When the systems that enable working families and individuals to live healthy, happy lives no longer function, change is needed. Several regional organizations are devoted to updating, restructuring and revitalizing the systems that allow people to thrive despite the challenges they’ve faced.
To honor these groups and the vital work they pursue, the Deaconess Foundation established the Deborah Vesy Systems Change Champion Award in 2021. The award honors Deborah Vesy, who served as the Foundation’s president and CEO for 18 years and retired in 2020.
“The purpose of the award is to ensure the transformative work she championed continues for many years,” said Cathy Belk, president and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation, a private foundation committed to helping those impacted by poverty build careers which sustain themselves and their families.
To shine a light on these new solutions, the Deaconess Foundation established the Deborah Vesy Systems Change Champion Award in 2021. The annual award celebrates the legacy of Deaconess’s former leader with unrestricted grants of either $50,000 or $10,000, to reward organizations for the hard work of tackling long-standing challenges. The award recognizes organizations which successfully created systems change or used innovation to address these challenges.
Selected by Deaconess Foundation from a pool of applications, the winner of the award receives an unrestricted $50,000 grant.
- Winner: YOU Cleveland (Youth Opportunities Unlimited) received the top award and a $50,000 prize for its work. Youth Opportunities Unlimited’s initiative creates a three-way win: exposing young people to high-demand careers, giving students real-world job skills and helping Northeast Ohio school districts boost graduation rates without added administrative burden. “Much of the work experience students were already accumulating in their communities wasn’t showing up in those new state measures”, said Y.O.U. President and CEO Craig Dorn.
- Runners-Up / Finalists:
- McGregor Foundation and the Senior Living Workforce Collaborative– Building on the success of that emergency cooperation, the McGregor Foundation, Jennings Center for Older Adults and Judson Senior Living formed the Senior Living Collaborative to tackle chronic staffing shortages through joint training and shared recruitment in2021. Three years later, they adopted Arena Health/Arena Analytics, an AI tool that screens applicants based on preferences and fit, rather than formal skills. “Traditional hiring models forced us to compete against one another for the exact same applicants,” said Ann Conn, president and CEO of the McGregor Foundation.
- NewBridge Cleveland-A regional initiative to fix Northeast Ohio’s nursing pipeline didn’t just fill hard-to-staff clinical faculty slots — it kept nearly every new instructor on the job a year later.
- The Centers– The Centers has been committed to improving the health and well-being of individuals and families across Northeast Ohio. By bringing together healthcare, behavioral health, early childhood education, and family support services, we provide compassionate, whole-person care that helps people thrive at every stage of life.
- Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Workforce Development Board– Workforce Development Board (WDB) serves as the advisory body for the Cuyahoga County Department of Workforce Development. The purpose of the department is to provide resources and information that assist residents of Cuyahoga County in moving toward financial independence through employment. Its programs and services include education, job training, job search assistance and employment-related youth programs funded through the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA).
- Towards Employment– We believe in a dynamic world of work where all people – regardless of race, justice system involvement, or where they live – have an opportunity to thrive.
Senior Living Workforce Collaborative
Pictured L to R: Deborah Vesy (Award Namesake); Tara Regan (McGregor); Kendra Urdzik (CEO,Judson); Ann Conn (CEO, McGregor); Allison Salopek (CEO, Jennings) received a reward for their partnership efforts with the Senior Workforce Collaborative.
Pictured: Kendra Urdzik (CEO-Judson); Yuvette Bozman (McGregor); Ann Conn (CEO-McGregor), Tara Regan and Laura Mullin (McGregor); Allison Salopek (CEO-Jennings); Tangi McCoy (CEO McGregor PACE); and Lee Ann O’Brien (McGregor)
Featured speaker was Dr. Cameron Sublett from the Foundation for California Community Colleges
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