Champions of Hope

 Champions of Hope:
A Celebration of Philadelphia's Everyday Heroes

Thursday, October 19, 2023
6:00 pm Cocktails | 7:00 pm Program 

Crystal Tea Room
The Wanamaker Building 9th Floor
100 E Penn Square | Philadelphia, PA 19107

Join us for a fun and inspiring evening benefitting Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Philadelphia Region! Our event celebrates the everyday heroes who demonstrate acts of volunteerism, philanthropy, and goodwill that align with our organizational mission: to support families on their children's medical journeys with a community of comfort and hope.

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Our 2023 Awardees:

Dr. Ala Stanford | Dr. Audrey E. Evans Award of Excellence

Dr. Ala Stanford is a national leader in health equity and a health care policy advisor. She is a trusted messenger and an advocate for vulnerable populations in the United States and globally. Dr. Stanford recently served as the Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of the Mid-Atlantic, appointed by President Joseph Biden overseeing the health and well being of all Americans.

A practicing physician for over 20 years, Dr. Stanford is board certified by the American Board of Surgery in both pediatric and adult general surgery. She serves as a medical and health correspondent for national media outlets. Dr. Stanford gained international recognition during the COVID-19 pandemic using the infrastructure of her pediatric surgery practice to create a grassroots organization focused on education, testing, contact tracing and vaccination in communities devoid of access to care and resources. Her focus on those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 saved lives. The Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium directly served over 100,000 and countless others through the reach of their work.

Dr. Stanford subsequently opened a Center for Health Equity in a Philadelphia zip code community with the lowest life expectancy; providing expert health care and improving health outcomes. She has received many accolades, a few notable include 2023 STATNews Status List Changemaker in health and medicine, Named Most Influential Women in 2021 & 2022 by Forbes Magazine, 2021 Top 10 CNNHero, 2021 Fortune Magazine: World's 50 Greatest Leaders, 2021 George H.W. Bush Points of Light Award, the City of Philadelphia Commissioned a street in her name and In April 2023 Dr. Stanford delivered a TEDTalk at the University of Pennsylvania on the subject of medicine and social justice. Simon & Schuster will share her memoir and roadmap for achieving health equity in 2024. Dr. Stanford is a wife and mother to three teenagers.

Della Clark | Jimmy Murray Community Leadership Award

Della Clark's vision for minority entrepreneurship is not about counting the number of successful businesses but about making businesses count. Since 1992, Ms. Clark has brought this vision to fruition as President of The Enterprise Center - an organization at the forefront of the Greater Philadelphia region's entrepreneurial ecosystem, guided by the mission  cultivate and invest in minority entrepreneurs to inspire economic growth in communities. The Enterprise Center accomplishes this by accelerating the capacity of minority business enterprises to compete in any marketplace through business education, management support, access to capital, and procurement opportunities.

Motivated by her belief that business success is a team sport, Ms. Clark epitomizes the core values of collaboration and economic growth that drive the outcomes of The Enterprise Center as operator of a Pennsylvania and New Jersey MBDA Business Center and a US Department of Transportation Small Business Transportation Resource Center. Under Ms. Clark's leadership, businesses have obtained more than $870 million in contracts, $209 million in the financing, and created 3,221 jobs through the PA Minority Business Development Center. Minority- and women-owned businesses have secured more than $30 million in loans to start, grow, and succeed through The Enterprise Center Capital Corporation. Clark led efforts to create the Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises, a 13,000+ square-foot food business incubator and hub of community health and nutrition resources in West Philadelphia, now in its 10th year of operation.

One of Ms. Clark's notable accomplishments was raising the $2.5 million necessary to renovate The Enterprise Center's headquarters in West Philadelphia, which bears historical significance as the former WFIL-TV studios and birthplace of "American Bandstand."

She is now embarking on bridging the capital gap for minority enterprises and launching a new fund, Innovate Capital Growth Fund, a Small Business Investment Company. The goal for Fund 1 is $50 million and the investment thesis is: to build the balance sheet and scale minority standout companies to create wealth and a new model for future investments.

Clark currently serves as a board member for the Philadelphia Equity Alliance, University City District, and Bridge of Hope CDC and serves as a Trustee of Drexel University. She is also a proud Eisenhower Fellow.

Clark was recognized in August 2022 with a Lifetime Achieve Award by the Philadelphia Business Journal. She is one of Philadelphia's most Influential by the Philadelphia Magazine and is also one the Philadelphia Tribune's most Influential African American Leaders for over 10 years.

For more information about this event, contact:
Mariel Lewis, Senior Special Events Manager
[email protected]
267-969-6266