Sharon Streater and Carlton Ward Jr. are being singled out for recognition by the League of Women Voters of Hillsborough and Pasco Counties.
Streater and Ward are being honored for their contributions to the local community, and to the state of Florida, according to a news release from the organization.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor will speak at the awards luncheon on Feb. 28 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Shanna and Bryan Glazer JCC, 522 N. Howard Ave., Tampa.
Tickets and sponsorships are available now and start at $55.
Streater is being honored for her 34 years of teaching, training, organizing, and empowering community members with HOPE, the Hillsborough Organization for Progress and Equality, an organization that has united diverse faith-based groups to improve the quality of life in Hillsborough County, according to the release.
Streater recently retired from her latest role as HOPE’s lead organizer. Based on shared values of justice, fairness, love of neighbor and the dignity of all people, HOPE’s mission is to train residents to identify common community problems, to research long-term solutions, and to build collective power and skills to hold systems accountable to implement those solutions for their communities.
Ward is receiving the 2024 Sydney & Thalia Potter Civic Leadership Award.
He has been a conservation photographer and National Geographic Explorer.
For more than 20 years, his mission has been to inspire appreciation and protection of Florida’s original nature and culture — the endangered wildness that is often hidden in plain sight but very much needs our attention to be saved, the release says.
Ward began his career working with the Smithsonian Institution in Central Africa, and in 2004, he retrained his focus on his native Florida, motivated by eight generations of family heritage and a drive to bring new attention and protection to the state’s under-appreciated wild heart.
Ward published Florida Cowboys in 2009 and founded the Florida Wildlife Corridor project in 2010. With fellow explorers Mallory Dimmitt and Joe Guthrie, he has since trekked more than 2,000 miles through the Corridor during two National Geographic-supported expeditions, which both produced award-winning books, PBS films and widespread outreach for the statewide vision to keep Florida wild.
Registration and sponsorship information for the event is available at HCLWV.org/laa. Organizers may be reached at or at 813-461-5365.
The League of Women Voters of Hillsborough and Pasco Counties is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and works to increase understanding of major public policy issues.
Published December 13, 2023
