Bay area men receive leadership awards

By AriBurack, Bay City News Service

August 1, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - Three Bay Area men were among the seven California recipients of the first James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award, recognizing solutions to some of the state's pressing issues, the foundation reported. James Bell, 52, of San Francisco, was recognized for his work as founder of the W. Haywood Burns Institute for Juvenile Justice Fairness and Equity, an organization working to improve the juvenile justice system.

According to the foundation, Bell's work with judges, attorneys, probation officials and youth advocates has reduced minority confinement in San Francisco, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties by about 15 percent.

Don Shalvey, 61, of Oakland, received the award for his work as co-founder and CEO of Aspire Public Schools, a network of charter schools teaching 4,000 students in low income communities throughout California. The foundation praised Aspire as creating public schools in urban neighborhoods "that mirror the best private schools,'' offering "smaller classes, longer days, rigorous assessment and parent involvement.'' The foundation reported that student performance at these schools has improved dramatically, with 100 percent of students from its first two graduating high school classes being accepted to college.

Eric Weaver, 42, of San Jose, founded Lenders for Community Development (LCD) to help low-income residents of Silicon Valley, including single mothers and immigrant families, "transform their lives by providing resources and training for financial self sufficiency.'' The foundation reported that LCD is the nation's largest provider of matched savings accounts and the Bay Area's largest micro-lender to entrepreneurs that are considered "unbankable.'' LCD has allowed poor neighborhoods to receive $75 million in investments, which has helped more than 6,000 households, according to the foundation.

According to James Irvine Foundation President and CEO Jim Canales, "The Leadership Award recipients all faced long odds and created significant change by focusing on what works. But they also share a confidence in society's capacity to address problems that might seem unsolvable.''

Canales added, "We encourage all California's leaders, whether elected officials or community leaders, to learn from these successful strategies as they tackle our state's ongoing challenges.''

Each recipient's organization will receive $125,000 to $150,000, according to the foundation.

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