Awards & Honorees
Each year, the Frances Perkins Center honors individuals whose work in the areas of social justice and economic security exemplifies the spirit of Frances Perkins.
Intelligence and Courage Award:
The name of this award comes from a speech given by Frances Perkins in 1929 when she was New York State Industrial Commissioner, in which she pledged, “I promise to use what brains I have to meet problems with intelligence and courage. I promise that I will be candid about what I know. I promise to all of you who have the right to know, the whole truth so far as I can speak it.”
Steadfast Award:
The Steadfast Award gets its name from the motto of Frances Perkins’ Mount Holyoke class of 1902, “Be ye steadfast.” This award is given to someone who works tirelessly in one of the areas to which Frances Perkins dedicated her career.
Open Door Award:
The Open Door award is named after the advice given to Frances Perkins by her grandmother, that when a door opens to you, you must walk through it. This award is given to a person whose work reflects the commitment and aspirations of Frances Perkins as she, herself, responded to opportunities that positioned her in roles where she could advance social justice and economic equity for the betterment of society.
Prior Awardee Spotlights
INTELLIGENCE AND COURAGE HONOREES
Fall 2023: Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., Maine’s State Historian, an avocation spanning 52 years. Mr. Shettleworth has lectured and written extensively on Maine history and architecture. Elected and appointed positions include president of the Maine Historical Society, president of the New England Chapter, Society of Architectural Historians, chair of the State House, Capitol Park Commission chair of the Capitol Planning Commission, and chair of the Blaine House Commission. He has served on the Maine Lighthouse Selection Committee and the State Facilities Master Plan Commission. The Maine Historical Society’s auditorium in Portland is named for him. We honor Mr. Shettleworth for his life’s work in single-handedly enriching and informing Maine’s understanding of its past and present through historic preservation and for his exemplary guidance to many of today’s professionals in this work.
Spring 2023: Joseph E. Stiglitz, American economist, professor at Columbia University, co-chair of the High-Level Expert Group on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress at the OECD, and the Chief Economist of the Roosevelt Institute. A recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the John Bates Clark Medal (1979), he is a former senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank and a former member and chairman of the (US president’s) Council of Economic Advisers. In 2000, Stiglitz founded the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a think tank on international development based at Columbia University. In 2011, Time magazine named Stiglitz as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Stiglitz’s work focuses on income distribution, risk, corporate governance, public policy, macroeconomics, and globalization. He is the author of numerous books including People, Power, and Profits; Rewriting the Rules of the European Economy; Globalization and Its Discontents Revisited; The Euro and Rewriting the Rules of the American Economy.
2021: Heather Cox Richardson, Answering Big Questions about America Right Now: Bestselling author of six books on history and politics, Dr. Heather Cox Richardson of Maine, and professor of 19th century history at Boston College, has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers with her series of columns published on Substack and Facebook called “Letters from an American.” In May 2021, Dr. Richardson also launched a weekly podcast, “Now and Then,” with fellow historian Joanne Freeman. “Every Tuesday, two of the country’s most incisive interpreters and chroniclers of the American story will make sense of the week in news and politics by looking back at historical parallels” Vox Media, May 20, 2021
2021: MA Senator Elizabeth Warren, a fearless consumer advocate, Senator Warren has made her life’s work the fight for middle class families. She is one of the nation’s leading progressive voices, fighting for big structural change that would transform our economy and rebuild the middle class. This award recognizes her work, like that of Frances Perkins, in advancing democratic principles to ensure the best possible life for all Americans. As a law professor for more than 30 years, Warren taught courses on commercial law, contracts, and bankruptcy. She has written more than a hundred articles and eleven books, including four national best-sellers, This Fight Is Our Fight, A Fighting Chance, The Two-Income Trap, and All Your Worth.
2019: Liz Shuler, Secretary-Treasurer and CFO of the AFL-CIO, the second top-level officer for the federation, the first woman elected to the position and the youngest woman to sit on the federation’s Executive Council. Starting with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 125, Shuler worked her way up through the ranks of the IBEW, gaining executive leadership at the international headquarters in Washington, D.C. Shuler leads at the AFL-CIO on initiatives around the future of work, workforce development and training, industrial union councils, and women and young workers’ economic empowerment. She is committed to busting myths to show the labor movement’s diversity and innovative approaches to the workplace of the future, and the meaningful improvements a union voice on the job can bring to working families and our economy. Shuler chairs both the AFL-CIO Executive Council Committees on Finance and Women Workers, and represents the AFL-CIO on the boards of the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, the International Trade Union Confederation, the National Women’s Law Center, Global Fairness Initiative, and the Solidarity Center.
2017: Jane Mayer, a New Yorker staff writer since 1995 covering politics, culture, and national security. Previously, Mayer worked at the Wall Street Journal, where she covered the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, the Persian Gulf War, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1984, Mayer became the paper’s first female White House correspondent. She is the author of the 2016 Times best-seller “Dark Money,” which began as a 2010 New Yorker piece about the Koch brothers’ deep influence on conservative politics. She also wrote the 2008 Times best-seller “The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals,” which is based on her New Yorker articles and was named one of the top ten works of journalism of the decade by N.Y.U.’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
Watch: Mayer and 2015 Intelligence & Courage Honoree, Bill Nemitz
2015: Bill Nemitz, a news columnist for the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram where he began writing his thrice weekly column in 1995. While focusing on Maine people and issues, his work has taken him three times to Iraq and once to Afghanistan, where he was embedded with members of the Maine Army National Guard and the Army Reserve for which the Maine Press Association named Nemitz Maine Journalist of the Year in 2004. Nemitz is a past president of the Maine Press Association and teaches journalism part-time at St. Joseph’s College of Maine in Standish. In 2007, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the New England Newspaper Association.
2013: Ai-jen Poo, co-founder of Domestic Workers United (DWU), which helped pass the nation’s first Domestic Workers Bill of Rights in 2010, extending basic labor protections to over 200,000 domestic workers in New York State. She directs the Domestic Workers Alliance, promoting labor rights for millions of domestic workers in the United States, including nannies, housekeepers, and caregivers for the elderly.
2012: Franklin D. Roosevelt III, a progressive economist who has spoken eloquently on the efficacy of New Deal programs and the relevance of progressive economic analysis in responding to the challenges of today’s economy. He is Professor Emeritus at Sarah Lawrence College.
Other Intelligence and Courage Honorees: David S. Ferriero (2022), Robert D. Putnam and Shalyn Romney Garrett (2022), Allison Kessler-Harris (2020), David Weil (2019), Robert Reich (2018), Thomas A. Kochan (2018), William E. Leuchtenburg (2016), Former Congressman Barney Frank (2014), Ellen Bravo (2011), and Brooksley Born (2010).
STEADFAST AWARD HONOREES
2023: Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board. Appointed by the President to a 4-year term, this position is independent from the Board and is responsible for the investigation and prosecution of unfair labor practice cases and for the general supervision of the NLRB field offices in the processing of cases. Ms. Abruzzo has worked for the NLRB for over two decades in capacities including Field Attorney, Supervisory Field Attorney, Deputy Regional Attorney, Deputy Assistant General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, and Acting General Counsel. Immediately prior to her appointment as General Counsel, she served as Special Counsel for Strategic Initiatives for the Communications Workers of America. The Center honors Ms. Abruzzo for her work to ensure that American workers achieve their fundamental right to join together in union and bargain collectively. A government official, she exemplifies Frances Perkins and her deeply held belief that government should provide all its people with the best possible life.
2022 Homestead Day: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, President & Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, Co-Chair of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival, Bishop with The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, Visiting Professor at Union Theological Seminary, Pastor of Greenleaf Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Goldsboro, NC, and the author of four books. He is the architect of the Moral Movement, which began with weekly Moral Monday protests at the North Carolina General Assembly in 2013 and recently relaunched again online in August 2020 under the banner of the Poor People’s Campaign. In 2018, Barber helped relaunch the Poor People’s Campaign—which was begun by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968—starting with a historic wave of protests in state capitals and in Washington, D.C.
Rev. Dr. Barber served as president of the North Carolina NAACP from 2006–2017 and served on the National NAACP Board of Directors from 2008–2020. A former Mel King Fellow at MIT, he is Visiting Professor of Public Theology and Activism at Union Theological Seminary and a Senior Fellow at Auburn Seminary.
2022 Spring Forum: Janet Dewart Bell, Founder, LEAD, Intergenerational Solutions, and author of Lighting the Fires of Freedom – African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement and Carving Out a Humanity: Race, Rights, and Redemption. Dr. Bell is a communications strategist and management consultant with a multimedia background, as well as experience in policy advocacy, strategic planning, fund development, media training, and education. She is a social justice advocate, activist, executive coach, and motivational speaker, with a doctorate in Leadership and Change from Antioch University.
2021: Manli Ho, A journalist and biographer from Maine and San Francisco, Ms. Ho is the daughter of Feng Shan Ho (1901-1997), a diplomat for the Republic of China and consul-general in Vienna during World War II. Her father, often hailed as “the Chinese Schindler,” issued thousands of visas to Shanghai to help Jews emigrate from the European Holocaust. A keynote for the FPC 2021 Public Policy Forum, Ms. Ho’s publications include: On the Wings of the Phoenix: How Shanghai became a Refuge (2019); Diplomatic Rescue, Shanghai as a Means of Rescue and Refuge, A Century of Jewish Life in Shanghai (2019); Feng Shan Ho and the Rescue of Austrian Jews, Diplomat Rescuers and the Story of Feng Shan Ho (1999).
Other Steadfast Honorees: Bat-Ami Zucker (2021), Maria Mossaides (2019), Maria Echaveste (2018), Kevin W. Concannon (2017), Ron Phillips (2016), Christine Hastedt (2014), Sally Greenberg (2013), Dale McCormick (2012), Peter Crockett (2011), and Nancy Altman (2010).
OPEN DOOR AWARD HONOREES
2023: Mufalo Chitam, Executive Director, Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition, and community leader improving the lives of Maine’s immigrants and creating opportunities to better their futures. Raised in Lusaka, Zambia, Ms. Chitam received her BA in Public Administration from the University of Zambia. There, she worked for an American based non-profit, Child Fund International, providing health, educational, and nutritional support for families. Coming to America in 2000, Ms. Chitam has worked for the University of Southern Maine, United Way of Greater Portland, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, National Kidney Foundation, Easter Seals Maine, American Red Cross, and Granite Bay Care. Her Board work includes Vice Board Chair of Prosperity Maine, Maine Women’s Policy Center, and Creative Portland. She founded Empower the Immigrant Woman Conference, Empower Maine Women Network Group, and Beauty in Colors Hair Show to benefit WISE Zambia. She is former owner of Etukis LLC and was the consultant for Black Month Maine’s Hidden Figures. The Center honors Ms. Chitam for her leadership in advocating for Maine’s immigrant community. Like Frances Perkins, she combines social work support with policy change to improve lives.
2021: Juana Rodriguez-Vazquez, Celebrating Diversity while Building Community: Interim Executive Director, Migrant Education Director, and Rayitos de Sol Childcare Director at the Maine nonprofit Mano en Mano (Hand in Hand), Juana Rodriguez-Vazquez is a community leader and dedicated parent. Having arrived in the U.S. at age five from Mexico, her family traveled between Florida and Michigan, moving to Milbridge, Maine, in 1998, to work at the cucumber factory and later staying to pick blueberries. Juana learned English and earned a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Maine and General Elementary (K-8) Teacher Certification from the Maine Department of Education.
In 2015, the National Migrant Education Conference awarded Mrs. Rodriguez-Vazquez the Vida A. Rivera, Jr. Award – an annual award recognizing one parent across the U.S. who demonstrates model parental involvement behavior and exceptional commitment to and support of their children’s education through personal sacrifice.
2019: Saru Jayaraman, Co-Founder and President of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC United) and Director of the Food Labor Research Center at University of California, Berkeley. After 9/11, together with displaced World Trade Center workers, she co-founded ROC, which now has more than 30,000 worker members, 500 employer partners, and 23,000 consumer members in a dozen states nationwide. She was listed in CNN’s “Top 10 Visionary Women” and recognized as a Champion of Change by the White House in 2014, and a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2015. Jayaraman authored Behind the Kitchen Door (2013), and Forked: A New Standard for American Dining (2016). She has appeared on CNN with Soledad O’Brien, Bill Moyers Journal on PBS, Melissa Harris Perry and UP with Chris Hayes on MSNBC, Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO, the Today Show, and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
2018: M. Patricia Smith: is Senior Counsel at the National Employment Law Project where she plays a central role in developing and implementing a range of advocacy strategies, including litigation, to fight attacks on workers and to continue to advance a pro-worker agenda at the federal level and in the states. From 2010 to 2017 she was the Solicitor of Labor at the U.S. Department of Labor. In that capacity she served as chief legal advisor to the Secretary of Labor and directed an office of over 650 attorneys across the country. January – April 2014 she was the Acting Deputy Secretary of Labor.
Prior to Solicitor of Labor, Smith served for three years as New York State Commissioner of Labor where she was responsible for enforcing labor laws, administrating the unemployment insurance system, and overseeing the public workforce system, and for eight years as Chief of the Labor Bureau in the Office of the New York State Attorney General. In that position, she developed a system of active government labor law enforcement that became a model for other Attorneys General and enforcement agencies across the country.
2017: Joelle Gamble, is a principal with the reimagining capitalism team at Omidyar Network, where she focuses on topics related to building the power of working people and shaping a new economic paradigm. Prior to joining Omidyar Network, Gamble worked on international economic priorities at the US Department of the Treasury and assisted Princeton faculty with labor economics research while pursuing her graduate degree. Previously, she served as the national director of the Roosevelt Institute’s network for emerging leaders in public policy, advancing bottom-up advocacy campaigns related to economic justice and human rights in the United States. Gamble has also been an organizer for economic opportunity and higher education access in the state of California, running campaigns related to tax reform and the California Dream Act.
As a student organizer in the University of California Student Association, Gamble worked on political campaigns related to tax reform and budgetary priorities. Gamble also writes on topics of race and economics. She has been featured in places such at Fox Business, The Nation, Salon, The Hill, The Huffington Post and NextCity. Fusion named her one of 30 women under 30 who are influencing the 2016 election.
2016: Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs With Justice and the co-director of Caring Across Generations. She is a nationally recognized expert on the economic, labor and political issues affecting working people across all industries, particularly women and those employed in low-wage sectors, as well as the changing nature of work in America. Gupta has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Politico, as well as on MSNBC, Al Jazeera English, PBS, CNBC and Fox, and writes regularly for The Huffington Post, The Hill and BillMoyers.com. As a key leader and strategist in the progressive, labor, economic justice, women’s and caregiving movements, she speaks regularly at conferences, panels and events. Recent appearances include the White House Conference on Aging and the Department of Labor Fair Labor Standards Act Anniversary.
Other Open Door Honorees: The Founders of the Frances Perkins Center (2020), Elisa Walker (2015), Lindsey Davis (2014), Lynn Pasquerella (2013), Kathryn Edwards (2012), Hilary Doe (2011), and Megan Williams (2010).