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Washington Life Presents
the 4th Annual
Substance & Style Awards Each year, we ask the community to nominate individuals who have made significant contributions in time, energy and/or financial support to improving the lives of others. The awards committee has the difficult task of choosing from the numerous qualified and dedicated nominees. It is with great pleasure that Washington Life proudly announces this year's winners of the Men and Women of Substance& Style Awards. These individuals all have unique stories, but each shares an innate ability to give of themselves. Their sincere commitments to the causes they champion are truly inspirational.
Alma Powell Few Washingtonians are as loved and respected as Alma Powell, whose commitment and passion for the arts and the Kennedy Center is longstanding. As the vice-chair of the Center, she is active in its day-to-day operation and frequently advises on the selection of programming. Under Powell's leadership, the Kennedy Center has greatly expanded its arts education curriculum, which now reaches more than eleven million people each year. Through performances, demonstrations and open rehearsals, the Kennedy Center continues to lead the way in arts education, which Powell strongly believes is a vital component to every child's upbringing. She has also been instrumental in the Center's $250 million capital campaign, which include plans to expand education programs. America's Promise, a collaborative network of charities and corporations founded by her husband, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, is another one of her passions. As its chairman, she works with charities to develop programs that correlate with the organization's five promises: to mentor children; to provide safe places for them during non-school hours; to teach about healthy choices in regard to nutrition, substance abuse and sex; to help prepare them for careers; and to create opportunities to volunteer. Powell has worked to secure corporate sponsors to financially support non-profit organizations that have similar goals as America's Promise, such as the Boys & Girls Club of America. Due to her efforts, sponsor MTV has pledged to produce programming to encourage youth activism. In 2003, she published two children's books, “My Little Wagon” and “America's Promise,” and donated the proceeds to America's Promise.“I have one basic wish for children all over the world,” Powell says. “That they may to live in peace, grow up with respect and dignity, and work to make a better world.” Alma Powell is wearing an Escada tweed dress and matching jacket available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Chevy Chase. Makeup by Patricia Martinez.
Jan Verhage The Washington area will consume 4,055,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies this year, more than any other metropolitan region in the country. This statistic mirrors the success that Jan Verhage enjoys as executive director of the Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capitol. Her motto speaks for itself:“When I think of all the girls we're not serving, I know there's always more to do.” Verhage, a former Girl Scout herself, began working for the Girl Scouts in California after she finished college. In November 1985, she moved to Washington and soon breathed new life into the organization by doubling the enrollment numbers in the metropolitan area, over 71,000 members in over 3,900 troops. Verhage creates unique programs to promote the well-being of girls. One of them began as a one-week camp and then expanded to Camp CEO, where teenage girls and women executives network, share s'mores, songs and stories about succeeding in the corporate environment. Participants have included TV anchorwoman Kathleen Matthews, Howard University executive Artis Hampshire-Collan and prominent lawyer Natalie Ludaway. Verhage has focused on reaching underserved populations. She devotes much of her $9.6 million budget to creating programs that build selfesteem, combat peer pressure, and promote literacy. She also began a program called, “Bridging the Gap,” which tutors girls in math and sciences. For the 90th anniversary of the Girl Scouts, Verhage arranged a songfest on the Mall for 120,000 girls, the largest gathering of Girl Scouts in America. Verhage is the founder and current chairman of the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington, where she is working to build a unified coalition of Washington non-profit groups. This organization coordinated the efforts of Washington non-profits in response to 9/11, and also completed a landmark study with Johns Hopkins University illustrating how the non-profit sector has had a positive economic impact on this region. Jan Verhage also serves on the D.C. Campaign Leadership Task Force on Religion and Public Values, which focuses on reducing teen pregnancy. She is a the former president of the International Children's Alliance, and serves on the advisory board of the Center for the Study of Voluntary Organizations at Georgetown University.“I love what I do, because I can take the time to not only help the Girl Scouts but also the broader community,” Verhage says. It's clear that she has no intention of slowing down. Jan Verhage is wearing Ellen Tracy pants, jacket and shirt and a Prada brooch, available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Chevy Chase. Hair by Toka salon.
Sean Tuohey The love of basketball runs in the Tuohey DNA. As the son of the chairman of the D.C. Sports Commission, Sean Tuohey grew up with the dream of one day reaching the NBA. He played basketball for Gonzaga High School (which USA Today ranked sixth in the nation), then continued his success at Catholic University where he was named athlete of the year. After college, he was ready to pursue his dream of playing professional basketball in Ireland. In Ireland, Tuohey began coaching Catholic and Protestant children together and soon realized sports could be a way to break down generations of hatred. “Kids who play together can learn to live together,” Tuohey says. Ultimately, he and his younger brother, Brendan, founded Playing for Peace in 2000, with just $6,000. The brothers expanded the program to South Africa where they hoped basketball would unite black and white children as well. “Basketball was a new sport to both countries. In Northern Ireland, Catholic kids played Gaelic sports like hurling and Protestants played rugby. In South Africa, black kids played soccer and the white kids played cricket. Basketball is neutral,” Tuohey says. To date, Playing for Peace has coached and integrated over 4,500 students in Ireland, and more than 10,000 in South Africa. But Tuohey's commitment did not end on the court. Playing for Peace also has a life skills program in South Africa, where coaches meet before practice to discuss HIV/AIDS, drugs, alcohol, racism, sexism, diversity and conflict resolution. Harvard University, Northeastern University, and the University of Maryland have all supported the program. In his commitment to the children participating in the programs, it's clear Tuohey looks beyond the game. After building fifteen basketball courts in South Africa, he placed AIDS awareness messages around the courts. On weekends, Tuohey offers his coaches free AIDS testing. “We are seeing black and white kids in South Africa and Catholic and Protestant kids in Ireland, who have never talked to each other, learn to respect one another through basketball. I am confident this program is working, but what I am most confident in, is my brother,” says Brendan Tuohey. In the five years since Playing for Peace was founded, it has grown to over 88 employees and operates on a budget of one million dollars. Each year, the Nelson Mandela Foundation gives its largest donation of $100,000 to Playing for Peace. The NBA is also helping out by sending retired players to coach the children. Next year, Tuohey hopes to expand the program to help ease tension in the Middle East and create a greater understanding between Israeli and Palestinian children. Sean Tuohey is wearing an Armani Collezioni jacket and shirt, Luciano Barbera pants and Prada sneakers, available from Saks Fifth Avenue, Chevy Chase.
Diana Goldberg In 2001, Diana Goldberg made one of that year’s 30 largest philanthropic gifts in the United State by donating $25.6 million to the Children’s National Medical Center for the Diana L. and Stephen A. Goldberg Center for Community Pediatric Health. With outlets in Shaw, Anacostia and Adams Morgan, the Center has been instrumental in providing local community support to many underserved neighborhoods. Her generosity helped the Center to focus on specific medical needs in Washington D.C., especially HIV and AIDS, asthma, sickle cell anemia, child abuse injuries and lead poisoning. Under Goldberg’s leadership, the hospital has developed the Adolescent Employment Readiness Center, which trains disabled youth in skills they need to enter the work force. It’s not uncommon to find Goldberg’s name linked with many local and national charities. She quietly supports numerous organizations, championing such causes as long term solutions to homelessness, the arts, and environmental and conservation efforts. Her support of African- American causes includes underwriting Arena Stage’s production of “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” for the Black Student Fund which supports African- American students in the metropolitan area, and a scholarship fund for the Frederick B. Abramson Memorial Foundation. Goldberg is on the steering committee (grants committee) for the Washington AIDS Partnership, a consortium of donors who give a million dollars a year to grassroots AIDS organizations. Even though the Center for Disease Control (CDC) cites the District of Columbia as first in the country in AIDS cases per capita, it recently cut funding significantly for programs targeting youth HIV prevention. Goldberg made a large grant to compensate for the loss. Executive Director of the Washington AIDS Partnership Channing Wickham says Goldberg“is absolutely fearless in her grant making.” According to Wickham, she once spent an overnight shift on a mobile outreach van working with prostitutes in the most dangerous parts of the city to evaluate the effectiveness of the organization.“This is just the kind of person she is,” Wickham says. “She doesn’t do anything halfway.” Diana Goldberg is wearing a Dolce and Gabbana tweed jacket, a Chanel top and Akris Punot pants, available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Chevy Chase.
Riley Temple After Riley Temple graduated from Georgetown Law School, he served as assistant general counsel for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, then as communications counsel for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation before opening his own private practice, Halprin Temple. During the day, Temple can often be found at Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hearings since he chairs a committee to promote diversity in the telecommunications sector. At night, he likes to go to the beautiful old Lincoln Theater on U Street, N.W. to watch a performance by the True Colors Theatre Company, which he founded.“If my father had permitted it, my mother would have been a stage mom,” says Temple, who was encouraged by his parents to express himself creatively in drama, marching and orchestral clubs at school. This inspired his lifelong love of the arts and his dedication to improving the quality of theater and the arts in Washington. After serving on the board of the Arena Stage, Temple decided he wanted to create a company to revive the Negro classics. “I mourned for the country's loss of the all-black theater company,” Temple says, noting that the Negro Ensemble Company gave rise to many black artists, including Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. Temple reached out to Kenny Leon, director of Broadway's revival of A Raisin in the Sun, and managing director Jane Bishop, and together they launched the True Colors Theatre Company. It is currently the only resident company at the Lincoln Theater. Temple underwrote one of the first productions, Langston Hughes's Tambourines to Glory, which was nominated for six 2005 Helen Hayes Awards. He calls this a “wonderful validation” of the company's success. Temple also serves on the board of the National Museum of American History and the Community and Friends board of the Kennedy Center. He has endowed the David and Helen Temple scholarship at Lafayette College, his alma mater, to fund foreign study programs and visiting lecturers in African Studies.“All of it seems to be a seamless web,” Temple says, “I don't know where my professional life ends and my volunteer work begins.” Riley Temple is wearing an Ermenegildo Zegna jacket and pants, Borelli shirt, Brunello Cucinelli cashmere sweater, Ted Baker necktie and Salvatore Ferragamo loafers, available from Saks Fifth Avenue, Chevy Chase.
David Domenici After graduating from Stanford University Law School, David Domenici, son of Senator Pete Domenici, worked as an attorney in the public defender's office in Washington, D.C. during the day and ran a pizza shop at night. There is no doubt that the combination was a bit odd, but David Domenici is not your typical guy. As a public defender, Domenici worked with at-risk children who had run afoul of the law. “Our kids, for the most part, were high school drop-outs with records, but at that time, the system provided them no real opportunities,” says Domenici, who opened a pizza shop so he could give the kids jobs and teach them responsibility about money. However, he soon realized that in order to make a significant change in their troubled lives, he needed to work with them at all hours of the day or night. With the help of James Forman, Jr., David Domenici founded See Forever Foundation in 1997. Their first mission was to launch the Maya Angelou Charter School near Howard University to focus on at-risk students who had either dropped out of school or were recently released from prison. For six years, he served as the principal, supervising a comprehensive curriculum that included a ten-hour school day and a mandatory six-week summer program. Currently, 15 students live in a school-supported residential program, while the other 85 commute. Participants must also work in part-time jobs to acquire job skills to earn money. The Maya Angelou Charter School has become a model for other schools throughout the country. On average, student SAT scores have risen 15%, even more promising is the fact that 70% of them are accepted into college. Recently, See Forever Foundation has opened a second campus on East Capital Street, N.E. Domenici is now helping large public schools to develop an alternative curriculum to prevent students from dropping out. “My hope is that our staff will work collaboratively with the staffs of traditional public schools and other charters, so that we can learn from each other and hold ourselves to higher standards,” Domenici says. David Domenici currently serves as executive director of the See Forever Foundation, where he works to create public awareness messages targeting troubled youth. David Domenici is wearing Ermenegildo Zegna jeans, jacket, sweater and shirt, available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Chevy Chase.
Ludy Green As the daughter of a diplomat, Ludy Green had the rare opportunity to travel the world and learn five languages fluently. While in South America, she witnessed domestic abuse and realized that in order for victims to escape, they needed stability and financial independence. She learned that women will repeatedly try to leave abusive relationships but often return because of a lack of confidence and economic stability. After graduating with both a M.A .and Ph.D. from George Washington University, Green served as vice president of human resources for a major nationwide association while working with several local committees on domestic violence issues. However, Green wanted to get personally involved, and believed she could contribute more if she worked with women on an individual basis. In 2002, she established Second Chance Employment, an organization that helps domestic abuse victims find permanent jobs. To date, she has helped over 179 women find employment at a minimum salary of $30,000. She also hosts makeover sessions at beauty salons in order to lift their self-images.“If it weren't for Second Chance, I would still be on welfare,” says Keisha White. “Instead, I'm back in the work force as a registered medical technician for George Washington University Hospital. I am able to utilize my job skills, while providing for my children and serve as a role model for them.” Ludy Green has helped numerous women gain self-esteem and confidence by entering the job market. She has given them an opportunity not only to earn a living wage but to call themselves survivors in mainstream society. Dr. Ludy Green is wearing an Armani Collezioni jacket and pants, Christian Dior shoes and Majorca pearls, available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Chevy Chase. Makeup by Patricia Martinez. Photographed by Douglas Sonders at the following locations: Alma Powell was photographed in the grand foyer of the Kennedy Center in front of a bronze sculpture of John F. Kennedy by Robert Berks; Ludy Green was photographed at George Washington University, a partner of Second Chance Employment Services; Riley Temple was photographed at Lincoln Theatre on U Street, N.W.; Sean Tuohey was photographed on the basketball court at Sherman Elementary School; David Domenici was photographed at the Maya Angelou Charter School; Diana Goldberg was photographed in the mini atrium at Children's National Medical Center; and Jan Verhage was photographed at the Beauvoir School with a Brownie troupe. 2005 Substance & Style Awards |
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