Alabama Attorney Stephen Black One Of Ten Americans Chosen To Receive $125,000 National Award For Improving Local Health Conditions

PRINCETON, NJ (October 27, 2008) – The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation today announced Stephen Black, an Alabama attorney and grandson of the late US Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, as one of ten exemplary Americans who will receive the Community Health Leaders Award for 2008. The distinguished annual award honors extraordinary men and women from all over the country who conquer huge obstacles and take commanding action in local communities to tackle some of the most challenging health and health care problems facing the nation. Awardees are celebrated with national recognition and $125,000.

This year, more than 800 nominations were submitted from across the United States. Through a rigorous process, the Foundation selected ten outstanding individuals, all of whom have worked to improve health conditions in their communities through exceptional creativity, courage and commitment. The Foundation chose Black this year for creating FocusFirst, an initiative that trains college students to provide high-tech vision screenings for low-income preschool children throughout the state. Black will accept his award on October 29 at a special ceremony honoring each of the 2008 recipients during the Community Health Leaders Annual Meeting in San Diego.

"Stephen Black has combined innovation and ingenuity to assure services for Alabama preschoolers," said Janice Ford Griffin, national program director for the award. "His work is having a major impact on their well-being and their opportunities for overall development. Like other Community Health Leaders, he saw a need and an opportunity and set about ’getting things done.’ "

Black created FocusFirst in 2004 as a cost-effective direct response to the vision care needs of children who live in urban and rural poverty in Alabama. Through service-learning courses that integrate academic coursework with community service projects, FocusFirst has trained and supervised 1,000 students from more than 20 colleges and universities statewide to provide vision screenings for preschool-aged children in low-income urban and rural areas using technologically advanced photo optic scan cameras. Under Black’s leadership, FocusFirst has screened more than 40,000 children in all 67 counties of Alabama. More than 12 percent or 5,000 children have been identified, referred and are currently receiving free or subsidized follow-up care through a partner nonprofit, Sight Savers of Alabama.

As a service-learning project, FocusFirst provides a unique service opportunity designed to address an important community need while developing a stronger sense of responsibility within college students to improve the community health care needs of a large segment of Alabama’s population. “I am humbled and honored to receive this prestigious award," said Black. "This recognition and support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will play an extraordinary role in helping to expand the work of FocusFirst statewide to ensure that more small children start school with the best vision medically possible.”

The FocusFirst program has proven to be particularly valuable in Alabama. An Alabama Eye Institute needs assessment reports that thousands of children "grow up in rural areas of the state, distant from any eye service providers, often with no means of transportation to obtain needed eye care.” In Alabama’s seventh congressional district, US Representative Artur Davis represents a large number of the rural and underprivileged communities referenced in the needs assessment. In a letter of recommendation supporting Black’s nomination for the award, Davis wrote "upon learning the unconscionable truth that thousands of Alabama’s most vulnerable children start school unable to see words on a page ... [Black] committed himself to finding a solution."

Black and each of the 2008 awardees will join the ranks of 153 Community Health Leaders in
45 states and Puerto Rico honored since 1993. The $125,000 award consists of a $20,000 personal gift and $105,000 to support their work. In addition to Black in Alabama, this year, Community Health Leaders hail from Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, North Dakota, California, Utah, New York and Hawaii. Nominations for the 2009 Community Health Leaders Award can be submitted through November 7, 2008. For details on how to submit a nomination, including eligibility requirements and selection criteria, visit www.communityhealthleaders.org.


The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 35 years, the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.

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