Parkersburg, W.Va. – (November 4, 2020) – “A family legacy typically takes generations to build,” said Dr. Chris Gilmer, WVU Parkersburg president and founder of the National Institutes for Historically-Underserved Students.

The Donato-Sapp family will be honored with this year’s Generations Award during the National Institutes for Historically-Underserved Students Think Tank 2020 closing ceremony. The closing ceremony will take place Saturday, November 7, at 11 a.m., and be streamed live on WVU Parkersburg’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

The Generations Award is given annually to multiple generations of the same family working to promote equity and inclusion. Educators, artists, activists and writers, Erwin, Jeff and Helena Donato-Sapp, use their talents to bring individuals of diverse backgrounds together to do as such.

“This year, the advisory council of the National Institutes is delighted to add the Donato-Sapp Family of California to the distinguished list of recipients of our Generations Award,” Gilmer said. “Two gay men of different races came together to build a family with an African-American daughter and have faced incredible odds in gaining respect for their family structure, and yet they have bravely blazed a trail for other people to define the term ‘family’ in many different ways.”

Gilmer continues, “Families represent love, and I have witnessed no greater love than these three have for each other. Their willingness to live their lives proudly in the light of day and their commitment to lift Helena up to reach her fullest potential is truly inspiring.”

Erwin arrived in the United States from the Philippines at the age of 12 in 1984. His identity and experiences as an immigrant shape much of his worldview. He has degrees in negotiation, conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

Jeff is a professor of Education at California State University – Dominquez Hills. He writes curriculum for major organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, Civil Rights Memorial Museum, Simon Wiesenthal Center and Go for Broke National Education Center.

Helena, age 11, is an accomplished writer and artist with works in several national collections, including part of a mural project at the Brown v. Board of Education historical site in Topeka, Ka. She also has two published chapters in “Queer Families: An LGBTQ+ True Stories Anthology.” A second book, “Black Girls: Patchwork Stories of Remembrance, Resistance, and Reliance,” is in the works.

“Jeff is a son of West Virginia and still has strong family ties to our community,” Gilmer said. “I know that the many family members and friends the Donato-Sapps have in West Virginia are proud to share this moment with them, and the family and friends they have nationally and around the world are cheering with them as well.”

Former Generations Award recipients include the family of the Honorable Constance Slaughter-Harvey, Esquire, the first African-American judge in the State of Mississippi, noted attorney and Civil Rights icon; the family of Dr. Lionel Bordeaux, Sinte Gleska University president and the longest-serving American university president inducted into the inaugural class of the National Native American Hall of Fame; and the family of Anna Maria Pacheco, the matriarch of a prominent Colorado family who has spent her life as an advocate for human dignity and educational attainment.

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