Join us in honoring five outstanding women for their commitment to the YWCA’s mission, their profession and community.

Each year the YWCA  presents The Katharine F. Erskine Award, which recognizes women who have demonstrated leadership and reached exemplary levels of achievement in their professions and communities, at the Tribute to Women Luncheon. The award is presented to one woman from each of the following categories: Arts & Humanities; Business & Law; Community/Social Service & Government; Education; and Medicine & Science. Recipients show a commitment to the YWCA mission – eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity to all  - and meet the following criteria:

• distinctive achievement and service in her current field;
• service to community with a demonstrated commitment to social and racial equality;
• demonstrated commitment to serving as a role model for women and girls; and
• must live and/or work in Central Massachusetts.

Ticket Price: $50 per person. To register online, click here.
Where: Mechanics Hall, Worcester
RSVP By: April 26, 2011

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2011 Katharine F. Erskine Award Recipients

The recipients and categories in which they are being honored are: Iris Cotto, Arts & Humanities; Ann Tripp, Business & Law; Lynne Tolman, Community/Social Service & Government; Mary Meade-Montaque, Education; and Joanne Nicholson, Ph.D., Medicine & Science.

Iris Cotto has shown a deep commitment to her community over her thirty years at the Worcester Public Library. She is more than just the Children’s Librarian, but also a mentor to migrant families, teen mothers, and the homeless as well as a role model for every member of the community.  As a crusader for literacy and multi-cultural learning, Cotto implemented innovative children’s programming while making sure to include foreign language materials and movies in the library’s collection. These things are designed to bring out the diverse culture of the Worcester residents for whom the library serves.

Ann Tripp has demonstrated profound commitment to volunteering as well as to the business sector with her work at Hanover Insurance Group and the non-profits she works with. Described by her nominators as, “An exceptional role model for women and girls,” Tripp gives back to the community with participation in almost a dozen organizations serving the Worcester community such as the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts, and the Mesa Farm City to Saddle program. Through these, she is able to address issues in the community and passionately play a first-hand role in helping to combat them.

Perhaps most significant is Tripp’s work at the united Way of Central Massachusetts. While there, she turned around the operating deficit and made a dramatic positive change in the organization’s finances, ensuring that the group may continue to serve.

Lynne Tolman, a editor at the Telegram and Gazette and president of the Major Taylor Association has brought cycling and pride to the city of Worcester through her profound effort.  At the Major Taylor Association, Tolman has worked to ensure the memory of Major Taylor, a previously forgotten African American world bicycling champion from Worcester, was not forgotten. To accomplish this, she has contributed to the establishment of a monument in his honor, which has become the first monument to an individual African American in Worcester.

Tolman’s work does not stop there. In addition to her work with the foundation, she also gives time to the Seven Hills Wheelmen. There, she organizes fundraisers and promotes cycling in a way that also promotes positive living and the environmental and health benefits associated with it. Under Tolman’s leadership, there has also been a significant increase in female participants in these events, demonstrating the power one woman can have on the people around her.

Mary Meade-Montaque, is more than just a leader in education; she is a trailblazer. As an African American woman in the field of science and technology she stands apart from her colleagues simply based on gender and race. Meade-Montaque has dedicated her life to making sure that children gain similar success no matter their race, ethnicity, or gender. Now providing  guidance to principals as the Quadrant Manager for the South and Doherty High School districts, she has an even greater platform in which to share to her talents and fulfill her goals.

In addition to her work in education she passionately donates time to her community as a member of the Board of Directors of the YWCA, the Glavin Regional Center, Battered Women’s Resource Inc., and the Worcester Educational Development Foundation. There, she provides her great knowledge, leadership skills, and passion to support the students and families of Worcester.

Joanne Nicholson, Ph. D., Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) has almost single-handedly opened up a new area of mental health research and treatment connecting mental health to parenting. Through this work, she has been able to translate her ground-breaking discoveries into community-based intervention programs for families living with parental mental illness. These programs help to combat the idea that women with mental illnesses cannot be good mothers.

Nicholson serves as an extraordinary role model and mentor in the training and career development of junior staff at UMMS.   This had led to many more women faculty and the development of specialty mental health services for women.

The Katharine F. Erskine Awards are named in honor of the woman who was an advocate for women for 80 years. She was a member of the YWCA as a teenager in the early 1890s and served as president of the YWCA twice; in 1930 and again in 1960 during the building campaign to construct the present facility at One Salem Square. Recipients of this award show a commitment to the YWCA’s and Katherine’s mission – to empower women and girls and eliminate racism.