Kentucky’s Jody Richards Receives the 2018 David W. Belin Advocacy Award
September 20, 2018

The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) today announced that Jody Richards has received the 2018 NAGC David W. Belin Advocacy Award. Representative Richards is the Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, and he was selected for his support of gifted education since the early 1970s. Speaker Richards was instrumental in including gifted education in the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990. He is an active member of the Advisory Board for The Center for Gifted Studies at Western Kentucky University. 

Speaker Richards will be recognized at the NAGC 65th Annual Convention (NAGC18) in Minneapolis, MN, November 15-18, 2018.

“The awards program shines a light on those who are making a difference in supporting gifted children as they reach to achieve their personal best,” said M. René Islas, NAGC Executive Director. “It is through leaders like Speaker Richards who establish supportive policies that promote programs and services in which all gifted and talented children thrive.”

The David W. Belin Advocacy Award is given annually to an individual or group that has successfully advocated at the state or federal level to incorporate gifted education, in a significant and meaningful way, into state or federal education policy. The award is presented by the Belin-Blank Center at The University of Iowa.

“I think it’s really fitting that his family chose to endow this advocacy award because David Belin was a lawyer and he understood the intricacies of advocacy as they relate to the law and policy, which are critical components to effecting change,” said Susan Assouline, Director of the Belin-Blank Center.

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The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) is a membership organization whose mission is to support those who enhance the growth and development of gifted and talented children through education, advocacy, community building, and research. 

CONTACT:  Cathleen Healy, chealy@nagc.org/202-365-4636

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