2023 UMA Mission Awards
2023 UMA Mission Award to an Organization or Group
Philadelphia Housing as a Health Collaborative
Methodist Services
Philadelphia, PA
This Mission Award is presented to Philadelphia Housing as Health Collaborative led by UMA member Methodist Services in partnership with other health care providers, behavioral services providers and housing organizations. Driven by their strong belief that access to quality and stable housing improves the health outcomes and provides a foundation for a healthy life, the PHasH collaborative created a housing complex for special needs populations and those who have experienced chronic homelessness.
Inglis Methodist Gardens is 47-unit apartment complex with 23 units that are equipped with fully accessible features and cutting-edge assistive technology to serve tenants with mobility impairments as well as two units equipped to serve tenants with sensory impairments. For its residents, Inglis Methodist Gardens allows tenants to receive fundamental onsite health services while residing in quality housing where they can live as independently as possible.
Congratulations to Methodist Services for their leadership in this visionary partnership that will have long-lasting impact for residents in Philadelphia.
2023 UMA Mission Award to an Organization or Group
Thrive Steering Committee
Nationwide
This Mission Award is presented to the Thrive Steering Committee, a group formed in late 2021 by the EAGLE Accreditation Commission to evaluate and revise the EAGLE standards. The goal was to ensure organizations can achieve their highest level of service and operational excellence while also being positioned for long-term sustainability. During her comments during yesterday’s General Session, EAGLE Commission chair Sheila Bundy spoke about the impact of this committee’s work. With an aggressive timeline, members of the Committee worked with GPS Consulting throughout 2022, dedicating countless hours to develop and streamline the EAGLE standards.
It’s six task forces held over 50 meetings as they took a deep dive into every aspect of the program. Their updates to the EAGLE standards, structure and language resulted in a stronger, clearer, more user-friendly accreditation product that improves the process for organizations and peer reviewers without sacrificing quality. This collaboration among leaders representing diverse ministries demonstrated a remarkable commitment to excellence in the health and human service field.
2023 UMA Mission Award to an Individual
Art Bloom
Arbor Acres
Winston-Salem, NC
This Mission Award recipient has harnessed the power of music to engage, inspire and connect with others. Since 2014, Art Bloom has served as the volunteer director of Sharps & Flats, a resident choir at Arbor Acres located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
As the choir director, Art selects the music pieces, distributes the music to members, conducts the choir, plays the piano for the choir, directs the staging and costumes, and formats and prints the concert programs - all in a volunteer capacity. In his nomination, Art was commended for the many ways he kept the choir, which includes 60-80 members from all levels of care at Arbor Acres, active during the pandemic. When in-person activities were suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic, Art sent the choir members cookies, notes, and other small tokens to keep them engaged, encouraged, and retain membership. He wanted his singers to remain inspired and hopeful in the face of an uncertain future.
Art took his commitment to this music ministry to an even higher level when the Sharps & Flats’ 40th Anniversary Concert, which was slated for 2020, had to be canceled due to the pandemic. He and another volunteer wrote a script, music, and parts for a 50-minute movie musical: “The Sharps & Flats: A Not-So-Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future”. Following pandemic safety protocols, the movie was filmed over two years with many members of the choir and premiered to the Arbor Acres community in September 2022. The movie has become a much-beloved piece of culture at Arbor Acres.
2023 UMA Mission Award to an Individual
Debbie Reed, PhD
Chaddock
Quincy, IL
This Mission Award goes to an individual that truly embodies the essence of the 2023 UMA Annual Meeting theme – Lead with Intention. We are honored to recognize Debbie Reed, a true servant leader whose approach to leadership reflects both her deeply held Christian values and her commitment to nurturing relationships, which are central to all aspects of her work.
Since Debbie served as our Opening Keynote speaker, most of you know her and her accomplishments well by now, but those involved in Debbie’s nomination had these thoughts to share about her impact as a leader:
- Debbie teaches us all to lead with LOVE. She's a remarkable leader.
- After completing a two-year program capacity building program, every nonprofit that benefitted from coaching and strategic planning from Debbie had high praise for her work.
- Through Debbie's leadership, Chaddock has developed a deep bench of executive leaders, reduced staff turnover, and created an organizational culture where staff and students can thrive.
Debbie supports leadership development within Chaddock and other nonprofits as the creator and facilitator of the Nonprofit Leadership Academy, a program that has strengthened the leadership bench strength of many organizations. Through executive coaching and strategic planning consultation, she has helped other nonprofits more effectively deliver upon their missions. Debbie shares her leadership insight in her weekly blog – Reed About Leadership.com, which offers both wit and wisdom about the unique challenges of nonprofit leadership.