Wilder School in Action

2022 Excellence in Virginia Government Awards

EVGA celebrates Virginians who have made noteworthy contributions to the practice of government and the welfare of our communities and citizens. We’re delighted to announce the following 2022 honorees.

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Lifetime Achievement Award

Florence Neal Cooper Smith  

An unrelenting curiosity was the spark that led Florence Neal Cooper Smith to her lifetime of work educating and fundraising to fight sickle cell anemia. At the age of 11, while waiting in her doctor’s office, she pulled a hematology book off the shelf. 

“I opened it up, and I turned to a brief description of sickle cell anemia,” Cooper Smith said. “I still remember the description — that you are born with it, it affects ‘colored’ people, there was no cure, and that you die young.” She believes that moment in 1942 was the beginning of a journey that God wanted her to follow.  

Sickle cell is an inherited disease that impacts an estimated 100,000 people in the United States, 90% of whom are African American. Sickle cell causes red blood cells to contort into a sickle shape, which can cause a shortage of healthy red blood cells and block blood flow. 

Smith’s curiosity continued through high school and college. She remembers inquiring about sickle cell with the chairman of the Biology Department at Virginia Union University, where she received her undergraduate degree in biology. Soon after earning a second degree in medical technology from the Atlantic City Medical School, Cooper Smith returned to Richmond, where she held research jobs at McGuireWoods Medical Center and Medical College of Virginia. She continued her unrelenting questions about sickle cell, but there were few answers in the 1950s and ‘60s.  Despite the mysterious disease, Cooper Smith was set on her mission: educating social clubs and church groups about sickle cell.  

After Dr. Robert Scott came to MCV and wanted to begin a research project on sickle cell anemia, Cooper Smith was asked to join his team. Together they created and operated the Virginia Sickle Cell Awareness Program, which at the time was one of only 19 federally funded programs in the country. But Cooper Smith wanted to do more. She urged her classmate from Virginia Union University, then Virginia Sen. L. Douglas Wilder, to help her raise awareness and require testing and treatment of sickle cell to be covered by health insurance in Virginia. Those efforts also led to an important change in 1989, requiring all babies to be tested for sickle cell anemia. 

“Florence is a live wire,” said Gov. L. Douglas Wilder. “She is as full of energy now as she was decades ago. She is not going to give up on anything.”  

Cooper Smith continues her work to raise awareness and funding for important research. “I just feel that even at 90, the Lord is going to let me raise this $1 million for sickle cell research. He’s going to let me see what can be done to alleviate the aching and pain of those afflicted, and the financial challenges for the families.”   

The Florence Neal Cooper Smith Professorship at VCU was founded in 2014 to support aggressive, cutting-edge research to pursue a cure for sickle cell disease. Dr. Wally R. Smith, a nationally recognized expert in sickle cell disease, was named the inaugural holder of the professorship, which was the first such professorship to be named for an African American woman in the United States.

“We’re getting there,” Cooper Smith said. “We have some wonderful drugs out. But it’s not the cure. And I just want to see it. I believe it can happen.”  

About the award: This award recognizes an individual Virginian whose career represents the highest values of public service and citizenship and who has made a substantial contribution to the good of the commonwealth. The recipient must be an individual whose personal or professional contributions span a minimum of 20 years and be a resident of Virginia.

Community Enhancement Award

Sacred Heart Center    

Sacred Heart Center, Richmond is recognized for its lifesaving efforts to educate and vaccinate the community against COVID-19. Executive Director Tanya Gonzalez (M.P.A. ‘17/GPA) led the organization’s impactful efforts.

When it became apparent early in the pandemic that Latinos had very low vaccination rates and were disproportionately being hospitalized and dying from COVID-19, Richmond’s Sacred Heart Center, with the support of several foundations, stepped in to educate and help vaccinate the region’s Latino community. This lifesaving work has helped the Latino vaccination rate grow above 80%, the highest in the Richmond region. 

About the award: The Community Enhancement Award recognizes outstanding commitment to improving the quality of community life in Virginia. An individual, group or government entity may be nominated for this award.

Grace E. Harris Leadership Award

All Saints Catholic School of Richmond    

All Saints Catholic School of Richmond is recognized for its work to prepare students for profound success in high school, college and throughout their adult lives as highly engaged leaders in a diverse, democratic society.

All Saints Catholic School serves about 200 pre-K to eighth-grade students in the Richmond area, fostering a culturally, socioeconomically and ethnically diverse student body. All Saints prides itself in developing students’ leadership skills, confidence and integrity. The school’s seniors boast a 100% high school graduation rate, with a large majority of alumni continuing on to college. 

About the award: Named after the late Dr. Grace E. Harris, a trailblazer who broke down many barriers as an African American woman and whose vision and leadership had tremendous impact at VCU, in the community and beyond. This award recognizes an individual or organization that has made a discernible, sustainable positive impact on the quality of life in Virginia through public service.

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Spring 2022 / In this issue