POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Rebuild) and its Executive Director Bishop Dwayne Royster are receiving this year's Clarence Farmer Senior Award for civil rights leadership in Philadelphia, the highest honor given by the City's Commission on Human Relations. 

Recipients of other awards include the late Gloria Casarez, LGBTQ rights advocate and  fallen firefighter Lt. Joyce Craig.

Founded in 2011, POWER is a multiracial, interfaith organization dedicated to empowering everyday Philadelphians to exercise their power in the public arena.  The organization represents congregations from across the Philadelphia region, bringing people together across the lines of race, faith, income level and neighborhood.

“Through disciplined community organizing practices and leadership development training, POWER builds campaigns to seek justice and improve life for all Philadelphians,” stated the organization. 

Its work has included winning wage raises for thousands of subcontracted workers at Philadelphia International Airport and exposing racial inequities in Pennsylvania's school funding system.  As grassroots leaders involved in POWER work together on campaigns for the common good, they also form transformative relationships across race, class, and religious lines.  

More recently POWER played a lead role in organizing a 7,000 person march on Martin Luther King Day calling for "jobs, justice and education", including greater empowerment of Philadelphia's police advisory board and an end to racially discriminatory stop and frisk practices.  

The 2015 PCHR Awards ceremony to honor the awardees will be held on Tuesday, April 28, at the Arts Ballroom (1324 Locust Street) from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

The Clarence Farmer Award was named in honor of longtime Philadelphia civil rights champion Clarence Farmer, who led numerous investigations of police brutality in the Black community, and from the 1960s through early eighties was known for his passionate advocacy for the civil rights of marginalized groups.

You can learn more at PowerPhiladelphia.