The Help Me Grow National Center Joanna Bogin Award honors 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 recognition of the need for 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.
About the Award
The Help Me Grow National Center Joanna Bogin Award honors individuals who have dedicated their work to building powerful systems of care and support for families with young children.
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 HMG 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.
Award Criteria
The Help Me Grow National Center Joanna Bogin Award is open to early childhood system-building professionals who have made or are currently making significant contributions at the community, state, and/or national-level. 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 HMG.
Nominees must lead, work for, or partner with a HMG affiliate.
Nominees must be able to attend the 2025 HMG National Forum in Hartford, Connecticut on July 14-16, where the award will be presented.
One individual will be selected to receive the 2025 Help Me Grow National Center Joanna Bogin Award.
Key Dates & Nomination Process
Call for nominees open April 1, 2025.
Nominations must be submitted by May 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM AKDT. All nominations must be submitted digitally here.
Nominators will be notified by the HMG National Center of award decision by May 16, 2025.
Award Highlights
- Showcase of the awardee, published on the HMG National Center website and HMG News edition following the Forum.
- Paid registration to attend the 2025 HMG National Forum in Hartford, Connecticut on July 14-16, where the award will be presented.
- Receipt of the award at the event on Wednesday, July 16.
- A monetary award of $1,500 (USD) to go to the individual awardee for their personal contribution to systems serving families with young children in their community or state.
Nomination Form Preview
Provided below is the full set of questions you will encounter when submitting a nomination to the 2025 Joanna Bogin Award. This section is intended to provide a preview of the nomination form only, and may not be used to submit a nominee for consideration.
All nominations must be submitted digitally here.
For questions on the HMG National Center Joanna Bogin Award, please contact Sarah Zucker, Associate Director of Strategic Partnerships & Network Relations at szucker@connecticutchildrens.org.
The online nomination form requests:
- Nominator’s name and HMG affiliate state/system name
- 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
- One page maximum
- Should describe the author’s relationship to the nominee and why the nominee is deserving of the award
- Optional: Up to two additional letters of recommendation
Nominees must be able to attend the 2025 HMG National Forum in Hartford, Connecticut on July 14-16, where the award will be presented.
HMG National Center Joanna Bogin Award 2025 - Nomination RFA
Winner of the 2023 HMG National Center
Joanna Bogin Award
Barbara Leavitt, HMG Utah
Barbara Leavitt, described by her nominators as “the greatest champion for children and families in Utah”, was honored with the inaugural HMG National Center Joanna Bogin Award at HMG National Forum 2023 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Upon moving to Utah, Barbara recognized the need to better support families with young children in her area, and she single-handedly began advocating to bring HMG to her community. Despite repeated funding setbacks and challenges bringing HMG to her state, Barbara’s tireless work paid off, and HMG Utah was born.
In her decades of experience in the early childhood system-building field, Barbara’s passion for including families at all stages of their child’s development was palpable to her colleagues and prominent in her work at the local, state, and even federal-levels. Notably, she also spearheaded the Celebrating Stages project, which is the first universal system of screening in Utah to be unanimously approved by Utah’s Early Childhood Utah, State Advisory Council, and the Governor’s Early Childhood Commission.
Barbara worked from a place of love, purpose, vision, and inclusion to improve services for children and families in Utah, and HMG National was thrilled to recognize her for her transformative work in this ever-evolving field.
