News Release

A community leader holding weekly vigils protesting violence, a volunteer helping senior citizens and a health worker educating women about breast cancer are among this year’s Unsung Hero Award winners. Ten Bay Area residents will be honored at the 17th annual Unsung Hero Awards ceremony on Nov. 20 for selflessly giving their time and energy to improve the lives of others in the African American community. Honorees were nominated by the public and selected by committees comprised of San Francisco Public Library staff and community members.

The awards ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. in the Koret Auditorium at the Main Library. This year’s program, which will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, will include a keynote speech by San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, songs from Vivian Miller, and a dramatic performance by theater group Stagebridge. The event is free and open to the public.

This year’s Unsung Hero Award winners are:

• Cheyenne Bell, an attorney, community activist, tutor, devoted church member and an advocate of libraries and educational organizations. Bell will receive an award posthumously.
  
• Rhoda Charles, a community health worker for the Health and Environmental Resource Center dedicated to bringing breast cancer awareness to women in the Bayview Hunter’s Point community.
  
• Jackie Cohen and Diane Gray, volunteer co-directors of the 100% College Prep Club, a program designed to inspire young women and men to set and achieve high academic goals.
  
• Jean Damu, a longtime union and community activist who has been organizing the San Francisco African American community in support of the Reparations Ordinance.
  
• Ollie Mixon, a volunteer working with senior citizens at the Senior Citizens Group and the Senior Advisory Committee in Bayview Hunter’s Point. Mixon is also a lifetime member of the National Council of Negro Women.
  
• Donald Oliver, an educator with the San Francisco Unified School District and the Oakland Unified School District for 34 years who has lent his organizational and managerial skills to many community organizations.
  
• Hank Roberts, founder of Peacemakers, an organization that provides academic and developmental support to “at risk” students in Oakland and East Palo Alto.
  
• Reginald Stevenson, a community activitist who leads a silent vigil every Saturday in protest of community violence in Bayview Hunter’s Point.
  
• Roland Willis, founder of the Community Computer Center, who works tirelessly to provide free computers to low income children and families in Bayview Hunter’s Point and the Western Addition.