Help Me Grow National Center's Joanna Bogin Award

The Help Me Grow National Center’s Joanna Bogin Award
 honors individuals who have dedicated their life’s work to
building powerful systems of care and support that
work both with and for families.

This award recognizes individuals who have made valuable contributions to the experiences of families with young children by working to make improvements and change at the community, state, and/or national levels through:

  • Development of strategic partnerships;
  • Enabling cross-sector efficiencies;
  • Promoting appreciation for and investment in system-level solutions;
  • Advancing policy improvements; and/or
  • Centering equity to promote positive outcomes for all children, especially those from families that are furthest from access and opportunity.

Award recipients are individuals whose efforts and advocacy has effectuated system-level advancements that have had an appreciable and evident impact on families with young children.

This award seeks to honor Joanna Bogin, dear friend, beloved colleague, and first-ever manager of the Help Me Grow National Center by recognizing in others the extraordinary qualities that characterized her spirit:

  • Inspirational interpersonal and relationship-building skills;
  • Exceptional capacity for empathy and sensitivity;
  • Keen ability to carefully listen in an open-minded manner; and
  • Capacity to enable the trust and respect necessary for authentic, collaborative, impactful partnerships.

One individual will be selected to receive the 2023 Help Me Grow National Center’s Joanna Bogin Award.

Award Criteria

The Help Me Grow National Center’s Joanna Bogin Award is open to early childhood system-building professionals making significant contributions at the community, state, and/or national-level. Nominees must be professionals in the field of early childhood system-building and have been working in the field for no less than 7 years. The National Center is seeking nominees whose careers and professional accomplishments embody the spirit of the award and the extraordinary qualities that Joanna Bogin brought to Help Me Grow.

Nominees must lead, work for, or partner directly with a Help Me Grow affiliate.

Nominees must be planning to attend the HMG National Forum Week 2023 In-Person Summit in Fort Worth, Texas on October 11-13, where the award will be presented.

Nomination Process

  • Call for nominees opens July 6, 2023.
  • Nominations must be submitted by Friday, August 18, 2023 at 11:59pm Alaska Time.
  • Nominators will be notified by the HMG National Center of award decision by Thursday, September 14, 2023.
Submit nomination here

Requirements

Nominees must be planning to attend the HMG National Forum Week 2023 In-Person Summit in Fort Worth, Texas on October 11-13, where the award will be presented.

The online nomination form requests: 

  • Nominator’s name, HMG affiliate state, and role for HMG
  • Description of the nominee’s work (250 words max)
  • Description of nominee’s relation/contribution to HMG (250 words max)
  • Rationale for the nomination. How has the nominee’s work embodied the spirit of the award and the characteristics the award seeks to honor (500 words max)
  • Nominee’s Resume or Curriculum Vitae
  • One letter of recommendation:
    • Must be from an individual other than nominee/nominator
    • 2 pages max
    • Should describe the author’s relationship to the nominee and why nominee is deserving of the award
    • Optional: Up to two additional letters

Award Highlights

  • Showcase of the awardee, published on the Help Me Grow National Center website and edition of Help Me Grow News following National Forum Week 2023
  • Receipt of the award at a live ceremony on day 2 (Thursday, October 12) at the HMG Forum’s In-Person Summit in Fort Worth, Texas on October 11-13, 2023.
  • A monetary award of $1,000.00 (USD)