FBI Pittsburgh Honors Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation with Director’s Community Leadership Award

The FBI Pittsburgh Field Office is pleased to announce the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation as the recipient of the 2019 Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA). The Penguins Foundation is part of the education working group with FBI Pittsburgh’s Heroin Outreach Prevention and Education initiative or HOPE. The working group, which includes other corporate and government partners, made a free prescription drug abuse prevention program available to area high schools. The series of six interactive modules educates students on opioids, depressants and stimulants, as well as the appropriate use for each drug. It also teaches intervention skills.

The foundation also provided a VIP Pittsburgh Penguins game experience to hundreds of students who created public service announcement videos about the opioid epidemic and the importance of keeping families and communities safe. In addition, the foundation worked with the Pittsburgh chapter of the Citizens Academy Alumni Association to provide incentives and grants to more than 100 area school districts and teachers.

“The Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation has done extraordinary work in the community to help educate our youth on the dangers of opioids,” said FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Michael Christman. “The Heroin Outreach Prevention and Education or HOPE program teaches students to think differently. The work students put into their videos allows them to teach and inform their peers about the dangers associated with this epidemic. Through our partnership with the Penguins Foundation on this important program, we have the ability to reach more people and work together to stop this dangerous epidemic.”

“The Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation and Penguins organization are honored to receive this prestigious award for our community efforts in 2019,” said Dave Soltesz, President of the Penguins Foundation. “The Penguins take extreme pride in creating impactful and meaningful off-ice efforts, which wouldn’t happen without the support from our fans, staff, senior executives, players, and coaches. This community-first mindset has continued through the organization’s efforts to lessen the burden of the COVID-19 crisis.”

The FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award was formally created in 1990 to honor individuals and organizations for their extraordinary contributions to the prevention of crime and violence in the community. Every year, FBI field offices around the country select a community partner to receive the award. The FBI Pittsburgh Field Office recognized Wasiullah Mohamed. A volunteer advocate for racial and social justice in the Pittsburgh region, Mohamed was instrumental in rallying the local Muslim community after the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue.

For media inquiries please call (412) 432-4291 or e-mail cpolicicchio@fbi.gov.

The Mindful Supervisor: Webinar

Date and Time: June 2, 2020 / 10am PT / 11am MT / 12pm CT / 1pm ET

Webinar Summary
Are you striving to meet organizational goals and crucial deadlines, yet wondering why your team’s morale has decreased? Are you aware of the messages your supervisory performance sends in stressful circumstances and their impact on your team? Are you interested in increasing your self-awareness, decrease tension, improve concentration, and ultimately improve your team's health and workplace satisfaction?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, this one hour interactive webinar sponsored by the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is for you! Research suggests that, as the emotional and/or mental well-being of each team member decline, organizational and professional growth are negatively affected. How you perform in stressful circumstances sends a clear message, whether positive or negative, to your team. During this interactive webinar, we will explore techniques that can be used to address workplace stress using mindfulness that starts with YOU, in your role as Supervisor.

What can mindfulness do for you as a Supervisor? Mindfulness can help increase your self-awareness, decrease tension within you and your team, improve your concentration, and ultimately improve your team's health and workplace satisfaction. During this webinar, you will experience several mindfulness techniques to implement with your team, helping you to jumpstart your transformation to leading mindfully and improving the emotional health of your team and organization.

Speaker

Dr. Rosalind Smith Sistrunk, Rosalind Smith Counseling

Dr. Sistrunk is a licensed professional clinical counselor in the state of Ohio who specializes in relationship counseling. She conducts mindfulness-based workshops and services to help improve the emotional well-being of individuals and organizations. Dr. Sistrunk believes that a supervisor’s healthy emotional well-being can have a positive impact on any workforce.

Who Should Attend?

Any individual who supervises and/or leads employees working in a state, federal, or local correctional jurisdiction.

NIC recommends that sites with multiple attendees consider registering and viewing the webinar together to facilitate implementation of webinar content into practice.

How Do I Register?

Follow this link to register in NIC’s WebEx Event Center
https://nicmeetings.webex.com/nicmeetings/onstage/g.php?MTID=e072f54d4462b1a53a7229574a2f92be2 

Who Do I Contact for More Information?

Content Contact
Belinda D. Stewart, Correctional Program Specialist, Prison’s Division
b5stewart@bop.gov
Webinar Technical Contact
Leslie LeMaster, Correctional Program Specialist, Academy Division
llemaster@bop.gov

How Do I Participate Effectively In a WebEx Event Center Webinar? How Do I Get Ready?

To attend an NIC WebEx Event Center webinar, you need a hands-free telephone, headset or earbuds, and an internet-enabled computer. For optimum learning, be in a quiet place, free from distractions / interruptions, sight-and-sound separated from others, where you can concentrate on what is happening during the webinar. A separate office space with a door to close is an ideal setting. Connect to the webinar audio bridge via a hands-free telephone, using earbuds / headset connected to your phone / cell phone so your hands are free to interact with your keyboard.

Test your computer system compatibility prior to the webinar here http://www.webex.com/test-meeting.html . This is a quick test, and we strongly encourage you do this prior to the webinar. If your browser does not pass the test, contact Webex Technical Support at 1-877-669-1782 and tell them you will be attending an NIC webinar on NIC's Webex site at http://nicmeetings.webex.com . They can help you troubleshoot connectivity issues.

NIC strongly recommends consulting with your agency / Local IT , as you may encounter pop-up blocking and/or firewall issues that block the NIC Webex webinar url.
NIC WebEx webinar sessions are not compatible with smartphones. NIC recommends you connect to the webinar session on a desktop computer, laptop, or a tablet computer.

Click https://nicic.gov/webinar-vilt-readiness for further information on NIC's live webinars including (cost = free!), how to obtain training credit from your agency, and much more!

FBI Chicago Announces Recipient of Director’s Community Leadership Award

CHICAGO—Emmerson Buie Jr., special agent-in-charge of the Chicago Field Office, announced today, April 30, 2020, that Quilen Blackwell has been named the 2019 recipient of the FBI’s Director’s Community Leadership Award (DCLA) for the Chicago Division. The FBI presents this award annually on behalf of Director Christopher Wray. It was established in 1990 as a way to honor individuals and organizations for their efforts to prevent federal crimes and to enhance law enforcement efforts in their communities.

In 2014, Quilen Blackwell founded Chicago Eco House, an organization dedicated to showing youth in Chicago’s most poverty-stricken areas that there is beauty to be found in their neighborhoods. Under the motto “Using sustainability to alleviate poverty,” Chicago Eco House teaches youth business and collaboration skills to provide alternatives to the cycle of chronic poverty, drug-use, and criminal activity. “Where others saw poverty, Mr. Blackwell saw hope,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Buie. “His dedication to lifting up local youth is a welcome reminder of what our communities are capable of achieving.”

Mr. Blackwell has been instrumental in leading local residents and community groups to create the Stewart Street Farm, a fruit, vegetable, and flower farm covering two city blocks. Owing to his efforts, 32 high school students have received stipends to support their study of urban agriculture. In addition to providing valuable urban farming experience, the Stewart Street Farm initiative converted vacant land into a usable community resource.

In addition to beautifying communities through farming projects, Chicago Eco House engages youth in indoor artistic ventures during the cold, winter months. Under Mr. Blackwell’s direction, Chicago Eco House teaches young adults to create 3D printed jewelry which is then sold in stores on Chicago’s South Side. In addition to gaining marketable STEM skills, student artists receive a portion of the profits from these sales.

Mr. Blackwell was selected by the Chicago Division for the direct and positive impact his work has had on the community. Chicago Eco House focuses on local neighborhoods with substantial socioeconomic challenges such as Englewood, West Woodlawn, and West Garfield Park. The organization provides business skills and alternative options to youth in demographics that facing chronic unemployment makes them at-risk for gang involvement and illegal drug use.