Annapolis, Odenton Women Honored With Fannie Lou Hamer Award

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Six women from Annapolis and Odenton will be honored during the 101st birthday celebration of the late civil rights heroine Fannie Lou Hamer. The women will be recognized at the 23nd annual Fannie Lou Hamer Awards Reception to be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Frances Scott Key Auditorium at St. John’s College in Annapolis.

According to Eye on Annapolis, those to be honored are:

Dr. Pamela Brown of Annapolis has worked for more than 30 years to address inequities across government and educational systems. Among her various positions addressing these issues, Brown served as child welfare director in Florida’s Department of Children and Families and the vice president of Programs for Partners for Children and Families in Altoona, Fla. After relocating to Maryland, Brown became the executive director for Leadership Anne Arundel, and later took on the role as executive director for Anne Arundel County Partnership for Children, Youth, and Families in Annapolis. Her civic duties are extensive and have left a positive mark on the communities in which she’s lived. Among these, Brown is a board member for the Arundel Lodge Children’s Committee, chair of the Anne Arundel County Early Childhood Coalition, and co-chair of the Anne Arundel County Homeless Coalition. Previously, she served as a board member for Seeds for Success, president for Chrysalis House Board of Directors, and board member for National Alliance on Mental Illness Anne Arundel County. She completed her Ph.D. in educational leadership at Florida Atlantic University.

Linda Mundy of Annapolis works to educate others about unconscious bias through reading, group discussions, films, and other activities, including anti-racism facilitated training. She was instrumental in funding the Annapolis Trust, which provides scholarships and mentoring for low-income students. Mundy also supported the Boys and Girls Clubs’ National Native American Initiative in Annapolis. After attending a White Privilege Conference in Philadelphia, Mundy helped initiate a Standing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) chapter for Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. She also helped launch the Arundel Connected Together (ACT), where she served as the organization’s first treasurer, and continues to serve on the Strategy Team. Through ACT, Mundy supports efforts around gun violence reduction and safety for ACT’s Research Action Team. Mundy also serves on the Becoming Beloved Committee at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis.

After working for a major airline, Barbara Palmer of Odenton went to work in the nonprofit sector as director of programs for the Young Women’s Christian Association of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. There, she was instrumental in the expansion of after-school programs in Anne Arundel County. In 2013, Palmer started her own non-profit, “Kingdom Kare Childcare Center,” a fully accredited childcare center. She is a 2019 Indie Author Legacy Award finalist for author of the year for her book, “No Regrets,” and is working on her second book. Palmer is also the CEO of Palm Tree Consulting, where she travels to various organizations, providing workshops on grant writing, business and nonprofit startup, and leadership development. She works extensively in ministry alongside her husband at the Kingdom Celebration Center. Palmer holds a certification in small business management; bachelor’s degrees in bank finance, divinity, and early childhood education; and a master’s in pastoral counseling. She received a Governor’s Citation for her work with youth in the Anne Arundel community and sits on the County Executives advisory board for the Early Childhood Coalition of Anne Arundel County. In 2016, Palmer was awarded the Jennifer Summers Barrett Champion of Young Children Award.

Vanessa Bright of Odenton is the founder and president of BeeHavin’ LLC and the founder and executive director of the Maryland Reentry Resource Center. She is an experienced educator with a background in financial services, non-profit, and government industries. For the last four years, Bright has taught a basic financial literacy and entrepreneurship course at a women’s prison. She used this experience to help former inmates begin preparing for reentry into their communities, and ultimately established the Maryland Reentry Resource Center. The Center focuses on improving the quality of life of families and individuals that are a part of the criminal justice system through informal, participatory, educational programs, as well as case management and mentoring. Bright created BeeHavin’ LLC to provide transitional employment for returning citizens.

Michelle Coates, of Annapolis, is the senior vice president and treasury management sales manager at Howard Bank. Coates previously volunteered with the Annapolis non-profit, Seeds for Success, as a mentor for the Eastport Girls Club program, where she mentored girls grades three through eight who live in low-income or public housing communities. Coates has been an active board member of the Anne Arundel County Public Library Foundation for seven years and recently completed an extended tenure as treasurer, helping the team raise more than $1 million. She recently joined the Board of Directors of Maryland Council of Economic Education Association, where she hopes to share her experiences with educators, teachers, and students to better prepare them for the future. In 2013, Coates received the Tribute to Women and Industry Award by the Young Women’s Christian Association of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County for her efforts to promote equal advancement opportunities for women of diverse backgrounds. In 2018, she was named by The Daily Recordas one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women, as well as a Woman in Finance – Path to Excellence.

Rosalind Hill-Kane, of Annapolis, is a licensed social worker and has worked for the Department of Human Services for 27 years, supporting the Consolidated Family Services, the Treatment Foster Care Program, and, most recently, supervises the Emergency Services to Adults and Families and Outreach. Hill-Kane previously worked as a psychotherapist with Baltimore Washington Counseling Center, working with individuals and families in distress. Among other social and civic organizations, she is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Continental Societies Inc., National Association of Social Workers, The Jet Set Social Club Inc., and the NAACP, Anne Arundel County Branch, where she is the Health Chair. Hill-Kane is an active member of Mt. Zion UMC-Magothy, and has been the Health and Welfare Outreach Committee Chair for more than 15 years. Hill-Kane has organized the Annual Ladies Night for Heart Disease Awareness for the past six years and the annual health walk, Keep It Movin’: Fighting Childhood Obesity. Hill-Kane has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from University of Maryland Eastern Shore, a master’s degree in social work from Howard University, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in public health from Walden University.