Photo courtesy of Vulcan Park Foundation.
Joan Witherspoon Norris is one of the honorees in the 2019 Vulcans Community Awards.
The Vulcan Park Foundation recently announced its honorees for 2019 in the annual Vulcans Community Awards, which recognize citizens in the Birmingham area who demonstrate civic pride and leadership. The recipients, chosen by an independent panel, will be honored at an awards dinner at The Club in Homewood on Nov. 7.
This year’s list of honorees includes a Mountain Brook resident, Joan Witherspoon-Norris, who is making her mark as the senior director of the Social Justice Department of the YWCA of Central Alabama.
The awards honor 13 people in five award categories — Lifetime Achievement, Newcomer, Hero, Game Changer and Servant Leadership — and are divided into two broad groups: The Vulcans and Spears.
The complete list of honorees is as follows:
THE VULCANS
► Lifetime Achievement: Cathy Sloss Jones of Sloss Real Estate.
► Hero: Loretta Herring of The Cancer Awareness Network of Children Inc.
► Newcomer: Mark W.C. Martin of Build UP Ensley.
► Game Changer: Buddy Palmer of Create Birmingham.
► Servant Leadership: Uma Srivastava of KultureCity.
SPEARS
► Heroes: Mary White and Shuanta Woods of Deja King Foundation.
► Newcomers: Charity Moore of Chocolate Milk Mommies and Mary Helmer of Main Street Alabama.
► Game Changers: Kristina Scott of Alabama Possible and Adrienne Starks of STREAM Innovations.
► Servant Leadership: LaTonya Smith of Aunt Ethel’s Helping Hands and Joan Witherspoon-Norris.
The contributions made to the community by these honorees “inspire all of us to engage in the community and to serve others,” said Angela Wier, the director of development for the Vulcan Park Foundation. “It is a privilege to share their stories.”
Witherspoon-Norris has been with the YWCA since 2007, according to her LinkedIn profi le, and is the founding director of the Social Justice Department. Since 2009, Witherspoon-Norris has been active in the areas of advocacy and social justice youth programming. She led the creation of the YWCA’s award-winning AmeriCorps program.
In 2011, Witherspoon-Norris worked with the National Conference of Community and Justice to bring the Anytown Alabama social justice leadership camp to the YWCA.
She has also worked assiduously to achieve reforms in predatory or payday lending practices in Alabama, because the high rate of interest on such loans can be a crippling factor in the lives of some of the women and families the YWCA serves.
Two of the honorees have a Homewood connection. Charity Moore, a Homewood city employee, co-founded Chocolate Milk Mommies, a breastfeeding support group for women of color in the Birmingham area.
Krrstina Scott, who formerly lived in Homewood and now lives in Birmingham, serves as executive director of Alabama Possible, a statewide nonprofi t headquartered in Birmingham that seeks to break down barriers to prosperity through advocacy, education and collaboration.
The Vulcan Community Awards received more than 100 nominations this year from the Birmingham metropolitan area, which consists of Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby and Walker counties.
For tickets to the Vulcan Community Awards dinner, which serves as a fundraiser for Vulcan Park & Museum, go to thevulcans.swell.gives.
