Reatha Clark King Award for Excellence and Youth Motivation through the Cultural Arts

The Reatha Clark King Award for Excellence and Youth Motivation through the Cultural Arts was developed by VocalEssence in 2007 to celebrate and recognize outstanding leaders who are in the field empowering young people through direct contact, making a way for them to be as successful as they can be.

Presentation of the award is made by VocalEssence each year at the annual WITNESS concert. The honoree is presented with an original work of art by WITNESS Teaching Artist Ta-Coumba Aiken as a memento of the award.

Award recipients include:

2011: Sharon Sayles Belton’s career has been forged on a lifetime dedicated to public service. In 1993, Sayles Belton was the first African American and the first woman to be elected mayor of Minneapolis. She is currently vice president of Community Relations and Government Affairs for Thomson Reuters, where she focuses on key issues that impact the legal businesses of Thomson Reuters, its customers and employees. She is also recognized for her service as a member of the VocalEssence Board of Directors from 2002 to 2008.

2010: Laysha Ward, president of Community Relations and the Target Foundation, where she oversees domestic and international grant making, community sponsorships, cause marketing initiatives, volunteerism and other civic activities. Ward, who started her career with the Target Corporation in 1991, serves on the board of the Executive Leadership Council, a national membership organization for African-American executives and is also a member of The Links, an international women’s service organization.

2009: Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan C. Page and Diane Sims Page, co-founders of the Page Education Foundation which assists minority and other disadvantaged youth with post-secondary education. The foundation offers scholarships to students of color who demonstrate a positive attitude toward education and agree to act as tutors, mentors, and role models for younger children in their communities.

2008: Patricia A. Harvey, a Senior Fellow at the National Center on Education and the Economy/America’s Choice in Washington, D.C., where she works with district superintendents and state commissioners of education to develop state and district level policies and structures that help American students equal the performance of their peers in the world’s best performing nations. Before assuming her current position, Pat Harvey was Superintendent of Schools for six years in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where significant gains in the achievement of all student groups were made under her leadership.

2007: Ms. Ossie Brooks James, principal at Lyndale Community School, a K-5 public school located in South Minneapolis. The school’s vision is to provide a positive learning environment that fosters academic excellence, collaborates with the community, integrates the arts, promotes responsibility, and celebrates diversity. Ms. James has been principal at Lyndale Community Elementary School for many years and has engaged the VocalEssence WITNESS School Program into her school community to help realize the school’s vision.