Recognizing Visionary Leaders
In his acceptance speech for the 2012 Nicholas P. Bollman Award for leaders who inspire through values and actions, Claudio Martinez, executive director of Boston’s Hyde Square Task Force, reminded an audience of nearly 200 funders that the “journey to become visible is still too hard to travel.”
He was speaking of the challenges and frustrations faced by the teenagers who are an integral and vital part of the Hyde Square Task Force. Most are the children of immigrants, many speak English as a second language, and few will go to college. They are generally discounted by the structures and institutions holding the power. Claudio, though, recognizes the potential of these young people and their right to determine the future of their community. They are, he says, “at the center of demanding and creating changes to improve their community.”
Claudio himself was probably easy to discount. He is an immigrant and a high school dropout. If anyone understands how hard it is to become visible, it’s Claudio. Today, he is the only Latino member of the Boston School Committee and a board member of both the Boston and Nellie Mae foundations. He’s accumulated many honors and awards. At this stage in his career, it would be easy for him to make the transition to a highly placed position at a well-funded institution; instead, he chooses to work in an inner-city neighborhood facing numerous challenges.
Claudio is the fourth recipient of the Bollman Award, presented annually at the Funders’ Network conference, joining Dr. Emily Young of The San Diego Foundation (2011), Hooper Brooks of the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community (2009), and Nick Bollman himself (2008).
Bollman Award winners share common traits. They accept challenges with a gleam in their eye. They work tirelessly on behalf of the communities they care about. Most importantly, they put their own self-interests on the back burner to inspire others not just to imagine, but to actually realize more environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and economically prosperous regions and communities. To do that, they bring people together and give them a voice.
Having a voice, however, is only helpful if others are willing to listen. Too often, people pull their punches when speaking to funders, but at this year’s award ceremony in Seattle, Claudio challenged his audience to think deeply about how they approach their work. He reminded funders to not believe “we can do it for them, without them” and called for a stronger commitment to supporting indigenous leadership. He exhorted funders to walk with the people they seek to help and to not “confuse pity for empathy.”
Claudio received a standing ovation from our audience. We had multiple requests for the text of his remarks, which is now posted online.
What is most gratifying about honoring each Bollman Award recipient is that it allows us to honor Nick Bollman by carrying forward the values that most defined him. Nick was one of the nation’s most prominent and influential regionalists. He advised government at all levels, worked at the Hewlett and Irvine foundations, and was a founding member of the Funders’ Network.
But first and foremost, Nick was someone who believed passionately that everyone deserved to be visible and to be heard. He measured his own success not by the awards he won or the accolades he received, but by whether his actions helped others to thrive. Nick was one of the warmest and kindest human beings we have ever known.
When Nick suddenly died in 2007, the Funders’ Network created the Bollman Award to lift up and recognize leaders who embody all that Nick was. Join us in congratulating 2012 Nicholas P. Bollman Award winner Claudio Martinez.
Ben Starrett is executive director of the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities.
