For Immediate Release: 3/4/2022 8:45 am
WORCESTER — The City of Worcester Advisory Committee on the Status of Women (ASCW) presents the Woman and Young Woman of Consequence Awards Ceremony Thursday, March 10, at 6 p.m.
The pre-recorded ceremony will be aired on City of Worcester’s Facebook Page and On Demand on the City’s website.
This year’s program theme is “Resilience and Re-emergence during and post Covid,” and features a keynote collection of speakers representing healthcare, childcare, technology, housing, and food security.
The 2022 Woman of Consequence Award will be presented to Michelle Smith, who has served AIDS Project Worcester for over 25 years and 10 years as CEO. Smith continues to be forward thinking about how to eliminate barriers to accessible services while also working toward ending the stigma still associated with AIDS/HIV. She has most recently engaged the community through months of COVID testing provision with a "boots on the ground" approach, at multiple sites, in all kinds of weather, during an unprecedented time. She also ensured the continuance of community events like the annual "Summer Slam," Annual World AIDS Day events, Legislative Breakfasts, annual Thanksgiving food basket distribution, annual holiday toys/gifts distribution, and more.
The 2022 Young Woman of Consequence Award will be presented to Nellie Rushton, a student leader at Doherty Memorial High School where her extracurricular activities include the Student Council, the Math Team, and Entrepreneurship Club founder and president. She is also a student athlete playing lacrosse and basketball. Rushton’s after school job is as a research assistant at a learning sciences lab at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Her volunteer activities include painting fences at the Worcester Housing Authority’s Great Brook Valley, removing invasive plant species at Broad Meadow Brook, and organizing clothing donations at Pernet Family Health Service.
The ceremony will feature remarks from ACSW Chairperson Kayanna James, Mayor Joseph M. Petty, City Councilor Etel Haxhiaj, and City Manager Edward M. Augustus, Jr.
The ACSW was created in 1977 to formulate, encourage, promote and monitor programs and policies relating to the status of women in the City of Worcester.
Since 1996, the ACSW has highlighted extraordinary women of all ages through the Women of Consequence Awards. The ACSW promotes community awareness of women’s issues such as sexual exploitation, pay equality, and childcare through forums, recommendations to the City Manager, and public awareness campaigns.
