Black Culture Foundation presents Black Rose Awards
The 30th annual Black Rose Awards Gala, held Feb. 4 at Cal State San Bernardino’s Santos Manuel Student Union, drew some 500 attendees to recognize the 2023 award recipients.
The San Bernardino Black Culture Foundation, which sponsors the event, has a mission “to bridge the cultural differences through nurturing, educating and encouraging the building of lasting, respectable communities,” according to a news release.
At the event, the foundation paid tribute to four people who had died since the last in-person Black Rose Awards Gala — Margaret Hill, a longtime San Bernardino educator and school board member, and senior Black Rose kings Don Griggs, Jimmy Jews and Jess Nichols.
Black Rose Committee members Erika Johnson and Terrance Stone then presented the newly renamed Dr. Margaret Hill Black Rose Young Adult Inspiration Awards and scholarships to Liyah Belvins, a student at California Baptist University majoring in psychology, and Prince Ogidikpe, a recent graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Cal State San Bernardino, now working with Assemblymember Eloise Reyes.
This year’s Black Rose Awards were presented to Gloria Macias Harrison, co-founder of El Chicano newspaper and San Bernardino Valley Community College District Board of Trustees member; Deborah Robertson, mayor of the City of Rialto with 22 years of service to the city; and Linda Wright, a nonprofit organization leader.
Black Culture Foundation cofounder and past president Jim King presented the Jim King Black Rose Corporate Award to Dignity Health Community Hospital of San Bernardino. Roz Nolan, the hospital’s chief nursing officer, and Dr. Ruby Skinner, chief medical officer, accepted the award.
The Juanita H. Scott Humanitarian of the Year award went to Rose Mayes, executive director of the Fair Housing Council of Riverside County. Mayes is co-founder of the Eleanor Jean Grier Leadership Academy, co-founder and past president of the Riverside Black Historical Society and co-founder and co-chairman of The Group, a grassroots public policy advocacy forum addressing community issues affecting Riverside’s people, according to the news release.