April 24, 2022 (St. Petersburg, Fla.) – Each year, since 1970, Community Tampa Bay has been recognizing community leaders and advocates, who have exhibited exceptional efforts to champion diversity and advance inclusion in schools, workplaces, and the Tampa Bay community with its prestigious Silver Medallion Award.
This year, four honorees will be celebrated on Thursday, May 4th, 5:30-8 pm at Tampa River Center in front of 150 event guests. The annual event, Transformations, allows each attendee to experience the transformative power of Community Tampa Bay’s work and recognize community commitment to eradicating all forms of discrimination.
What: Transformations 2023
Where: Tampa River Center (402 W Laurel St, Tampa, FL 33607)
When: Thursday, May 4th, 5:30-8 pm
Registration: https://www.communitytampabay.org/transformations
“We could all use a bit more community right now and Community Tampa Bay is a leader in building inclusive communities. We are excited to bring together so many community members, leaders, and partners to focus on unity and our collective fight against hate and discrimination. And we were thrilled to bring community input into the selection of this year’s Silver Medallion Award recipients. They represent a broad range of work being done in our community to build a more inclusive, discrimination-free community,” said Tammy Briant Spratling, CEO of Community Tampa Bay.
This year’s honorees include:
Representative Fentrice Driskell was born and raised in Polk County by working-class parents. She has committed herself to selfless service by protecting the rights of citizens, supporting public schools, and ensuring a just and equitable economics recovery for all Floridians.
Representative Driskell’s steadfast commitment to giving voice to those who are marginalized and disenfranchised inspires and energizes all those around her. Representative Driskell works around the clock to ensure that LGBTQ+ individuals, Black and Brown communities, and women are considered with every policy or law. She fights systemic discrimination occurring in institutions and has worked to uplift natural hairstyles in K-12 schools. She has fought for inclusive history to ensure that Black cemeteries are preserved and those buried there have dignity in their rest.
Over the course of her career, she has advocated and fought for the rights of others. Representative Driskell’s selfless service and advocacy for marginalized groups are among the many reasons that Community Tampa Bay is honoring her as a recipient of the Silver Medallion Award.
Bob Glaser
As the owner of the largest LGBT business in Tampa Bay, Bob Glaser is a person that lives Community Tampa Bay’s vision of a community free from all forms of discrimination.
Bob Glaser focuses his community engagements and philanthropic giving on organizations committed to breaking down the biases, assumptions, and stereotypes that lead to discrimination. He believes that everyone should be supported in their authentic identities without fear. He leads through a lens of inclusion and empowers his employees to give back to their community. Bob Glaser created the Smith & Associates Foundation to concertedly focus on philanthropic initiatives. There is a particular focus on the need for support in our unique identities to ensure that we are all able to thrive, and he recognizes the need for mental health support for those who face invalidation, prejudice, discrimination, and hate.
Bob Glaser sees art as a tool for human connection and understanding. His work with The Studio@620, The Morean Arts Center, the Tampa Theatre, and The Palladium ensures that diverse perspectives and lived experiences are experienced through the performing arts.
Julie Ann Jenkins is an all-around fighter of injustice and discrimination. Her commitment to realizing a more inclusive community for all people is not just an idea but an action, every, single, day.
Julie has served as a leader with an inclusive approach behind her work with The Children’s Home, Evergreen Life Services, Heavendropt, and the St. Peter Claver school.
Over the course of her career, she has advocated and fought for the rights of others. Julie Jenkins is the definition of a values-based leader who believes that together we can make the world more inclusive for all.
H. Roy Kaplan
In 1991, while serving his role as director for the National Conference for Christians and Jews in Tampa Bay, H. Roy Kaplan founded the program called “ANYTOWN”. Without his vision for seeing a community free from all forms of discrimination, Community Tampa Bay would not be what it is today. Roy continues to serve as a community leader to this day and is an Associate Professor at USF teaching civil rights history in the Africana Studies department. Roy is committed that others know our history, avoid the mistakes of the past, and embrace those who are different from them to build more inclusive communities for the future.
We here at Community Tampa Bay are honored to award Roy Kaplan the Silver Medallion Award with Kerry Afflitto distinction. The Kerry Afflitto distinction is reserved for people and organizations that not only meet the qualifications of a Silver Medallion Award, but also should be recognized for their above and beyond service to Community Tampa Bay.
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About Community Tampa Bay
Community Tampa Bay is a non-profit organization that envisions a community free of all forms of discrimination in which every individual is treated with dignity and respect, with regard to their race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, ability, faith, and or age. Community Tampa Bay works towards the ambitious vision of cultivating inclusive leaders to change communities through dialogue and cross-cultural interactions, empowering individuals to build relationships based on understanding and mutual respect.
For more information, please visit www.communitytampabay.org.