Collaborate. Innovate. Advocate. Those are just a few of the words that echoed through the halls of our 6th annual Awards Celebration Monday night as we honored and commemorated the accomplishments and vision of inspiring leaders in the workers’ rights and business communities.

American Rights at Work Board Chair David Bonior and UFCW President Joseph Hansen remembered the remarkable advocate Beth Shulman, who indelibly shaped our organization’s work to advance labor law reform and bring the American Dream within reach for all of America’s workers. Her work will continue to live on and guide us in creating good, union jobs to revive and sustain our economy. Accepting the award on her behalf, husband Ernie Englander thanked everyone for their kind thoughts, and said the spirit and theme of the evening spoke echoed Beth’s own caring and dedication.

Edward Smith of ULLICO and Allison Chin of the Sierra Club presented an Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award to Mark Edlen of green real estate developer Gerding Edlen Development. Together, they represent the diverse and dedicated collaborators in Gerding Edlen’s business model, one that includes creating family-supporting jobs while building environmentally sustainable projects and investing in the long-term future.

Chris Moore, a producer of “The People Speak,” shared a tribute to Howard Zinn, whose innovative work has brought the voices of activists and workers into the discourse on our nation’s history. We celebrate Zinn’s work bringing to life the extraordinary power of ordinary people in creating social change.

Throughout the evening, emcee Jim Hightower inspired the populist agitator in all of us, and American Rights at Work Executive Director Kimberly Freeman Brown called on us to keep working toward our vision of a win-win economy for America’s workers.

As Howard Zinn once said, “We see that the smallest of acts, multiplied by the millions, can lead into great movements of social change.” We thank you all for your small acts, generous gifts, and great efforts to keep our movement alive.