August 14, 2024
Michigan Community Resources and Dotti Sharp this year celebrate a decade of honoring unsung women heroes doing impactful work in their communities.
Nearly 10 years ago, Dotti Sharp came to MCR with a vision for creating an award that recognizes and highlights the stories of women spending time and energy in the selfless pursuit of bettering their neighborhoods and the lives of community members. Together, Dotti and MCR staff created The Power of One Dedicated Woman Awards dedicated to the many women across Detroit working to make a difference with little interest in being recognized for their endeavors.
"Most awards of this kind are given to people at the highest points in their careers," said Heather Nugen, program director for Systems Transformation at MCR. "This award is meant to acknowledge and celebrate women who are successfully leading their communities, but outside of the traditional pathways for honoring success in a formal, professional setting."
Though the work done by The Power of One Dedicated Woman honorees is not often recognized on a public platform, this doesn’t mean that the significance of their work is not seen or felt. Nominations for the award are submitted by the friends, neighbors, and family members of those they nominate. These are often the individuals most impacted by the honorees’ efforts.
This process of community nomination is meaningful because it reflects the reality of community work in Detroit: some of the hardest work is being done by those around the corner and not in the news. In Detroit, many of the challenges facing residents are ultimately addressed by residents themselves, often without access to the resources and tools that could make their work simpler and more sustainable.
At Michigan Community Resources, we recognize that while those closest to issues facing communities are often the ones with the best opportunities to envision and implement solutions, being able to do so requires significant effort and support.
"Our relationships with the honorees open doors for new types of engagement and networking among present and future recipients of this award," Nugen said. "Honorees have a supportive, city-wide network they can tap to troubleshoot, innovate, and collaborate that just wouldn’t exist without the ten years of leadership and celebration this award has created."
Recently, awards co-founder Dotti Sharp was recognized with a Greatest Woman of All Time (GWOAT) Award by Olympian boxer Claressa Shields during the lead-up to Shields' July 2024 fight at Little Caesars Arena. Shields, left, and Sharp are pictured right. This was the first award of its kind, and Sharp received it alongside boxing hall of famer Jackie Kallen.
Over 10 years and over 60 honorees, MCR can confidently say that this accolade is well-deserved.
At our 10th annual award ceremony on August 20, 2024, we returned to an in-person event for the first time since before the pandemic. We celebrated a milestone in activating Dotti's vision, as well as honored seven more women making profound, positive impacts in their community.
Michigan Community Resources is proud to be a part of an initiative that pays tribute to the dedicated work of so many community heroes. Our 10th annual award ceremony took place on August 20, 2024 at the North Rosedale Park Community House.
