On January 27, 2022, five Jefferson Award for Public Service Silver Medal Finalists from the Bay Area were honored. MAP’s Founder, Delfarib Fanaie was among them! As a Finalist, she will automatically be considered for the national Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award for Outstanding Public Service Benefiting Local Communities this June.
The Jefferson Awards were co-created by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Senator Robert Taft, and Sam Beard in 1972 as an “American Nobel Prize” for public service. The Jefferson Awards Foundation is a non-profit organization that “recognizes, inspires, and activates volunteerism and public service in communities, workplaces, and schools across America.” Past winners in various categories include Cesar Chavez, Steve Jobs, and Jesse Jackson. Now renamed Multiplying Good, the non-profit partner in the Bay Area with KPIX and KCBS San Francisco to report and celebrate Bay Area recipients. At a ceremony each June, the local winners’ stories are highlighted to celebrate their impact and inspire their communities to serve.
Delfarib founded MAP (Moms Against Poverty) in 2008 with several friends after a memorable trip to Iran in 2006 to adopt her second daughter. Another little girl in the same orphanage pleaded for Delfarib to take her too. Unfortunately, she couldn’t grant the girl’s wish. However, she promised not to forget her or children like her and to help them however she could. Since then, MAP has helped over 2.3 million children and their families from 16 countries living in poverty around the globe.
At MAP, we are delighted that our Founder’s work has been recognized and honored with the Jefferson Award. Delfarib says, “I was so surprised to learn that I had been given this prestigious award. I have no idea who nominated me, yet I am so honored and humbled by this recognition – not for myself, but for the entire MAP family with whom it is shared”.
The Jefferson Award our Principal Founder, Delfarib Fanaie, received has helped us advance MAP’s programs in local communities, and establish a stronger relationship with our cohorts, donor base, and partner organizations. We truly appreciate the expansion of our community due to this honor and we look forward to utilizing its empowerment to do more for our children and families around the world in need of our support.
On behalf of Moms Against Poverty, we would be so honored to receive the national award, to help us elevate our network even further. With this positive attention, our ability to grow our initiatives will be much more progressive. Please, stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed that MAP wins the National Jefferson Award in June!
