2023 HONOREES
Saleem Ghubril - Civic Leadership
Saleem is a passionate advocate for children and for the City of Pittsburgh. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he has devoted his life to serving the people of his community through outreach and education programs. In 1985, Saleem founded The Pittsburgh Project, a community development organization that provided free home renovations to hundreds of vulnerable seniors each year and deployed thousands of youth in meaningful volunteer community service. Saleem led The Project until 2008, when he became the founding Executive Director of The Promise. He is the pastor emeritus of Mosaic Community Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh. In addition, Saleem is a member of the boards of The Buhl Foundation and the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Angela Reynolds - Community Leadership
Dr. Angela Reynolds serves as the CEO of the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh. She began her career testing for housing discrimination through the Fair Housing Partnership, before embarking on an Assistant Professorship at the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. There, she taught statistics, public policy, and research methods and conducted research on racial disparities in housing and criminal justice. Angela is a recipient of the Fair Housing Partnership’s Open Doors-Open Minds Award (2006). She later worked for the United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania, where she served as Senior Director of United for Families and 2-1-1 while also teaching as an adjunct professor in the Public Policy and International Affairs program at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College. A native of New Haven CT, Angela has called Pittsburgh home for many years. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis from the Heinz School at Carnegie Mellon University; an M.S. in Statistics also from CMU; and a B.A. in Mathematics (Sociology minor) from Bryn Mawr College.
Leon Ford - Community Leadership
Leon Ford, a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is an accomplished entrepreneur, author, international speaker, community organizer and a former City Council candidate for Pittsburgh's District 9. A well-respected activist, mental health ambassador and social advocate for change, he has devoted his life to the betterment of his community.
Leon's knowledge of social disparities and injustice comes from personal experience. In 2012, at the age of 19, Leon was unjustly shot five times by a Pittsburgh Police officer during a racially charged traffic stop stemming from a case of mistaken identity. Though that shooting left him physically paralyzed, Leon has not allowed his circumstances to deter him from having a positive impact on his community and the world. Through speaking engagements, community work and mentorship, he has sparked a movement of cultivating leaders, organizers and social entrepreneurs to evoke change and reshape their communities for generations to come.
Leon is the author of Untold: Testimony and Guide to Overcoming Adversity (2017) and The Leon Self Care Handbook: From Surviving to Thriving, a downloadable resource that he created to support community wellbeing and those sufering from trauma. In sharing his journey, he outlines tools for healing ranging from conventional therapy to everyday practices of journaling, reading, fitness, meditation, time management, reflection and overall wellness practices. His new book, I am Leon Ford, The Phoenix Who Rises, releases in May 2023. Most recently, Leon has joined 150+ other leaders as a Founding Partner of Starts With Us= a movement to end the culture wars by fostering curiosity, compassion and courage as daily habits.
While Leon is passionate about educating the community, he has also devoted time to work with police officers to help provide clarity on cultural competency. His work includes working with PA legistlators to draft policies that modify the use of force laws.
In 2019, he executive produced the Cannes Film Festival award-winning documentary Leon. His work on the long-form video Breaking Bread: A Conversation on race in America (2021) is a recipient of The Shorty Awards and captures six strangers from different backgrounds and viewpoints sharing a meal and having the crucial --and difficult --conversations Americans must have to heal America.
Leon is a member of The Aspen Institute's Inaugural Civil Society Fellowship, which aims to prepare and engage the next generation of community and civic leaders, activists and problem solvers from across the political spectrum. He serves as an entrepreneur in residence for Bronze Investments, focusing on social impact companies, and is co-founder of the Leon Ford Legacy Fund, established in 2017 to advocate for community healing, individual empowerment, and social change with a specific focus of turning pain into purpose and transforming grief into greatness. He is a board member of Let's Imagine, the Penn Hills Charter School Foundation, and the Ryan Shazier Foundation, and is a recipient of President Obama's Volunteer Service Award (2017), the Root 100 (2018) and Pittsburgh's 40 under 40 (2019).
In 2022, Leon, together with Pittsburgh Bureau of Polic Chief Scott Schubert, founded The Hear Foundation to foster collaboration between the public and police.
NA For Change - Emerging Leadership
NA For Change is a coalition of North Allegheny students, alumni, parents, educators, and community members working to place the issues of diversity, inclusion, equity, and antiracism at the forefront of the community’s attention while advocating for the implementation of a set of immediate and tangible solutions to positively benefit the community and its students. Founded in 2020, this youth-led coalition has successfully advocated for policy changes in active pursuit of meaningful inclusivity efforts at North Allegheny School District while sourcing and publishing student testimonies of racism and prejudice in the community. Seeking to amplify student voice in the public square and at tables where decisions are made, some of their ongoing initiatives include their annual Caravan for Change, the #IAmForChange campaign—which takes students to school board rooms to advocate for issues important to them—and community service events like a recent toy drive and diversity book drive.
