How thrilled were we to learn that we were recognized by Youth Service America (YSA) for extraordinary achievements in working toward the goal of “making service and service-learning the common expectation and the common experience of every young person in America”?? Quite! PTPI is a proud 2010 winner of the Harris Wofford Award in the Organization category.
(left to right) Steve Culbertson, YSA President, Senator Harris Wofford, Meg Carter, and Bill Blumenthal, Government Affairs Director for State Farm
Meg Carter of PTPI’s Washington, DC (National Capital Area) Community Chapter accepted the award on behalf of PTPI at an event in Washington, DC.
How much do you know about former Senator Harris Wofford? A native of New York, Wofford graduated from the University of Chicago. He later graduated from law school at Yale and Howard University and went on to work as a legal assistant for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, then a law professor at Notre Dame University.
Wofford was appointed to a position of Special Assistant to President John F. Kennedy, working as Coordinator of Federal Civil Rights Policy for the White House. Later he helped to create the Peace Corps and relocated to Ethiopia in his role as Special Representative to Africa. He spent eight years as president of Bryn Mawr College and then served as a Democratic Senator from Pennsylvania from 1991 to 1995. After leaving politics, he was CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service until his retirement in 2001.
Wofford currently serves on the Board of Directors for a number of non-profit organizations, YSA, the organization that created Global Youth Service Day in 1988. In 2002, YSA created the Harris Wofford Awards, in honor of Harris Wofford and his lifelong dedication to service.
