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November 10, 2015Century College and the Century College Gender Studies Program will honor three recipients with its 2015 Gender & Social Change Award, formerly known as Women of Distinction. The 11th Annual Gender & Social Change event was held on Thursday, November 5 from 5 – 7 pm at the Dellwood Hills Golf Club, with music provided by local musical group Wayward Creek.
The 2015 honorees include:
Cece Terlouw, Arden Hills, is the Executive Director at Heartland Girls’ Ranch. Heartland Girls’ Ranch provides strength-based, trauma-informed services and therapeutic equine programming in a safe and supportive environment that empowers girls to experience success and write a new story for themselves.
Qamar Saadiq Saoud, Minneapolis, is a Youth Counselor and Gender Group Facilitator at RECLAIM. RECLAIM works to increase access to mental health support so that queer and trans youth many reclaim their lives from oppression in all its forms. It offers therapy for youth and families, training for practitioners, and community partnership for social change at the intersection of gender and racial justices.
Dorinda L. Wider, St. Paul, is an Attorney at Law for Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid specializes in providing professional legal help to Minnesotans who traditionally lack access to the American justice system and cannot afford the services of a private attorney.
Gender and Social Change Award recipients have worked to embody feminist principles of social justice to empower or increase opportunities for diverse, underrepresented groups in our community. Central to their work is the way gender intersects with race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sexuality, disability, etc. The awards recognize recipients from a variety of backgrounds and fields. The name of the award has changed to better align with the Gender Studies Program’s emphasis on social justice and to enable us to recognize a more diverse group of recipients.