Former student from EBAPE receives Martin Luther King Jr. Award

The birthday of Martin Luther King Jr - leader of the American movement for civil rights - was celebrated in January, and as part of the celebrations held in Marin County, located in the metropolitan region of San Francisco/California, the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award is given at the 31st Annual Dinner of the Human Rights Commission. This year, the award went to Ericka Omena Erickson, a former student of EBAPE's postgraduate program. In her speech, Ericka thanked EBAPE professor and coordinator of the Social Management Study Program (PEGS), Fernando Guilherme Tenório, for having influenced her decision to devote herself professionally to the progress of social justice. During the Masters, she attended the Social Management discipline, taught by the aforementioned professor, whose activities included participating as a volunteer in the Community Project Management Course, a partnership between PEGS and Cáritas Arquidiocesana of Rio de Janeiro. Based on this experience, she decided to direct her professional career to qualifying community leaders to participate in the ??public policy area. Today, Ericka Omena is Director of the NGO Marin Grassroots Leadership Network, where she encourages civic participation and leadership in various communities through educational programs and incentives for participatory processes of public policy development. In addition, she is Board Chairman of the NGO Brazilian Alliance. In 2007, she received the Amauta de Ouro Award from the Latino Journalists Association for her leadership, and in 2011, the Latin Leadership Award from the Social Justice Center.