Promise Awards
Get ready for the most anticipated event of the year—the 2024 Promise Awards! This year, we are thrilled to announce that WYC will host the Promise Awards during the 2024 Annual Virtual Conference on September 25 and 26.
Mark your calendars and get ready to be part of a celebration that honors promise, achievement, and excellence. The 2024 Promise Awards Nomination period is now closed as the Selection Committee deliberates on over 50 nominations. Check back for updates and announcements as the 2024 Promise Awards season is just getting started!
2024 Promise Awards Selection Committee
Alejandra V. Monroy
Darcy Weaver
Karin Viviers
LaTyra Noland
Stephanie Alvarado
Tiffany Reddy
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Promise Awards?
The Promise Awards are an annual celebration of leaders, programs and youth making a difference in their clubs and communities. The Promise Awards are a WYC program that recognizes and supports youth club work of members around the world. Award recipients receive a grant to support their continued impact at the Club, as well as a special video storytelling production, and support from WYC to share their story with the world.
What is the award process?
Applications will be reviewed by the Promise Awards selection committee. Nominations are reviewed and sent to the selection committee as they are received. Applicants may be asked to provide additional information after submitting their application, such as photos, detailed explanations, or other proof of accomplishments. Recipients will be contacted after nominations close and will begin working with WYC on event production, including recording a video for the event. Award recipients will be announced at the Annual Virtual Conference
Who can nominate a person or program for the Promise Awards?
Anyone from a WYC member organization, including staff, volunteers, and youth can nominate a leader, program, or youth for a Promise Award. All nominators must notify the club’s leader about the nomination to ensure that your club knows that a person or program was nominated! WYC will contact your Club’s leader after nominations close to confirm the names of individuals and programs nominated for the Promise Awards. If your club leader is a nominee, WYC will not notify the leader of their nomination, but will contact the Board Chair or other members of the leadership team to ensure your Club is aware of the nomination.
How are the Promise Award recipients selected?
The Promise Awards recipients and honorees are selected by the Promise Awards Committee. The committee is a team of volunteers who review nominations and select the recipients and honorable mentions. The committee uses a rubric to assess each nominee’s unique story and application, considering factors like initiative, barriers, and the WYC spirit of youth development.
Who can I contact for more questions?
Contact Tony Galvao, Program Manager at tgalvao@worldyouthclubs.org or Abby Lemay, Vice President of Impact at alemay@worldyouthclubs.org
2023 Promise Award Recipients
Joseph Bikorabagabo
Staff Leader of the Year
Scholars in Farming
Program of the Year
Jonathan Weaver
Volunteer Leader of the Year
Jeshua González
Youth of the Year
2023 Promise Award Honorable Mentions
Ezekiel Afful
Miguel Ángel Vite Perea
Juntos Sanamos
Mariam Namulondo
Alan Watson
Abiola Bakare
Empowerment of Women through Entrepreneurship Development
Promise Awards Hall of Fame
Rebecca Ampah | Leadership Pioneer Award 2022
Dimitris Giannakakis | Leadership Excellence Award 2022
John Lightfoot | Lifetime Leadership Award 2022
STAR English Program | Education Impact Award 2022
Annet | Youth Inspiration Award 2022
Enock | Youth Changemaker Award 2022
Stephen Quansah | Leadership Pioneer Award 2021
Vilma Calderon | Leadership Excellence Award 2021
Education First Initiative | Program Innovation Award 2021
Chadashah Teenage Pregnancy Center | Health Program Impact Award 2021
Jireth | Youth Dream Big Award 2021
Evans | Youth Inspiration Award 2021
Marco | Youth Changemaker Award 2021
Sponsorship Information
We have several events throughout the year and are always looking for
partners. If you are interested in learning more about sponsorship
opportunities with WYC, we would love to speak with you.
Please email Kirk at kdominick@wfyc.org
Teresa Walch
Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Senior Executive – Affiliate Relations
Teresa Walch is a Senior Executive with Boys & Girls Club of America. She has served in numerous roles both locally and nationally for over 22 years with the organization.
Prior to her Boys & Girls Club career Teresa served as a Finance Director for the Department of Defense AAFES Europe, a Juvenile Probation Officer, a Department of Defense Educator, and a Schools Officer for the Department of Defense Europe.
She has held numerous leadership positions within BGCA to include the Southwest Regional Vice President, National Vice President of Club Advancement & Specialized Services where she built out a new service delivery model for BGCA, served as the interim Safety Vice President and lead BGCA’s legacy leadership and recognition programs.
In her current role as Senior Executive of Affiliate Relations her focus is on innovative and impactful service delivery and design that supports quality improvement systems, practices, and processes to ensure sustainable, safe, engaging local organizations and partnerships that support priorities. She also serves as the Disaster Response leader for BGCA.
Her most recent partnerships focus on providing mental health education and resources to club affiliates that include Mental Health First Aid and BetterHelp, the world’s largest on-line counseling company. The BetterHelp partnership is seen as the one of the most impactful partnerships BGCA has ever created resulting in free counseling access for staff and club members across the U.S.
Teresa holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a minor in Education and a master’s degree in Human Relations. Teresa is passionate about developing people and teams. Her ability to design and motivate thriving team culture is what she is known for. Her team’s culture promotes innovation, nimbleness and aligns individual strengths and talents to design processes and systems that drive goals and outcomes for stakeholders. Teresa is an accomplished facilitator and a certified trainer. She believes in the power of people and has been blessed to be able to lead and empower others to positively impact the next generation.
Dr. Bala Mulloth
Bala is a globally oriented educator and entrepreneur who has lived and worked in Asia, Europe and North America. His focus areas are innovation and social entrepreneurship and he is currently an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. He is also the Co-Founder and CEO of Hava, a materials science venture that creates advanced fabrics that help people breathe clean air.
He was formerly an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary and the Program Director of CEU’s experiential New York City MBA program.; a Visiting Faculty Fellow at the National Defense University; and the Senior Manager of New York University Tandon School of Engineering’s Office of Innovation Development, Technology Transfer and Entrepreneurship.
He holds a PhD in Technology Management from New York University Tandon School of Engineering.
Gerald Mballe
Special Olympics Unified with Refugees, Advisor
Gerald Mballe is Special Olympics’ first-ever Advisor for Unified with Refugees programme, helping further strengthen and expand the reach and impact of the initiative. Gerald was first introduced to the world of Special Olympics in 2015 in Turin, Italy as a legally resettled refugee, after fleeing Cameroon as an unaccompanied minor due to several attacks by Boko Haram. His trajectory since has been an inspiration fueled by hard work and a passion for inclusion, equality, and acceptance. His commitment to inclusive sports, and social inclusion worldwide, was captured by ESPN, highlighting his example as a Game Changer. His powerful intervention at the 2018 Special Olympics Refugee Forum in Amsterdam moved the renowned journalist David Eades, global reporter for the BBC, to recommend Gerald to become a Young Leader for Sport at the Service of Humanity, a platform created by Pope Francis that uses sport to drive our shared humanity across the world. Gerald has been involved in various engagements at global convenings to support the inclusion message including speaking at the FIGC Press conference during the European Football Week, Laureus Summit in Paris and finally participating at the AVAIL Project exchange visit to the UK (an EU-funded project). Gerald understood the need to ensure that the athletes of Special Olympics and migrant youth alike were prioritized by the international development sector, which motivated him to speak directly to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in early 2020 in Geneva, Switzerland. This occasion led to the development of an important new global partnership –a significant milestone for the Special Olympics movement. Gerald is the recipient of the International Sports and Culture Association Integration of Refugees Through Sport Role Model Award, the Beyond Sport 2021 Courageous Use of Sport Award, and recently was awarded a top artistic distinction by the UN Refugee Agency as part of the Youth with Refugees Art Contest. Gerald is currently studying Political Science and International Relations at Niccolò Cusano University and continues to be a Unified Partner for Special Olympics Italy.