2008
NAACP Annual Banquet
Saturday, June 7, 2008 5:30
pm – 9:00 pm
Hilton
Hotel & Convention Center
301 West 6th Street, Vancouver, WA 98660
“Eliminating
the Education Gap”
Keynote Speaker:
Rep. Eric Pettigrew (D-Seattle)
Rep.
Eric Pettigrew (D-Seattle) has championed legislation and funding
to eliminate the education gap because he believes education
is the doorway to opportunity and equality.
He is living proof. The grandson of a one-armed sharecropper,
Rep. Pettigrew attended Oregon State University on a football
scholarship. After graduating from Oregon State he moved to
Seattle in 1985 and received a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree
from the University of Washington in 1987.
Since receiving his master's degree, Eric has worked in a variety
of jobs in government, nonprofit organizations, and the private
sector. He worked as Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Safety
to Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, he worked as a recruiter to increase
diversity in the UW School of Social Work, and he was the director
of the Minority Youth Health Project, which reduced teen pregnancy
and sexually transmitted disease rates in Seattle.
Most recently he developed the SAFECO Jackson Street Center,
an innovative approach to economic development which provides
training and job opportunities to residents of Seattle’s Central
Area, as well as diversifying SAFECO’s employees and customer
base. Representative Pettigrew’s community involvement also
includes service as the Past President of the Rainier Valley
Chamber of Commerce, the board of the Rainier Vista Boys and
Girls Club and the ACT Theatre, membership in the Children of
Color Organizers and Advocates, and as a little league baseball
and basketball coach.
Representative Pettigrew was elected as State Representative
for the 37th Legislative District in 2002. In the legislature,
Representative Pettigrew serves as the Vice-Chair of the Community,
Economic Development and Trade Committee, and on the Appropriations
and Early Learning and Children’s Services Committees. He is
also leading the effort for the Washington State House of Representatives
on a Safety Net Workgroup Committee and co-chairs a task force
that addresses disproportionality issues in foster care.
Representative Pettigrew’s awards include the 2007 Urban League
Spirit Award, Washington State Housing Finance Commission’s
Friend of Housing Award, Ike Ikeda Public Service Award, Future
Leaders of America, Ebony Magazine Community Service Award,
National Board of Black Accountants Community Service Award,
and Children of Color Organizers and Advocates.
Representative Pettigrew lives with his wife, Jada, and their
son, Justin (20), and daughter Linda (8), in the Mt. Baker neighborhood
in Seattle.
Rekah
Strong, Clark County government’s first-ever workforce diversity
coordinator, will receive the 2008 Diversity Leadership Award.
The award recognizes significant contributions to promoting
diversity and inclusion in the work place. 
Terry
Durazo, civil rights program manager with the Gifford Pinchot
National Forest and a Vancouver NAACP youth advisor, will receive
the 2008 Valree Joshua Community Activist Award. Ms. Joshua,
the award’s namesake, led NAACP’s Vancouver chapter for 29 years
and remains a revered advocate synonymous with tirelessness
and persistence in the cause of civil rights and justice for
all.