2009 Diversity Award winners

Zita Johnson - Individual Adult

Zita Johnson was one of the founding member of the Tempe Human Relations Commission.  During her tenure she helped bring about the MLK Diversity Awards, researched community dialogues nationwide and helped create the "Tempe Talks- Diversity Dialogues" program.  Zita led the effort to create a Community Diversity Initiative, which eventually led to the creation of the City of Tempe's Diversity Department, one of the first of its kind in the Valley.  Zita's professional focus has been in education and she currently sits on the Tempe Union High School Governing Board.

Chief Tom Ryff - Individual Adult

Throughout his 29-career, Chief of Police Tom Ryff has demonstrated his commitment to diversity every day.  As the first Hispanic Chief of Police in Tempe, Chief Ryff recognized early on in his career the need to bridge the gap between the community and the police department.  Internally, Tom has worked on increasing female/minority staffing, personally meeting with minority employees to train, mentor and coach them, promoted more sworn and civilian female employees to leadership positions, works closely with the employee unions, diversified the police department's executive team, and created a culturally diverse Media and Community Relations unit.  Within the community, Tom works with various faith-based organizations, strengthened the School Resource Officer Program, increased the PD's participation and support for the City of Tempe's Human Relations Commission, and commits his time and energy as an active member and/or supporter of the Latino Peace Officers Association, National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Project Challenge, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Los Vecinos Community Organization and many others too numerous to list.

Catherine Mayorga - Individual Adult

Catherine has been committed to implementing diversity into every workplace that she has been employed.  She gives opportunities to people of diverse backgrounds, ethnicities and gender, by way of providing employment in her office, or recommending certain persons to be employed in other offices.  Catherine always looks to see that there is a healthy balance in a workplace, or in a social group by inviting people to participate and/or to work.  She is a member of the Board of the Girl Scouts Cactus Pine Council, where she has seen to it that not only board members are diverse, but that the various groups of scouts make sure their participants are also of diverse backgrounds.  In addition, throughout the years Catherine has worked teaching educational classes consisting of multicultural issues, diversity in the classroom, foundations of Bilingual/bicultural and English as a second language.

Deborah Kearns - Individual Adult

Deborah Kearns volunteers her time as a facilitator for the City of Tempe's Diversity Dialogue Program.  For the past several years Deborah has volunteered her time facilitating both the Spring and Fall sessions, every Wednesday for seven consecutive weeks each session.  Her passion for wanting to expose people to dialoguing and how it can make a difference in people's lives and our community is exemplified every week in the program.  She leads every session with the goal of educating individuals, who have differing opinions, to be respectful and courteous to others.  She makes people feel comfortable in talking about their viewpoints and has created a safe environment where the group can challenge each other respectfully.

Laura Neff - Individual Youth

Laura is a senior at Tempe High School, and has been actively involved in the Stand and Serve Club since the sixth grade.  Through that organization she has helped many students over the years at Tempe High, Gilliland, McKemy, Connolly and Fees Middle Schools.  Laura volunteers at activities such as Crime Free AZ, The Walk to End Domestic Violence, Day to End Family Violence, the Regional Unity Walk, and Tumbleweed Youth Center fundraisers.  Laura is a very gentle, empathetic person who demonstrates identity respect to all people she interacts with on a daily basis.  Her core belief is to have peace in our hearts, homes, schools, workplaces and communities.

Shya Reeves - Individual Youth

Shya Reeves joined the Stand and Serve club at McClintock High School in 2004 and currently serves on the Peer Solutions Board of Directors.  Shya has overcome more adversity in her own life than most, and yet has the innate gift of valuing and respecting others.  For four years she has been a Stand and Serve Peer Educator at Fees, Connolly, Gilliland and McKemy.  She educates the students on Identity Respect and teaches them how to put that into action.  She participates in a variety of service projects from sock, change and food drives, to working with children in domestic violence and homeless shelters.

Morgan Johnson - Individual Youth

Morgan Johnson is senior at Tempe High School and serves as the key peer educator in the Stand and Serve Club.  She is able to command a room of 40 middle school and high school students to help make positive social change in her community and Tempe.  Morgan has also helped lead many Stand and Serve events about Identity Respect, where she teaches others to respect everyone regardless of their age, gender, class, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation.  Morgan takes all honor classes, and is involved in the THS marching band, HOPE Medical Academy, French Club, Winter Drum Line, and the Native American Club.

Community Christian Church - Community Group/Organization

The Community Christian Church shares its building with three other congregations - Korean, Spanish, and an Independent Catholic community.  A "peace pole" on the grounds of the church is engraved saying, "May Peace Prevail on Earth", and is written in Korean, Spanish, Navajo and English.  The Community Christian Church participates in the Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program (IHELP).  The church opens its doors every Friday and Saturday to the IHELP, where homeless are fed dinner on Friday night, bedded down on mats, and given breakfast and a snack lunch on Saturday.  When the Maricopa Health Department threatened to shut down the program, members of the congregation stepped up with sweat equity to update the kitchen.

Muslim Advisory Committee to the Tempe Historical Museum - Community Group/Organization

The Muslim Advisory Committee was formed to help the Tempe Historical Museum broaden its scope to a part of the Muslim community that works, lives and studies in Tempe.  The committee spent 14 months meeting regularly with staff and devoting hours of volunteer time on their own to plan and produce the exhibit, "Jewel in the Desert: Getting Acquainted with our Muslim Neighbors."  This exhibit is currently on display at Tempe City Hall.  The committee and staff formulated the goals for the exhibit and the main topics to be covered.  The committee wrote the text and supplied all of the photographs and artifacts that are displayed in the exhibit.  In addition, the committee assisted the Museum and the Diversity Department in planning the opening reception on Oct.3rd, which was attended by over 200 guests.  The committee then produced a community festival on October 4th, the first day of the exhibit.

Tempe Convention and Visitor's Bureau - Community Group/Organization

As part of their mission to promote Tempe nationally and internationally as a travel destination, the TCVB has intentionally reached out to people with disabilities, to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities, and to travelers from Mexico.  The TCVB's outreach includes membership in organizations such as the Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality, GPGLCC, the Gay and Lesbian Convention and Visitor's Bureau, the International Association of Gay & Lesbian Tourism, as well as their developed relationship with Descubre Phoenix.  In addition, the TCVB partnered with the City of Tempe Diversity Department in the creation on Access Tempe, a brochure designed to answer the needs of both Tempe residents and travelers visiting Tempe who have disabilities.  Simply put,  the Tempe Convention and Visitor's Bureau is committed to making certain that no person should be excluded from opportunity to travel.  Its policies, programs, marketing strategies and staffing are intentionally designed to fulfill that commitment.

Wiley Davis - Educational

Wiley Davis demostrates his commitment to diversity every day through his position as TRIO Coordinator at GateWay Community College.  TRIO is a federally funded program that assists at-risk students to complete a college degree.  Mr. Davis' dedication to these students goes beyond his job duties.  He has gone out of his way to make sure students have funds while awaiting their financial aid, he travels with TRIO students to visit other colleges out-of-state, and his weekends include cultural activities and community service projects so that students can be better citizens and prepare for scholarship opportunities.  Wiley Davis understand the importance of being a strong role model.  His daily contact with minority males and his willingness to reach out and help them on their educational goals creates a path to success.  In addition, Mr. Davis is the founder and advisor to the Minority Male Leadership Program (MMLP) and is the coach of the golf team at GateWay Community College.

Sundaram Engineering, Inc. - Diversity Supplier

Sundaram Engineering, Inc. was established in the Valley in September, 1983.  They are a consulting engineering firm providing services in structural engineering and related civil engineering disciplines.  The Principal of the firm, Shan Sundaram is from the Southern part of India and first came tot he U.S. in 1963 for graduate studies.  This small firm is certified by ADOT, the City of Phoenix, and Maricopa County as MBE, DBE, and SBE.  They also strive to hire sub-contractors  of diverse backgrounds.  Sundaram Engineering has been doing business with the City of Tempe for 15 years, most recently working on the structural assessment of D.J. Frankenburg's House for Historical Preservation purposes.

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