Washington Lawyers’ Committee Honors Savills Studley’s Rick Rome with Award for Education Enrichment
11 July 2016
Savills Studley’s Rick Rome was recently honored with the Vincent E. Reed Award at the 2016 Wiley A. Branton Awards Luncheon for the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, which took place on June 22 at the JW Marriott.
Rome, Executive Vice President and Co-Regional Manager for Savills Studley’s Washington, D.C. office, was recognized for his significant contributions and commitment to providing educational opportunities both in and outside of the classroom.
“Since his initial engagement with the Washington Lawyers’ Committee, Rick has been full in,” said Rhonda Cunningham Holmes, Deputy Director of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee. “His deep commitment to civil rights and particularly the WLC’s DCPS partnership program is without comparison. He recognizes that access to a quality education is a civil right and it includes more than what can be in given in the classroom by a teacher. Experiential activities, outside engagement and parental involvement are critical to students so they may maximize their learning potential.”
The Vincent E. Reed Award honors those who help the DC Public School partnership establish and expand programs designed to increase parent engagement and academic enrichment opportunities for students at Title I schools. Rome provided crucial funding for The Parent Engagement Pilot Program, which launched in Fall 2015. The funding allowed the Education Project to offer matching funds to parent teacher organizations at selected Title I schools that committed to raising funds to achieve the dual goals of the program.
Additionally, Rome helped launch a highly successful hands-on STEM Fair at Hendley Elementary, establishing a model for other school partnerships to follow.
“He has provided leadership at Savills Studley that has led to a significant percentage of employee involvement in the partnership program,” Holmes added. “His personal contribution to the seed funding for the Parent Engagement Pilot Program used to provide matching funds to several successful parent engagement projects is yet another example of his commitment. I was very pleased to be able to present another award to him and to Savills Studley in the form of this year’s Vincent Reed Award.”
The Vincent E. Reed Award is given in the name of Dr. Vincent Reed, a distinguished educator whose encouragement and support were directly responsible for the WLC’s decision to establish its public education support programs. His initial effort led to the WLC representing Parents United for the DC Public Schools and the DC Public School Partnership Program, which operates in more than 50 schools in the city.
