Rainbow PUSH Honors Brooks and Antoinin at
Keep Hope Alive Gala

 

The Rainbow PUSH Coalition and the Citizenship Education Fund honored retired Atlanta Life executive Henrietta Antoinin, State Representative Tyrone Brooks, Boys and Girls’ Club CEO Frank Sanchez, Atlanta developer Egbert Perry and journalist Maynard Eaton at the Keep Hope Alive Gala Friday at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta.  Among the notables on hand to congratulate the honorees were V-103 divas Porsche Foxx and Joyce Littel, Mayor Shirley Franklin, Trumpet Awards CEO Xernona Clayton, Atlanta Life President Bill Clements, Montgomery businessman Greg Calhoun, Ambassador Andrew Young and Congressman John Lewis.  Musiq Soul Child, Lisa Smith and the Jean Childs Young Middle School Jazz Band performed.  The Keep Hope Alive Gala benefits the work of RPC, CEF and families facing foreclosure.

 

Georgia Power executive Frank McCloskey and Suntrust diversity chief Carolyn Cartwright were honored at the Business Awards Breakfast on Friday morning, where Labor Commissioner Mike Thurmond provided an overview of Georgia’s economy. 

 

Rev. Jesse Jackson stirred a standing-room-only crowd at the Minister’s Luncheon, in conjunction with RPC’s One Thousand Churches Connected, that was attended by Dr. Jasper Williams, Dr. Debra Morton, Bishop James Washington and a host of others. Dr. Cynthia Hale and Dr. Gerald Durley were the honorees. 

 

The Keep Hope Alive Gala, the Minister’s Luncheon and the Business Awards Breakfast were highlights of the RPC and CEF ninth annual Creating Opportunity Conference.  At the conference CEF unveiled its new study of diversity within Fortune 500 corporations based in the Southeast.  The study found that fewer than 4% of senior executives are African American and fewer than 8% of board members are black, indicating a need for further study and advocacy. 

 

RPC hosted a public policy roundtable during the conference for elected officials that was moderated by Black Leadership Forum President Gary Flowers and included Congressman Hank Johnson, Commissioner Emma Darnell and Florida State Senator Tony Hill.  The roundtable discussed and critiqued RPC’s People’s Agenda, policy priorities for the first hundred days of the new administration.

 

The Conference also featured workshops on Access to Capital, Preventing and Avoiding Foreclosure, Striking the Balance – a civil rights update for lawyers, Going Green – an environmentally conscious investing session, and the ever-popular Business Plan Boot Camp. 

View Photos from the Event