Jasmine Davenport (formerly Sanders) is a climate scientist, strategist, advocate and native of Monroe, Louisiana. Guided by her southern roots and seeing the impact of climate change on the Gulf
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Chokwe Antar Lumumba made history in 2017 when he became the youngest person to be elected mayor of Jackson, Mississippi. While in office, Mayor Lumumba has focused on expanding Jackson’s digital
Congressman Joe Neguse was honored with the 2023 New Frontier Award for his work to restore hope in our democratic institutions. By successfully forging pragmatic, bipartisan legislative coalitions
Alec Karakatsanis was honored with the 2023 New Frontier Award for his work advancing pretrial justice across the nation, which has led local and state jurisdictions to shift their approach to
Background Judge Lina Hidalgo’s family fled their home country of Colombia as gang violence ravaged the country. Her parents had two goals: to make sure she had a good education and to get the family
Background Yeshimabeit Milner was raised by an immigrant mother in predominately Black neighborhoods in Miami and experienced systematic racism throughout her childhood. After witnessing a principal
About the Awards For 20 years the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Awards® honored Americans under the age of 40 who were changing their communities and the country with their commitment to public service
Read the New Frontier Award ® announcement Background Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Cyrus Habib moved with his family to Washington state at the age of eight. He grew up in east King County and
Read the New Frontier Award ® announcement Background Christina Mansfield is the co-executive director of Freedom for Immigrants, formerly Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement
Read the New Frontier Award ® announcement Background Born and raised in Stockton, Michael Tubbs wasn’t expecting to return to his troubled hometown when he left for college. But the murder of a
Read the New Frontier Award ® announcement Background On February 14, 2018, a gunman shot and killed 17 people and wounded 14 more in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland
Boston, MA – March For Our Lives organizers Edna Chavez, Ryan Deitsch, David Hogg, and Tyah Robertswill receive the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award for their work to galvanize support and drive public advocacy for substantive changes to gun safety laws following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Stockton, California Mayor Michael Tubbs, the youngest mayor ever to lead a city of more than 100,000 residents, will also be honored with the New Frontier Award for his innovative efforts to increase college enrollment and graduation rates, alleviate poverty, and reduce violence in the city. The awards will be presented by Jack Schlossberg, President Kennedy’s grandson, during a ceremony on February 8 at 6:00pm at the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School.
May Boeve, 33, is the Executive Director of 350.org, a landmark grassroots campaign to engage and mobilize communities around the world in political action aimed at holding governments, corporations, and institutions accountable for addressing climate change.
Carlos Curbelo, 37, represents Florida’s 26th Congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he serves on the influential House Ways and Means Committee. He was elected to the House in 2014.
In 2000, then a 19-year-old sophomore at Yale, Jennifer Staple-Clark took a summer work position as a clinical researcher of glaucoma in the office of her childhood ophthalmologist in New Haven, Connecticut. She was shocked by what she saw there: scores of low-income and homeless patients whose glaucoma had needlessly progressed into blindness. Over and over, she would hear the regret of patients who wished they had visited an eye doctor sooner. She felt compelled to do something.
In 2003, at the age of 23, Luke Ravenstahl became the youngest person ever elected to the Pittsburgh City Council. In 2005, he became City Council president, and ten months later, after the untimely death of then-mayor Bob O’Connor, Ravenstahl was sworn in as Pittsburgh’s 58th mayor. He was 26 years old, and Pittsburgh was on the brink of bankruptcy.
When Cory A. Booker, 39, took the oath of office as mayor of New Jersey’s largest city on July 1, 2006, he assumed the leadership of a city plagued by crime and economic blight. Booker immediately launched a “100-Day Plan” to improve public safety, develop the economy, and reform city government.
Giovanna Negretti, 37, is the co-founder and executive director of Oiste?, established in 1999 to provide Massachusetts Latinos with the tools and training to enter public service. The organization was founded in response to concern about the underrepresentation of Latinos in public decision making roles. While its original goal was to provide non-partisan campaigning workshops to Latinos who planned to seek public office, Oiste’s mission quickly expanded to include civic education, leadership development and advocacy.
At the age of 31, Aja Brown became the youngest mayor in the history of Compton, California. Elected in 2013, Brown previously served over 10 years as an urban planner in municipalities across Southern California. She was elected to office on her 12 point plan, “Vision For Compton,” that focused on gang violence and bringing new jobs into the city.
Jane Leu, 37, Founder and Executive Director of Upwardly Global, a nonprofit organization that helps legal immigrants reclaim their professional careers in the United States and assists employers in tapping into the talents and skills of foreign-born professionals, was honored with the 2006 John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award for a non-elected individual whose contributions in the realm of community service, advocacy or grassroots activism have had a positive impact on a broad public policy issue or challenge.
When 38-year-old Kica Matos became Executive Director of JUNTA for Progressive Action, she accepted the leadership of the oldest Latino community service organization in New Haven, Connecticut. But prior to her arrival, JUNTA had fallen into disrepair, even as New Haven’s Latino population surged in number and need. In a few short years, Ms. Matos has transformed JUNTA into a model service provider and a powerful community force, expanding the organization’s mission and programs and multiplying its client base with each passing year.
As the founder and executive director of the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI), Max Kenner has devoted his career to providing access to higher education and effective solutions to the criminal justice system. The leading program of its kind in the country, BPI enrolls more than 300 students across six prisons in New York State and has awarded nearly 400 Bard College degrees.
In January 2012, at age 29, Pete Buttigieg became the youngest mayor to serve a U.S. city of more than 100,000 people, and he quickly established South Bend as a model for municipal innovation and smart government.
Kirsten Lodal co-founded LIFT, an innovative anti-poverty nonprofit, during her sophomore year at Yale University. While volunteering in Head Start programs focused on at-risk children, Lodal was struck by the lack of comprehensive support services available to the parents of the children she served.