Sample Achievement Award Essay

Tom Miller Advocacy Award Nomination

Jenny Doe, Organization X

Jenny Doe is a champion for herself, her team members, and others with disabilities in her community. She joined Organization X in 2015 as a custodial team member and always puts in 110%. Her work ethic is second to none, and she is a true leader when it comes to her advocacy for workplace equity and inclusion here at Organization X, in our community, and with our members of Congress. 

"Jenny is an advocate through and through," says Organization X CEO John Jones. "She helps her co-workers advocate for themselves in the workplace, and she empowers them to go well beyond that and to advocate for positive policy changes on the local, state, and national levels."

At Organization X, Jenny's passion for advocating for people with disabilities really shines through. She has always been a strong advocate for herself on the job, and seeing what a difference this has made to her success, she now helps others advocate for themselves as well. She reaches out to other employees and teaches them how to communicate their needs to their supervisors in terms of accommodations and training they think will help them be successful. 

Jenny's supervisor saw the success she was having with other employees, and in 2021, she asked her if she would be interested in starting an employee advocacy group and taking on advocacy in a bigger way. Jenny was thrilled at having the opportunity to expand her impact and accepted the promotion to Employee Advocate Specialist. In this role, Jenny works more closely with employees to help them achieve their goals. This includes hosting weekly workshops on self-advocacy, publishing a monthly newsletter focused on self-advocacy, and helping Organization X leaders plan events with, and outreach to, elected officials. 

Jenny's weekly workshops are a highlight for employees, and managers have seen a positive increase in self-advocacy among their employees. We collected various quotes from employees (attached as a supporting document) to give you a personal flavor of how the workshops resonate with them. This document also includes quotes from managers about how the knowledge and tips shared in the workshops have had an impact in the workplace. 

We've also attached an example of Jenny's monthly newsletter as a supporting document. As you can see, it features an employee with a disability at Organization X who is living our mission, key points about upcoming advocacy opportunities, policy issues in the spotlight, tips for telling your story to policymakers, and more. When we meet with elected officials, we make sure to have extra newsletters on hand to share!

This past year, we invited our member of Congress for a tour of our facility. We asked Jenny to help us lead the tour and share some thoughts with Congressman Z on her experience as an employee with a disability working at our organization. Her passion for her job and her teammates was evident during that tour, and it's thanks in part to her that we were able to recruit Congressman Z as a new AbilityOne Congressional Champion. That passion for advocacy was also on display at last year's Grassroots Advocacy Conference in Washington, DC. Jenny was a member of our team and made her mark in Washington with her compelling personal story and ability to connect with policymakers and their staff. 

Jenny's hard work in this area has not gone unnoticed. Our governor recently presented her with the Citizen Leadership Award for her work on behalf of employees with disabilities in our state. A photo of the award presentation is attached as a supporting document. 

Not content to sit back and rest on her many successes, Jenny continues to think of innovative ways to expand her impact with advocacy – whether it's securing inspirational and informative guest speakers for her workshops; sending out invitations to the mayor, state senators, or others to come see the great work we’re doing; or something else entirely – you know that when Jenny is on the advocacy track, positive change is on the way. 

Jenny lives with diabetes and knows the challenges of living with a disability, but she's never let it hold her back. She truly is a champion for the disability community and an ideal fit for the Tom Miller Advocacy Award. She consistently demonstrates outstanding achievement and remarkable passion for advocacy on the local, state, and national level, and we're honored to have her as a member of our team.