Congratulations to NC MomsRising for winning a Defenders of Justice (DOJ) Award! The DOJ Awards are given by the North Carolina Justice Center to honor individuals or organizations who are making significant contributions in the following areas: Litigation; Research and Policy Development; Public Policy Advocacy and Grassroots Empowerment/Community Capacity Building. Recipients of the DOJ Awards were honored at the annual Defenders of Justice Event on April 22, 2014, at the William and Ida Friday Center in Chapel Hill.
NC MomsRising received the award in the Grassroots Empowerment category. The Justice Center recognized them for tapping into the power of mothers who feel underrepresented and disempowered and for providing presentations about issues such as how education cuts will harm our children and what rights mothers have in the workplace. MomsRising.org is an online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to achieve economic security for all moms, women, and families in the U.S. NC MomsRising is the first state chapter of the organization and has more than 28,000 volunteer members.
Sheila Arias (pictured on far left), Health & Nutrition Coordinator at Durham Early Head Start, is a member of NC MomsRising and was at the ceremony to receive the award.
Sheila is a powerful advocate for young children and their families, and she represented Durham Early Head Start on Capitol Hill this past December when she bravely shared her story at a congressional briefing held by MomsRising and First Focus. Sheila spoke about her experience with Durham Early Head Start in front of a packed house, and she also had an opportunity to meet with Senator Kay Hagan and Representative David Price’s office after the briefing. You can read more about her experience in D.C. here.
We are proud of Sheila for lending her voice to make such a big impact, and we extend warm congratulations to NC MomsRising on this much-deserved award for all of their wonderful and important work!
2014 Defenders of Justice Award Honorees
Legislative & Administrative Advocacy: Congressman G.K. Butterfield
Policy Research & Advocacy: Planned Parenthood in North Carolina, League of Women Voters – Piedmont Triad, League of Women Voters
Litigation: Mona Lisa Wallace
Grassroots Empowerment: NC Moms Rising, NC Raise Up
