Superstar Foundation Awards Inaugural Grants to Top Performing Human Service Professionals

Cash Awarded to Three Social Service Superstars


BALTIMORE, MD--(Marketwire - December 17, 2008) - The Superstar Foundation, the first nonprofit organization to specifically seek out, recognize and reward the highest-performing social service workers in America, announced today the inaugural recipients of its grant program. Three social services Superstars have each been awarded $2,000 grants in recognition of their commitment to delivering measurable results and demonstrating that their efforts had a quantifiable impact on the success of their organizations and their constituents.

The three 'Superstar' social service professionals are:

--  Mary Anne Iorio; Senior Therapist, Catholic Family Services; St Louis,
    MO
    
--  Minoo Kampalath; Intensive - HIV Case Manager, Community Health
    Awareness Group; Detroit, MI
    
--  Luis Oyola; Youth Development Specialist, Our Piece of the Pie;
    Hartford, CT
    

"This award is an honor," said Kampalath. "I don't go to work expecting this type of recognition, all I need is just a thank you from a client to keep me going. It's an honor to be recognized in this way for what I feel is my duty -- it's really all about trying to do good work for my clients."

"Mary Anne, Minoo, and Luis are true superstars in the field of human service. It's clear that the work they are doing is making a positive difference in their communities because they have the evidence to prove it," said Steve Butz, executive director of the Superstar Foundation and Founder and President of Social Solutions, a leading provider of performance management software for the social services sector. "Their focus on measuring efforts, tracking outcomes and improving performance is a fantastic example for their peers and the social services sector to follow. We applaud their achievements and expect they will be role models to many others."

The Superstar Foundation recognizes the best social service professionals with Veronica Grants, named in memory of Steve's mother, whose dream was to work in the social services field but, as a wife and mother of five, was not able to fulfill that desire.

Nominations were judged by a panel of industry experts, who selected winners across the following five service categories:

--  Youth Development
--  After School / Out-of-School Youth Services
--  Adult Men's Services
--  Adult Women's Services
--  Family Services
    

Although the Superstar Foundation originally intended to award five social service professionals with grants, due to the applicants' ability to meet award qualifications, only three winners were selected.

Efforts to raise additional funding for the Superstar Foundation endowment are underway so that the program can be expanded to offer between 20 - 30 grants valued at $10,000 each. The Superstar Foundation's goal is for the awarding of the Veronica Grants to become a nationally recognized event within the nonprofit community that highlights the issue of performance management within the sector and honors the achievements of outstanding point-of-service social services professionals who demonstrate excellence in delivering measurable, positive services for their organizations and constituents.

More details about the Superstar Foundation and the grant recipients can be found at www.superstarfoundation.org.

About the Superstar Foundation™:

The Superstar Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and rewarding top performing social work professionals from effective organizations. It was developed and launched in 2008 by Steve Butz, founder and president of Social Solutions. Committed to improving the social services industry, Steve's vision is to empower organizations to make sure they are making a difference and help them to retain top talent so that they can grow and further benefit the people they service.

The Superstar Foundation: Great Pay for Great Social Service Workers Doing Great Work.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Melissa Chotiner DBC PR+New Media (202) 292-4572 melissa@dbcpr.com