KYW Newsradio To Honor Community GameChangers Beginning 2/13
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — For the fifth year in a row, KYW Newsradio 1060AM will highlight individuals who have "changed the game" for the African-American community in the Greater Philadelphia area during Black History Month.
GameChangers are individuals or organizations that have used their volunteer efforts and community influence to make a significant, positive change for people of color in the previous twelve months.
During the month of January, KYW Newsradio put out the call and received nearly 400 GameChanger nominations! A committee of past GameChangers met and choose 10 honorees for the 2017 honor.
GALLERY: 2017 GameChangers Honorees
KYW Newsradio is excited to announce this year's honorees who will be featured on 1060AM and on CBSPhilly.com during the month of February:
-- Sarah-Ashley Andrews, founder of Dare 2 Hope, for her grassroots effort to educate at risk youth regarding suicide. Her work has touched more than 3500 young people in five years.
-- ATRA Y.E.S., an program started by the Atlantic Rangers, an African American scuba club. They bring scuba diving, robotics and other STEM-related programs to youth with a diverse demographic in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
-- Kristal Bush, founder of Bridging the Gap, LLC, a company that transports Philadelphia families to prisons throughout the state. Bush provides free rides to children, as well as other programming that unites families impacted by incarceration.
-- Mont Brown, a "Hip-Hop Humanitarian" who has used wisdom learned through adversity and, later, his influence earned in the music industry to bring unity and philanthropic efforts to his Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood.
-- Good Works, a Chester County-based non-profit, has transformed the lives of poor and low income residents by providing free home renovations and repairs to hundreds of families. Based in Coatesville, a the Christian non-profit completes 45-50 homes per year for single moms, the disabled and the elderly.
-- Kaliek Hayes, co-founder of Childhoods Lost Foundation, a organization that uses theater arts to mentor youth. The stories they tell are raw and provocative, but very real for many inner city youth. The group has produced nine shows- providing free or discounted tickets to 1700 young people.
-- Sylvester Mobley, founder of Coded by Kids - a tech education non-profit that teaches low income and minority youth in Philadelphia how to code. The group serves 100 kids a week, helping to overcome lack of STEM education in public schools.
-- Vanesse Lloyd-Sgambati, founder of the African American Children's Book Fair, has brought diverse children's books to the region. The fair began with 250 attendees and now has 3500, ensuring all children have access to books featuring African American characters.
-- Teryn Thomas, educator at KIPP Norcross Schools in Camden, As the only African American school leader in the KIPP NJ system she does whatever a student needs. Last summer, she visited the homes of 120 students, even bringing in police intervention when necessary.
-- Christian Weatherbe, founder of The Refreshed Life- Midnight Run, provides food care packages to hundreds of homeless each Thursday. They make the run after shelter hours, to ensure those who remain on the streets have something to eat.
Listen to KYW Newsradio beginning February 13, 2017 to hear more about this year's GameChangers, also visit cbsphilly.com/gamechangers for continued updates. Some of the GameChangers will also be featured on CBS3 Eyewitness News each Tuesday and Thursday beginning February 14th.
The 2017 KYW Newsradio GameChangers will be honored with a reception on February 22, 2017.
Sponsored by Lincoln University and Parx Casino.
