Stamford's Elizabeth Joseph Earns Everyday Democracy Civic Leadership Award

Elizabeth Joseph, Associate Director of Community Engagement at the Ferguson Library in Stamford, has been named as a recipient of the Paul and Joyce Aicher Civic Leadership Award for 2022.

Joseph has gained notice for her efforts to “shine a light on how vibrant public spaces are fundamental to civic life.”

Through her role at the library, she first got involved with Connecticut-based Everyday Democracy, a national nonprofit organization, and learned about its unique approach to authentic community engagement. Her connection with Everyday Democracy has evolved over the years, as she became a Connecticut Civic Ambassador – including participating as a Civic Ambassadors Summit panelist in 2018 - and later participated in the intensive Institute for Community Change Leaders in late-2019. 

"I’ve always been active in social causes in one way or another all my life but the introduction and association with Everyday Democracy gives me purpose and direction,” she explains. “It continues to teach me how to be an impactful, thoughtful and strategic community organizer and a civic leader."

Since 2017, Elizabeth Joseph has brought together public officials, institutions, community-based organizations, and community members for dialogue and action around pressing social issues in the Stamford community.

In Fall 2018, this work took the form of a series of dialogues entitled “Facing Racism in Stamford,” using a modified version of Everyday Democracy’s Facing Racism in a Diverse Nation dialogue guide to bring nearly 100 community members together. This culminated in an Action Forum and then five action teams who led projects in different issue areas, including education, leadership development, criminal justice, housing, and racial equity and healing. The work of the action teams has continued to evolve and expand organically.

Since then, she has continued to adapt the dialogue approach to foster deeper understanding in the community. The mission of The Ferguson Library is to provide free and equal access to information, ideas, books and technology to educate, engage and enrich the Stamford community.

"Elizabeth combines a passion for racial equity with an ability to bring people together to experience their shared humanity and work together for tangible community change,” said Martha McCoy, Executive Director of Everyday Democracy and Co-Chair of the Connecticut Civic Health Advisory Group. “We are grateful to honor her amazing leadership with this award.”

Joseph is one of two recipients of the award for 2022; the other is Ramona Ferreyra, a South Bronx-based community organizer who has used advocacy as a springboard for bringing together diverse facets of her community.  Finalists also included Andres Mejia, the inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice for Exeter, New Hampshire public schools, and Talethia O. Edwards, a community organizer and nonprofit leader in Tallahassee, Florida.

The Paul and Joyce Aicher Leadership in Democracy Awards were launched in 2017 to honor the memory of Everyday Democracy's founder, Paul Aicher, and his wife, Joyce, for their dedication to advancing deliberative democracy and improving the quality of public life in the United States.  Their core values--voice for all, connection across difference, racial equity, and community change—continue to guide the organization’s evolving approach to authentic community engagement.