Across New Jersey and beyond, individuals and communities continue to face hate, discrimination, and violence because of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. Making a Difference Honorees have stood in the gap as advocates, educators, mentors, and allies—creating pathways to acceptance, affirmation, and opportunity.
Maud Dahme
Maud received a special Lifetime Service Award for her work as a Holocaust educator–and as a survivor who was a hidden child in the Netherlands during World War 2. Maud dedicated much of her adult life to Holocaust and genocide education, for both teachers and students in New Jersey; this dedication included leading members of the New Jersey Education Association on a tour of concentration camps for more than 20 years. A long-time member of the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, Maud helped establish the required public school curriculum about the Holocaust in NJ.
Robt Martin Seda-Schreiber
Robt Martin is the founder and chief activist of Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice (BRCSJ) in Princeton, a dedicated safe space for queer youth, families, and elders. Its support programs serve people of color, victims of domestic violence, immigrants, low-income individuals, and others across the queer spectrum who find community and strength there. Before founding BRCSJ, Robt Martin formed a theatre company that raised significant funding for AIDS support and HIV testing, and started the state’s first Gay-Straight Alliance while teaching in middle school, which became the template for many others across the U.S. He was named the Social Justice Activist of the Year by the National Education Association in 2017, giving rise to his vision of the BRCSJ.
Fraidy Reiss
After escaping a forced marriage to an abusive spouse, Fraidy founded Unchained At Last in 2011, with a mission to end forced and child marriage. The organization helps women across the United States to resist or escape forced marriages and rebuild their lives through its often life-saving services. Fraidy and her team are working diligently to change the legal age of marriage to 18 and ban child marriage nationwide. It is currently illegal (age of consent 18) in only 16 states plus Washington, D.C., American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands; all other states and territories allow marriage of young girls and teens to, in many cases, adult men.
Jane and Joseph Clementi
After losing their son Tyler to suicide following an episode of cyberbullying in college, the Clementis channeled their grief into starting the Tyler Clementi Foundation. The organization works to end online and offline bullying in schools, workplaces and faith communities and to promote safe, inclusive and respectful environments for vulnerable youth and their allies. The couple established The Tyler Clementi Center on the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers University (where Tyler was a freshman student), collaborated with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus to create a choral arrangement called Tyler’s Suite, and launched The Tyler Clementi Internet Safety Conference at the New York Law School. The foundation also has programs and downloadable toolkits.
Ryan and Charity Haygood
Ryan, a lawyer, and Charity, a teacher, combined their professional acumen to establish Christ’s Heart Offering Satisfaction for Every Need (C.H.O.S.E.N.) to reach at-risk youth in Newark. The organization steers youth through challenges and prepares them for purpose-driven living with programs that address relationships, setting and achieving goals, joy, disappointments, dealing with gangs, inner-city life, decision making, forgiveness and salvation. Today, Ryan applies that experience as president and CEO of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, which seeks to ensure that all New Jersey residents live in a society that respects their humanity, provides equality of economic opportunity, empowers them to use their voice in the political process, and protects equal justice. Its holistic approach advocates for systemic reform that is transformative, achievable statewide, and replicable in communities across the nation.
Jim McCloskey
Jim founded Centurion Ministries in 1983, the first organization in the world devoted to freeing the wrongly convicted in the U.S. and Canada justice systems who are facing life sentences or death sentences. Centurion has freed 70 individuals, all of whom spent decades in prison serving sentences for the crimes of others. The Centurion team re-investigates crimes, uncovers lost evidence and finds new evidence, convinces coerced witnesses to tell the truth, helps overturn false confessions, and sometimes finds the true perpetrator. Jim has retired but sits on the nonprofit’s board of trustees.
Richard and Maureen Kanka
Richard and Maureen Kanka had their lives shattered in 1994 when their young daughter, Megan, was lured into a neighbor’s home, then raped and murdered. Out of their personal tragedy they founded the Megan Nicole Kanka Foundation to increase public awareness about the danger posed to children by convicted sex offenders. Their diligence led President Clinton to sign Megan’s Law in May 1996 as an amendment to the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children’s Act; it requires each state to notify the public when dangerous sexual offenders are residing in their area.
More Honorees Shining a Light on Social Injustice
Lillie Hendry
2005
The Court Street School was one of the last segregated schools in Monmouth County. It is now a historic community center that Lillie helped refurbish and transform. Its volunteers offer numerous programs for the area’s young people. Lillie passed away in 2024.
Monsignor Michael Doyle
2006
Monsignor Doyle founded Heart of Camden to enhance the quality of life of the South Camden community through housing restoration, economic expansion, and community development. It has built and rehabilitated homes for hundreds of families, developed a flourishing arts community and cultural district, built new play spaces and created greener access to the Delaware River waterfront. The Monsignor passed away in 2022.
Rosemarie L. D’Alessandro
2007
After Rosemarie’s daughter Joan was raped and murdered at age 7, Rosemarie’s tireless advocacy resulted in Joan’s Bill, which states that a person convicted of the murder of a minor under the age of 18 in the course of the commission of a sex crime will serve life imprisonment without parole. The Foundation promotes child safety via programs and legislation, and provides support to neglected and abused children.
William D. Elliott
2008
William lost his only son in 2000 when a drunk driver–who’d been arrested on DUI charges just two hours earlier–crashed into his son’s car head on, killing them both. William and his wife, Muriel pushed for New Jersey to enact John’s Law, requiring police to impound the vehicles of suspected drunk drivers for 12 hours; a federal version was enacted in 2005. The John R. Elliott HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers® works to prevent other families from suffering the loss of a loved one from a DUI tragedy.
Jane Hanson
2009
Partners for Women and Justice provides free legal services to low-income survivors of domestic violence, with a focus on family court matters, to help them build a safe, secure future. Services include legal representation, legal clinics, telephone help lines, a financial literacy program, and preparation of wills and other legal documents.
Blanca Molina
2012
Centro Comunitario CEUS is committed to strengthening and empowering New Jersey’s Hispanic immigrant community, helping immigrants integrate into American society. It provides affordable legal services for hundreds of immigrants each year, has helped thousands obtain legal status in the United States, and more.
Richard Pompelio
2013
Richard established the New Jersey Crime Victims’ Law Center (VLC) after his 17-year-old son was murdered while helping a girl who was being threatened. The VLC ensures that victims of violent crimes are given a voice in the criminal justice system. It is a leader in NJ’s victims’ rights movement and an integral part of a national movement.
2013
Newark Pride Alliance
James, who passed away in 2023, led a life of activism and advocacy, as a leader within the LGBTQ communities since 1980. James assisted in creating the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention, the first national HIV prevention program directed at black men and men of color, and cofounded the Newark Pride Alliance in 2003.
Lorna Henkel
2017
First Friends of NJ & NY provides compassion and hope to people in immigration detention, offers resettlement assistance, and advocates for all those who are impacted by the immigration enforcement system.
Melissa Gertz
2018
After a near-fatal car accident that resulted in a traumatic brain injury and PTSD, followed by numerous surgeries and rehabilitative therapies, Melissa founded a nonprofit that provides legal services and support to disabled low-income or homeless individuals and returning disabled veterans and their families.
Bridget Cutler
2019
Bridget cofounded the Moms Helping Moms Foundation (MHMF) to help low-income and struggling mothers with basic baby items. Through extensive community partnerships the team collects and distributes diapers, clothing, formula, nursing supplies, strollers and other baby essentials. MHMF also operates early literacy and dental hygiene programs for families.
Sheryl Olitzky
2021
Sheryl is the cofounder of The Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom, which fosters a network of Muslim and Jewish women who, guided by common values, mobilize our larger communities to cultivate a more pluralistic, equitable, and democratic societies.
Diana Mejia
2022
Diana, a committed immigration advocate, founded Wind of the Spirit to provide support and legal services for immigrants and undocumented people in multiple communities in New Jersey. She has pushed for humane and just policies that allow immigrants to live with dignity and contribute fully to their communities.
Ruth Perez
2024
Ruth empowers Latinx business owners and residents in South Jersey through her nonprofit that facilitates social, cultural, and economic resources for the Dominican diaspora and other immigrant communities.
