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We're counting on your support to Build Great Futures! Be sure to follow us and stay tuned for more content post-Gala! Join us as we continue to celebrate future-building individuals with the following awards:
Youth of the Year Award
In showing leadership potential and academic excellence, this award showcases one of our youth that have excelled in their growth and development.
Per our national branch, Youth of the Year is based around involving youth in various leadership experiences, which is an important part of the program. Clubs such as BGCN have a great deal of flexibility in how they implement Youth of the Year, so specific activities and experiences may vary, but the focus is always on making sure our youth are aware of leadership abilities they might not think they possess and cultivating them so that they learn what it means to be a leader.
Cynthia M. Banks Award for Caring
Stephen Gilbert & Lois Larkey
The Longest Serving Board Member and the First Female Board Member of BGCN!
This award is a tremendous honor given annually to outstanding individuals that selflessly gives time, talent and support to improve the lives of the children of BGCN. Join us as we honor this year's phenomenal co-recipients, Lois Larkey and Stephen Gilbert!
Lois Ann Larkey served as the 1st Female Board Member at the Club, working with youth in programs such as etiquette classes as well as serving on the Youth of the Year Committee!
Stephen A. Gilbert served on the Board of Trustees for 52 years, finally retiring back in 2022!
Thank you Lois and Stephen for your exceptional service to the Club!
William "Jazz" Jones Award Honoree
Shavar Jeffries
CEO, KIPP FOUNDATION
Shavar Jeffries has been an advocate for social justice and educational equity for more than two decades. He joined the KIPP Foundation as CEO in January 2023, a culmination of his many years as a champion for KIPP schools. Shavar was founding board chair of KIPP Newark in 2001; joined the KIPP Foundation Board in 2019; and is a proud KIPP parent, as his two children graduated from KIPP Spark Academy and KIPP Team Academy in Newark. His commitment to improving education stems directly from personal experience. As a first-generation college graduate, he understands implicitly the life-changing power of a high-quality education.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Shavar was President of Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) and its affiliate organization, Education Reform Now, where he led the organization in passing well over 100 policies at the federal and state level that expanded educational opportunities for low-income students of color. Throughout his career, Shavar has practiced law, worked as an assistant attorney general in New Jersey, and served as the elected president of the Newark school board. Among many career highlights, Shavar, as school-board president, led Newark Public Schools in implementing systemic changes that produced historic gains in student outcomes; as state assistant attorney general, executed a strategy shifting juveniles from detention centers to community-based programs that produced nation-leading reductions in recidivism; and, as a civil-rights lawyer, litigated numerous class-action cases that released hundreds of millions in education funding, rescinded racially discriminatory tracking of students of color to remedial classes, and provided special-education services to tens of thousands of children.
Shavar graduated from Duke University and Columbia Law School, where he concentrated on civil rights law and policy. He has been recognized broadly for his work—by the NAACP, the National Bar Association, and the Congressional Black Caucus, among others.
It's only right that an individual such as Shavar is recognized for their continuous commitment to initiatives that benefit organizations such as BGCN with the William "Jazz" Jones Award!
