Vice President Kamala Harris to Give Keynote Address at 2021 Ripple of Hope Award Ceremony

Amanda Gorman joins the 2021 Ripple of Hope Award line-up as the most recent laureate.

NEW YORK, Oct. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights is proud to announce poet Amanda Gorman as its newest Ripple of Hope Award laureate for 2021. She joins a outstanding line-up of honorees: political chief, entrepreneur, and creator, Stacey Abrams; co-founder and managing companion of Clearlake Capital, José E. Feliciano; managing director of Perception Companions, Deven Parekh; and chairman and CEO of Verizon, Hans Vestberg.

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Emblem (PRNewsfoto/RFK Middle for Justice and Human Rights)

This 12 months’s Ripple of Hope Award winners, united by their uncompromising integrity and resilience in striving for an inclusive America, have every championed the causes and issues of the underrepresented and marginalized. Their tireless efforts in service of the general public good—from inside world firms to the nationwide political stage—replicate Robert Kennedy’s ardour for equality, justice, and the facility of particular person motion to determine significant reform.

All 5 laureates can be honored at a hybrid ceremony on Thursday, December 9, that includes keynote speaker Vice President Kamala Harris. As the primary girl and first girl of shade to function vice chairman, Harris has damaged boundaries and served as a number one voice on the influence of race on well being care, entry to voting, and the prison authorized system.

“We’re honored that Vice President Harris and Amanda Gorman will be part of Stacey, Hans, José, and Deven in our Ripple of Hope Award ceremony for 2021,” mentioned Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. “Their management and poise have impressed numerous folks, particularly younger ladies of shade, to stand up and make their voices heard and we’re thrilled to acknowledge such extraordinary changemakers. We sit up for celebrating our 5 honorees and listening to the Vice President’s remarks.”

Since 1968, the Ripple of Hope Award has celebrated exemplary leaders throughout enterprise, authorities, advocacy, and leisure who’ve demonstrated a dedication to social progress and advancing human rights.

Previous winners of the Ripple of Hope Award embrace Barack Obama, Tim Prepare dinner, Dolores Huerta, Desmond Tutu, Colin Kaepernick, Hillary Clinton, John Lewis, Bono, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Nancy Pelosi, Robert F. Smith, Wyclef Jean, and Joe Biden.

Study extra about RFK Human Rights and its annual Ripple of Hope Award at RFKHumanRights.org /awards.

2021 RFK Ripple of Hope Award Laureates

Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams)
Political Chief, Entrepreneur, and Writer
Stacey Abrams is a political chief, voting rights activist, entrepreneur, and New York Instances bestselling creator. After serving for 11 years within the Georgia Home of Representatives, seven as minority chief, Abrams grew to become the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia, successful extra votes than another Democrat within the state’s historical past. Devoted to civic engagement, Abrams has based a number of organizations dedicated to voting rights, coaching and hiring younger folks of shade, and tackling social points at each the state and nationwide ranges. She based Truthful Struggle Motion to make sure each American has a voice in our election system, Truthful Rely to make sure accuracy within the 2020 Census, and the Southern Financial Development Mission, a public coverage initiative to broaden financial energy and construct fairness within the South. Abrams is a lifetime member of the Council on International Relations and sits on the boards of the LBJ Basis, the Girls’s Nationwide Basketball Gamers Affiliation, the Middle for American Progress, and the Marguerite Casey Basis.

Amanda Gorman (@TheAmandaGorman)
Poet
Amanda Gorman is an award-winning author and activist. She is the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. historical past and, in 2017, was named the first-ever Nationwide Youth Poet Laureate by City Phrase. Her work, together with “The Hill We Climb,” recited on the inauguration of President Joe Biden, focuses largely on themes of hope, unity, and therapeutic within the face of oppression. Gorman is the founding father of One Pen One Web page, a company that gives platforms for scholar storytellers to vary the world. She can also be the youngest board member of 826 Nationwide, the most important youth writing community in the US. Gorman is a recipient of an OZY Genius Award and has beforehand served as a youth delegate to the United Nations.

José E. Feliciano (#JoseEFeliciano)
Co-Founder and Managing Companion, Clearlake Capital Group
José E. Feliciano is co-founder and managing companion of Clearlake Capital Group, L.P., a number one non-public funding agency he co-founded in 2006. Along with his investing duties, Feliciano is accountable for the day-to-day administration of the agency. In 2014, he and his spouse, Kwanza Jones, co-founded the SUPERCHARGED Initiative, a philanthropic grantmaking and influence funding group that invests in each nonprofits and for-profit ventures which might be suitable with its aim to make an enduring influence throughout 4 key priorities: training, entrepreneurship, equal alternative, and empowerment. As well as, Feliciano serves on the boards of administrators of the Robert Toigo Basis, a nonprofit group devoted to fostering the profession development and elevated management of underrepresented expertise, and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.

Deven Parekh (@djparekh)
Managing Director, Perception Companions
Deven Parekh is a managing director at Perception Companions. Since becoming a member of the agency in 2000, he has been a vocal advocate for alternative and inclusion, initiating efforts to advertise ladies and minority leaders throughout Perception’s inside workforce, portfolio, and the broader software program and funding ecosystems as an entire. Parekh is a member of the board of administrators for a number of establishments, together with the U.S. Improvement Finance Company, the Council on International Relations, the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace, and NYU Langone. He’s additionally chairman emeritus of the board of Publicolor, a nonprofit group centered on New York Metropolis public colleges. In 2006, Parekh was named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, which seeks to develop the following technology of community-spirited leaders.

Hans Vestberg (@hansvestberg)
Chairman and Chief Government Officer, Verizon
Hans Vestberg is chairman and CEO of Verizon Communications. Throughout his tenure, Verizon has prioritized its variety and inclusion initiatives, together with a $10 million pledge to help organizations devoted to racial fairness and social justice. Earlier than becoming a member of Verizon in April 2017, Vestberg served for six years as president and CEO of Ericsson, a multinational telecommunications firm that gives 35 p.c of the world’s 2G, 3G, and 4G cellular community infrastructures. Vestberg is a founding member of the Worldwide Telecommunications Union Broadband Fee for Digital Improvement, the place he led local weather change and digital well being initiatives. He’s additionally a member of the Management Council of the United Nations’ Sustainable Improvement Options Community and serves on the board of the UN Basis and the Whitaker Peace & Improvement Initiative. He’s a founding chairman of the World Financial Discussion board’s EDISON Alliance, a world motion to prioritize digital inclusion as foundational to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Improvement Targets; a member of the Management Council of the UN’s Sustainable Improvement Options Community; and a member of the boards of the UN Basis, the Whitaker Peace and Improvement Initiative, and BlackRock.

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
We’re a nonpartisan, not-for-profit group that has labored to appreciate Robert F. Kennedy’s dream of a extra simply and peaceable world since 1968. In partnership with native activists, we advocate for key human rights points—championing changemakers and pursuing strategic litigation at dwelling and around the globe. And to make sure change that lasts, we foster a social-good method to enterprise and funding and educate thousands and thousands of scholars about human rights and social justice.