Awards and Honors

(June 2003) We are proud to announce that one of Act for Action's programs, the Illumination Project, will be featured in an upcoming book on multiculturalism and diversity in education published by Association of College Unions International. We are in the chapter on best practices on multicultualism and diversity.

The Illumination Project is a student leadership and education program on the Portland Community College Sylvania campus. The program is designed to address issues of oppression through the classroom and community presentations utilizing interactive theater. This is the second year that Act for Action and PCC have collaborated on this innovative project.

Jeannie LaFrance, Act for Action's director, was a finalist for the 2002 Ford Foundation's "Leadership for a Changing World" award.

(Spring 2001)We are proud to announce that Act for Action's programs were chosen by the service providers of Columbia Villa and the Caring Community of North Portland to receive a Goodness Sake Award. These awards are presented to people in the community "who are consistently doing the right thing just for the sake of doing it." Jeannie LaFrance, Act for Action's founding director, was honored for the work that she's done with Act for Action over the past two and a half years, doing issues based theater at Roosevelt High School and the Pathfinder's Teen Parent's Program.

Jeannie LaFrance was also recently named one of The Portland Observer's "women of courage and vision." As part of a celebration of National Women's History Month, the paper chose five local women "whose lives and work exemplify both courage and vision" and who "share the special quality of fearless tenacity, which has made them role models for all of us." Jeannie was honored for her contributions in education, community building and social justice, as well as her dedication to anti-violence and anti-bias work. Along with the other women chosen, Jeannie was recognized as providing "a beacon of inspiration for future generations."

Act for Action was also recognized for our particpation in a video production completed in 2001. "Dear Diary," a PSA produced by Act for Action, won the Young People's Film and Video Contest, sponsored by the Northwest Film Center and its Filmakers-in-the-Schools Outreach Program. The video project was funded by Media Rites and the National Endowment for the Arts and was filmed by GreenFire Productions. The PSA's were written and acted by youth and explored how dating and domestic violence affect teens.

Awards Summary: