor of hosting the 34th Annual Spirit of Portland Awards.

Since 1985 these awards are given to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions to our city and community. This year we had 19 winners between individuals and groups! Through their exemplary work, the recipients are leading our city to drive support for critical issues, change perceptions, and build movements.

2018 Ceremony Theme: "One City, Many Communities"

Portland is home to a diverse range of communities with unique experiences and interconnected lives. These communities rich in thought, experience, and perspectives come together to tell a greater story about our city. We are indeed one city with many communities.

In celebration of Portland’s diverse communities, the theme for 2018 ceremony is “One City, Many Communities”.  Each 2018 Spirit of Portland Award winner exemplifies this theme through their work, commitment, and dedication to enriching the lives of their fellow Portlanders.

Meet 2018 Spirit of Portland Award Recipients:

 Winner of Outstanding Elder Leader Award: Antoinette Edwards

Antoinette Edwards has spent her life working for equality, human dignity, and social justice. She is best known recently as a lifeline to at-risk youth. Antoinette’s leadership is very respected in the Black community. She is also a beloved ally of the LGBTQ community. She founded PFLAG Portland Black Chapter, the nation’s first PFLAG group created by and for African Americans. The organization, currently known as Sankofa Collective Northwest, promotes health and well-being of LGBTQ people of color, their families and friends. Antoinette was the first diversity and volunteer services director of the Oregon Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross.

Winner of Outstanding Young Leader Award: Mahmood Jawad

Mahmood serves as an intern at the Urban League of Portland and is a rising sophomore at the Muslim Educational Trust's Oregon Islamic Academy. As a refugee himself, Mahmood is working to create a program that helps refugee youths navigate the college application process and life in high schools.

"This award truly means a lot to me...When I came to the United States I could only say "yes" and "no". And now I'm sitting here in this prominent event, in our promonennt and progressive city, I can assure you the next generation will continue in this fight for social justice and social reform. I will not stop until every single refugee, every single youth leader, and every single person in this city is empowered."

 —Mahmood Jawad, accepting the Outstanding Young Leader award at the 2018 Spirit of Portland Awards.

Winner of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion of the Year award: Hattie Larrouy

Hattie Larrouy has lived in the Rose City Park neighborhood for 27 years. She spent 30 years in public service before her retirement last year. Hattie has always championed equitable outcomes in both her professional and personal life. Last summer, when an issue about equity and access came up in her backyard—she did not hesitate. Her response was swift and wholehearted, about acceptance, and community engagement. Hattie worked on bringing together City bureaus, County programs, and community members to create the “Rose City Park Stands with Refugees and Immigrants National Night Out" event. She focused on reducing hate, uniting community members, with the aim of reclaiming our natural spaces as places of healing and solace.

Winner of Sandy Diedrich Environmental Stewardship of the Year award: Robin Vesey

Robin Vesey was honored with the 2018 Sandy Diedrich Environmental Stewardship of the Year award. She was honored for her twenty-two (22) years of dedication and outstanding environmental restoration efforts of the Terwilliger Parkway. 

Through her commitment, Robin has scheduled and hosted over 42 community restoration work parties—working with more than 1,451 volunteers contributing 6,035 volunteer hours. These efforts have cleared 13.5 acres of ground ivy, 16.68 acres of tree ivy and over 3,459 trees have also been cleared of ivy. Additionally, she has also coordinated with multiple diverse community groups to continue these critical restoration efforts.

In 2000 Robin also began the important community partnership between Friends of Terwilliger and Multnomah County’s Alternative Community Service (ACS) program. Since then, Robin has coordinated over one hundred ACS work parties utilizing the valuable resources and efforts of ACS clients to remove non-native invasive plants along the Terwilliger Parkway.

Winner of Outstanding Young Leader Award: Amira Tripp Folsom

Amira embodies one person using her conviction, heart, and passion, to influence many communities. At age 14, Amira started a Youth Ending Slavery group at her school to raise awareness about young girls being sex trafficked and to raise funds to aid groups working to help victims of sex trafficking. 

"Moving forward, I am hoping to connect with a few of the people I met at the event. In my community I am working on events with the youth social justice groups I am apart of such as the Youth Collective and the Youth Education Advocacy cohort, and I have recently taken on an executive role in Oregon Youth for Gun Reform.

When it comes to getting things done, it is always great to collaborate with other passionate youth activists. Some of my upcoming projects within my school are organizing a bake sale with my club, Youth Ending Slavery, and holding self-defense classes, discussions on healthy relationships, and documentary screenings on human trafficking at my school. Many students in my chapter have expressed interest in having guest speakers come and talk about modern-day slavery and one award recipient that I met at the Spirit of Portland Awards was Officer Mike Gallagher, who works in the Sex Trafficking Unit of the Portland Police Bureau. At the event, I asked him if he would be interested in coming to my school and found out that he has worked with Youth Ending Slavery before! I am very excited to expand on educating other students about human trafficking with someone who has seen it firsthand."

—2018 Young Outstanding Leader Amira Tripp Folsom on her experience of receiving a Spirit of Portland Award and her plans to work with a fellow honoree, Officer Mike Gallagher.

Winner of Commissioner Dan Saltzman Award: Officer Mike Gallagher

Officer Mike Gallagher has been a police officer with the Portland Police Bureau for 27 years. For most of his career, he has worked to address the issues related to prostitution and sex trafficking. He has been assigned to the Sex Trafficking Unit (STU) out of East Precinct for the past eight years.

2018 Spirit of Portland Awards Trophies

Trophies for 2018 Spirit of Portland Awards were specially designed and created by local artist, Thea Gahr around the theme of "One City, Many Communities". 

About the artist: Thea Gahr is an artist, activist, and educator whose work focuses on the intersection of social and environmental justice. She is a member of the Pittsburgh-based artist cooperative Justseeds (justseeds.org), works with the EPM68 autonomous school in Mexico City and Linfield College in Mcminnville, OR.

From the Artist: "This art celebrates the history of the land from which Portland has grown. I wanted to use the symbolism of nurse logs as giving life to the native and domesticated roses as well as the pollinators, who have stayed with us into city life, which have now become the symbol for migration. I see the roses representing the diverse communities that are growing at the roots from all that came before. The image of the river with all its bridges representing the act of community organizing that connect these diverse ecologies of peoples and place.

This is a multi-block and hand painted Linoleum cut on cotton paper. The background block was done with a very large brayer and rainbow rolled giving a special individual touch to each of the prints in this edition. Each print was made with lots of love and care with the hopes of reflecting the amazing work of those building communities."

—Thea Gahr on her inspiration and story for the event artwork.