Newton Gborway came to Utah five years ago as a student. Today he's an advocate for refugees, many from his home country of Liberia.
He helps them learn how to get by here, from helping them ride the bus to translating at Primary Children's Medical Center. Gborway was also on hand as the liaison between the Division of Family and Child Services and Hurricane Katrina evacuees housed at Camp Williams.
"Coming here as an immigrant makes it much easier for me to help them," Gborway said. "I have gone through all that. I can tell them, 'Don't stress out; this will work out.' "
Gborway is among six community advocates and organizations who will receive a Pete Suazo Social Justice Award today at the University of Utah.
This is the fifth year the University of Utah College of Social Work will sponsor the awards, in collaboration with Suazo's family. The late Sen. Pete Suazo was known for his social advocacy in representing Salt Lake City's Rose Park district.
The awards will be presented as part of a daylong diversity conference to honor those who strive for social and economic justice for Utah's underrepresented populations.
Gborway recently finished his undergraduate degree at the University of Utah and will start graduate studies this fall. He's a child protective services worker for the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.
His volunteer efforts includes work for the Asian Association of Utah, the International Rescue Committee and the Utah Human Rights Project.
"He has answered calls from refugees, on his personal cell phone, and had to help them with living arrangements and transportation," said nominator Frank Gerecht.
Other honorees are:Allan Ainsworth, executive director of Wasatch Homeless Health Care Inc. (The Fourth Street Clinic), has worked for nearly 30 years as an advocate. "He has consistently, consciously and actively devoted his life to social and economic justice issues by serving those who are underrepresented in the political and public realms," said Jeffrey Grathwohl, who nominated Ainsworth.
Su Cheng, director of the Asian Association of Utah, has expanded the agency's services to better meet the needs of many new immigrants from around the globe. Programs include counseling services for victims of torture, education for refugees on the dangers of smoking, and HIV prevention for the Asian and Pacific Islander communities.
Leslie Kelen, who created the Center for Documentary Arts in 2000 to give a voice to often-forgotten individuals as an outgrowth of the Oral History Institute, which documented the contributions of Utah's minority populations. Most recently, the center partnered with other organizations to bring an exhibit of Sebastio Salgado's refugee photography to Salt Lake.
Santiago "Jim" Sandoval, who has been a positive influence to underrepresented minorities throughout his career as an educational administrator and as a community advocate. Sandoval, who retired in 2003, served as principal or assistant principal at several Ogden area schools and as the school district director of migrant programs, the director of cultural diversity and coordinator of student and family services. He is currently principal of the high school programs at the Clearfield Job Corps, and is an adjutant instructor for bilingual/ESL endorsement courses.
Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/a de Atzlan (MEChA) at the U. The chapter, formed in 1994, has more than 60 members who provide the Latino community with education workshops, guest speakers, leadership conferences and volunteer work.
E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com