2008 Diversity Award winners' biography

Reverend Trina ZelleReverend Trina Zelle– Individual Adult

Trina educates and mobilizes the local religious community to support issues and campaigns that improve wages, benefits, and conditions for workers, especially workers in low-wage jobs.  Through Interfaith Worker’s Justice of Arizona, she provides resources and leadership training to faith communities that want to advocate for low income and immigrant workers.  She works in advocacy, human rights, and employment for low income, immigrant workers, and refugees.  She advocates for workers on job sites, supplying water to the workers in the summer months when the construction companies refused to.  Rev. Trina is currently working on creating a facility where workers can both seek help and job/skills training.  She doesn’t just work with people of different faiths and backgrounds, but truly creates friendships. 

 

Jessica CooperJessica Cooper – Individual Youth

Jessica is a four-year member of her high school’s Stand and Serve Club.  Through her work with this club she volunteers at community events, such as the Tempe Tardeada.  Also through Stand and Serve, Jessica headed up a donation drive for clothing, toys and food, which was collected for the Angel Society, an organization who helps abandoned, abused and neglected children in Arizona.  Jessica is also a peer educator at Fees Middle School.

 

 

 

Elizabeth GonzalezElizabeth Gonzalez – Individual Youth

Elizabeth is a member of her high school’s Stand and Serve Club.  Through her work with this club she volunteers at community events such as the Tempe Tardeada, Holiday Fantasia, MLK Unity Walk, and Stuff the Bus at the Arizona Mills Mall.  Elizabeth is a peer educator for McKemy Middle School, where she facilitates weekly projects and lessons that promote awareness, understanding and positive solutions.   

 

 


 

Deanna StoutDeAnna Stout – Individual Youth

DeAnna is a member of the Tempe High School Stand and Serve Club.  She is very dedicated to helping others in her community by volunteering and promoting respect to others at all times.  She has participated in many community service projects every year for eight years, including the Tempe Tardeada, Youth Fest, Holiday Fantasia, MLK Celebrations, Thomas J. Pappas, Special Olympics and more.  In addition, DeAnna volunteers at homeless and domestic violence shelters.  She promotes diversity appreciation on and off campus, is a peer educator for younger students and always takes a stand to promote respect for others.  DeAnna also participates in a wide variety of other activities including conferences and most recently presented at a United Way site visit to support the Teen Health and Diversity Fund.  DeAnna is enrolled in Tempe High School’s special education classes where she has a 100% attendance record and will be graduating this year. 
 


1n10 1n10 – Community Group/Organization

1n10 is the only nonprofit agency in the Phoenix Valley serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth ages 14-22 through comprehensive social support programs.  They welcome all youth who identify as LGBTQ or straight allies and works to promote positive self-acceptance among youth.  At their East Valley site in Tempe, 1n10 serves up to 30 youth each week through drop-in social support groups.  1n10 provides QSpeak Theatre, a program that provides a unique opportunity for LGBTQ youth to write their own theatrical productions based on true life experiences.   z

 

 

 

Dayspring United Methodist ChurchDayspring United Methodist Church – Community Group/Organization

Dayspring’s commitment to diversity is clearly identified in their mission statement, “Dayspring United Methodist Church is a welcoming congregation.  We welcome all people, regardless of age, gender, race, color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, economic status, or ability into the full life of this congregation.”  In action, the church has a group called the Connections Group which provides support and advocacy for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, their families and their friends.  The group hosts local PFLAG (parents, families and friends of lesbians and gays) meetings on the church campus.  In 2007 Dayspring initiated a Diversity Outreach Ministry with the goal of recognition, affirmation and acceptance of the diversity of their community.  They conducted a series of six Diversity Dialogue sessions for adults, which were patterned after the City of Tempe Diversity Dialogue program.   


 

Hayden's Ferry Girl Scout Neighborhood Service TeamHayden’s Ferry Girl Scout Neighborhood Service Team– Community Group/Organization

The service team is a group of Girl Scout leaders who have taken on the additional responsibilities of planning activities for girls and adults in the immediate Tempe area.  They have tried to reach all cultures, religions, races and schools to reflect the makeup of this community.  The team has encouraged troops to participate in the Unity Walk, they had a booth at the Tempe Tardeada, and they have had international activities at the Tempe Sister Cities Garden for several years. 

 

 

 

Newtown Community Development CorporationNewtown Community Development Corporation – Community Group/Organization

Newtown Community Development Corporation is a Tempe-based non-profit that develops permanently affordable homes through its Community Land Trust program and helps first time homebuyers become successful homeowners.  Many lower income households in Tempe are at risk of displacement due to redevelopment activities and rising housing prices.  Many individuals who work in Tempe cannot afford to live near where they work.  Along with ethnic diversity, economic diversity is important to the overall health and stability of a community.  It’s important that low-income households have access to decent affordable housing in good neighborhoods, good schools, decent paying jobs close to home, and public transportation. Newtown promotes economic and ethnic diversity in Tempe by providing homeownership opportunities for low and moderate income first time homebuyers. 

 

Corona del Sol Unity Leader GroupCorona del Sol High School Unity Leader Group – Educational Organization

The Unity Leader group at Corona del Sol High School has been in existence for eight years.  This is a group of students who have interviewed and been selected to be trained to facilitate day-long workshops for peers at Corona.  These 20 students stage two Awareness/Respect Days, one in October and one in February for at least 100 students each session.  During these sessions, Unity Leaders facilitate activities that focus on understanding of how stereotypes can create misunderstandings among people and among clique groups.  The leader group also focuses on education of how prejudices can create bullying, fighting and peer hatred.  The focus of Respect Day is to gather students together to discuss differences and similarities and to have students leave understanding how they can contribute to caring for and equal treatment of all groups on campus.

 

Tempe High Centennial Celebration CommitteeTempe High School Centennial Celebration Committee – Educational Organization

This organization exemplifies a commitment to diversity because in its planning for the Tempe High School Centennial Celebration, a concerted effort was made to include as many stakeholders as possible. Current students and faculty who come from very diverse backgrounds, former faculty and staff, alumni going back as far as the class of 1935, government officials, and local businesses, all got involved in the Centennial celebrations.  Those who participated in this celebration truly represented the many faces of our city:  from young to old, from every ethnicity, and from every socio-economic class.
 

 

 

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