Edmund Gordon, Marian Wright Edelman to be Honored With John Hope Franklin Awards: Two of America’s most influential advocates for improving the life outcomes of children from underprivileged backgrounds will be honored this evening during an awards ceremony meant to recognize their lifetime achievements.
Diverse will present its distinguished John Hope Franklin Award to Dr. Edmund Gordon, a longtime research scientist, a prolific writer on the subject of academic achievement and educational equity and an original architect of the federally funded Head Start program; and Marian Wright Edelman, founder and longtime leader of the Children’s Defense Fund, a national organization that has for decades pushed for policies that improve the quality of life for the nation’s poorest children.