Sunday Friends Recognizes MOBI with Kindness Award

On Monday, August 5, MOBI partner Sunday Friends Foundation held its inaugural Silicon Valley Kindness Awards, celebrating and honoring outstanding contributions from individuals and organizations dedicated to helping families overcome poverty. The My Own Business Institute (MOBI) received the Sunday Friends Kindness Award in the Education category.

Sunday Friends is a nonprofit organization, founded by Janis Baron in 1997, when she and her children began visiting a local family shelter. Her dedication to listening to the shelter families’ needs and building relationships based on trust inspired the work of Sunday Friends to empower, uplift, and break the cycle of poverty. Through its partnership with MOBI, Sunday Friends will develop its first entrepreneur accelerator program, the Dream, Build, Mentor (DMB) Lab, incorporating MOBI’s free online entrepreneurship curriculum.

“We are inspired by the incredible work of our partners, pursuing missions to lift up those in need through their programs, services, and compassion, and Sunday Friends’ dedication to families is very special indeed,” said Drew Starbird, Ph.D., MOBI Executive Director and Professor, Information Systems and Analytics, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University. “MOBI is honored to be a part of their mission and vision for a better future, and we are grateful to receive this Kindness Award. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Sunday Friends.”

(Pictured left to right: Sunday Friends Executive Director Tatiana Colón Rivera, Sunday Friends Founder Janis Baron, MOBI Executive Director Drew Starbird, Ph.D., MOBI Director, Operations and Communications Jill Martin, and MOBI Operations and Communications Manager Annasofia Zuleta.)

The Kindness Awards event was held at Adobe World Headquarters in San Jose, CA. Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at San José State University (SJSU), provided the keynote address, presenting perspectives on wealth, poverty, and inequity as well as recent data from his work with the SJSU Human Rights Institute, including the Silicon Valley Pain Index.

Following the keynote, Sunday Friends Executive Director Tatiana Colón-Rivera led a panel discussion on the topic, “Inside Poverty.” The discussion aimed to bring together a cross-sector multi-disciplinary panel of experts to delve into the root causes and lasting effects of poverty, while highlighting innovative solutions and best practices in social change. The panelists included Dora Beyer, Director of Community Engagement, Excite Credit Union; Mike Gonzalez, Executive of Family & Health Strategies, First Five Santa Clara County; Dennis King, Executive Director, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce/Small Business Development Center; Trevor Parham, Founder & Director, Oakstop; and Simone Robbennolt, Associate, Policy Link (Bay Area Equity Atlas).

In addition, Sunday Friends honored Founder Janis Baron with a Lifetime Achievement Award, for dedicating over 30 years to empowering families to break the cycle of poverty. The event program shares, “Sunday Friends is about more than survival, it’s about empowerment. Janis’ dedication saw young mothers land jobs and families rise from despair, fueling her passion for years. Even after her retirement in 2019, Sunday Friends thrives as a vibrant community, a testament to her vision, and the countless volunteers who found purpose within its walls.”

Other Kindness Awards presented:

Business Award: John Hogan, Community Projects Manager and Dora Beyer, Director of Community Engagement for Excite Credit Union;
Civic Award: Santa Clara Supervisor Cindy Chavez;
Philanthropy Awards: Dr. Terry Winograd and Dr. Carol Winograd; and Destination: Home; and
Volunteer Awards: Portia Neal and Jayesh Goyal.

The Sunday Friends Foundation is a nonprofit organization helping families break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and achieve health equity by activating their internal power and providing resources through a supportive community across multiple generations. By helping families to break the cycle of poverty across generations and achieve health equity, Sunday Friends can help create a more just and equitable society for all.

About the My Own Business Institute

The My Own Business Institute (MOBI) at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business is the world’s leading provider of free online entrepreneurship education. MOBI students and alumni represent all 249 countries and territories recognized by the International Standardization Organization (ISO). MOBI partners with over 100 organizations and institutions around the world to bring free online entrepreneurship education to those who need and want it most. The MOBI curriculum and website are based on the work of Phil Holland, a successful entrepreneur and author of The Entrepreneur’s Guide. MOBI was generously gifted to Santa Clara University in 2014 by Phil and his wife Peggy, an accomplished school teacher and administrator, along with an endowment, valued at $22 million at the time of transfer, to ensure that the organization and its accompanying websites would flourish into the future and continue to support the vital social and economic contributions of small businesses worldwide.

Oct 7, 2024

Sunday Friends Award

Sunday Friends Recognizes MOBI with Kindness Award