The City of Aurora’s African-American Heritage Advisory Board (AAHAB) will be host to its 15th Annual Heritage Dinner Friday, Feb. 2 at Gaslite Manor, 2485 Church Road. Social hour will begin at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m..
The crowning event of Black History Month, this annual celebration will present scholarships to achieving high school seniors, honor community members for their contributions to Aurora and salute AAHAB’s 2019 African-American Leader of the Year, Aurora Police Officer Skyy Calice.
Calice is a community-oriented policing officer with the Aurora Police Department. Her interactions with students, educators, and community members inspired her to establish the Girls Run the World mentoring program. Helping to guide young ladies at East Aurora, Metea Valley and West Aurora High Schools, the mentoring program develops leadership among the young women at each high school and gives them a safe place to discuss any issues they’re dealing with at home or at school. In 2018, Calice launched the Girls on the Run 5K Fundraiser, was presented the Chicago Wolves Hometown Hero Award, was named a “Face of 2018” by the Aurora Beacon-News and earned Aurora mayor Richard Irvin’s Mayoral Commendation for Service.
“Officer Calice stepped in to fill a gap in our community and, in a relatively short amount of time, she has made a tremendous impact,” said Irvin. “Skyy gives our young women an accessible positive role model while empowering them to shatter glass ceilings and change the narrative. She goes above and beyond her noble call of duty to serve and protect Aurora.”
Mayor Irvin will present the 2019 Mayor’s AAHAB Lifetime Achievement Award to Larry Shepard for his decades of work as an educator in West Aurora Schools and as a community advocate. The Mayor’s AAHAB Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually to a longtime African-American leader in the community who has committed life to service and paved the way for others to do the same. The 2018 recipient was educator Avis Patterson-Miller.
During the ceremony, Aurora high school students will receive Henry Cowherd Scholarships named in honor of longtime community leader and 2008 African-American Leader of the Year, the late Henry Cowherd.
Tickets are $60, with a portion going to the Henry Cowherd Scholarship Fund. Individual tickets can be purchased at www.aurora-il.org/aahab. Tables of 10, special discounted student tickets and tickets by check can be reserved by contacting Dee Hakala at dhakala@aurora-il.org or 630.256.3408.
—City government of Aurora