2025 Community Leadership Awards
Jan
30

2025 Community Leadership Awards

Building Health and Wealth Together

Join HANDS on January 30th, 2025 to celebrate local leadership shaping the future of a thriving Orange!

This Year We Will Honor:

  • State Senator Britnee Timberlake

  • Ben Hersey of My Abode NJ

  • Jarteau Israel of LANBI Center

  • Jay Savulich of Rising Tide Capital

Join us at Inner City Cafe from 5:30pm to 7:30pm on Thursday, January 30, 2025 for sips, snacks, and celebration - but that’s not all! We’ll spend that entire week (January 27 - January 31) sharing stories and highlighting investments, connections, and possibilities in Greater Orange. We will also screen the awards live online for those who want to join from home.

Read more about the 2025 Community Leadership Award Recipients on our blog as we celebrate local leadership in Greater Orange!

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors:

Community Builders:

Local Business Sponsors:

Become a Sponsor!

As a sponsor for the HANDS Community Leadership Award, you celebrate the leaders making an impact and invest in our work to transform Greater Orange through healthy and affordable housing, economic opportunities, and community engagement.

Learn more about Corporate and Local Business sponsorship and/or reach out to development@handsinc.org.

View Event →

Entrepreneur Day 2025

When local businesses thrive, communities prosper! Join HANDS for Entrepreneur Day 2025, a chance to connect with entrepreneurs, enjoy local snacks, and learn about support you can access as you consider starting or growing your own business. 

HANDS Entrepreneur Day 2025

3:00pm - 6:00pm on Tuesday, June 10

Orange High Auxiliary Gym (400 Lincoln Ave - parking available)

As part of Orange Public School Week, this free event will feature an exhibitor hall of student entrepreneurs from Orange High School, ready to share what they’re learning and how you can support their business. We will have a panel discussion about resources to support entrepreneurs, featuring business experts and experienced entrepreneurs who have completed HANDS’ Sustain and Thrive program, which provides hands-on coaching and capital to invest in growing your business. 

3:00PM - Student Entrepreneur Exhibitor Hall

Meet Orange High Entrepreneurs and learn more about the businesses they’ve started as teens!

4:00PM - Entrepreneur Day Declaration

The office of Orange Mayor Warren, Esq, will present a proclamation recognizing June 10 as Entrepreneur Day and celebrating the small business leaders shaping our local economy.

4:15 PM - Entrepreneurship Panel

Your idea is unique - so learn from those who’ve turned their unique ideas into thriving businesses! Our panel features leaders from Rising Tide Capital, Greater Newark Enterprises Corporation, Columbia Bank, Athletic Arts Academy, Taylour Peighton, and will be moderated by Alicia Robinson from Citizens Bank. 

5:15PM - Networking Reception

Stick around after the panel to connect with the panelists and fellow entrepreneurs in Greater Orange!

This event is also part of Neighborworks America Week, when this critical network that includes HANDS celebrates those working together with a commitment to housing security, community resilience and financial well-being. 

Check out past events below!

Entrepreneur Day Open House

On June 1st, 2024, HANDS, Orange Public Schools, Rising Tide Capital, and Athletic Arts Academy came together for an afternoon celebrating entrepreneurship in Greater Orange.

As part of NeighborWorks America Week, HANDS organized an open house to learn from and connect with local business owners. Participants enjoyed a mindfulness exercise, food from a local restaurant, and an entrepreneurship panel featuring local business owners. To recognize and honor Orange’s thriving business community, the mayor’s office also declared June 1st Entrepreneur Day.

A special thanks to our moderator and panelists:

  • Jay Savulich at Rising Tide Capital

  • Coach Iya at Athletic Arts Academy

  • Natasha Frazer at Hello Gorgeous

  • Daniel Collins at Collins Professional Sora LLC

  • Fatimah Turner at Inner City Cafe

2024 Community Leadership Awards: A Legacy of Connection

On February 1, 2024, HANDS was joined by community members, sponsors, local business leaders, friends and family, to celebrate local leadership that connects and uplifts our community.

Watch the event’s livestream below!

2022 Community Leadership Awards: Owning Our Future

HANDS’ 2022 Community Leadership Awards: Owning Our Future honored those who stepped up to address challenges and opportunities in an ever-changing economic and social landscape and in shaping the direction of their community.

Felicia Stokes, of Luxurious Wellniss, is an innovative local entrepreneur and HANDS tenant who was honored for bringing inclusive health and wellness initiatives to the local community.

UHL ARCHITECTURE

FELICIA STOKES

Joshua Uhl and Christian Uhl are Principals of Uhl Architecture, a multidisciplinary firm interested in the everyday aspects of our contemporary condition that make architecture engaging and enjoyable.

Winsome Wynter, an engaged community volunteer and Heart of Orange neighborhood advocate, is being honored for her efforts to engage youth on financial education, for being a Heart of Orange Neighborhood planning participant, an advocate for quality community services in the Heart of Orange, and a volunteer of HANDS’ Financial Capabilities Program.

WINSOME WYNTER

Friends of Metcalf Park is a community organization of dedicated volunteers being honored for gathering community and creating meaningful programming in Metcalf Park, one of the few municipal parks in Orange, NJ.

FRIENDS OF METCALF PARK

Sharee Harrison is a dedicated community leader being honored for being an engaged volunteer and consulting community organizer for HANDS and HUUB initiatives – specifically engaging community in Heart of Orange Planning process.

SHAREE HARRISON