Growing Hope award

Honoring the Legacy of Professor Richard “Dick” Ford

Each fall, the Clark University community will present the Growing Hope Award to an outstanding individual who exemplifies the values, work, integrity, and ethics of the late Professor Dick Ford. This award recognizes an individual with strong ties to Clark—whether as faculty, staff, alumni, or student—who carries forward Dick’s mission of community-led, sustainable international development, e.g. the idea that communities themselves are in the best position to understand and address the challenges that they face.

About Professor Dick Ford

• Joined Clark in 1968 after formative work as a visiting professor at the University of Natal, South Africa.
• Co-founded Clark’s International Development, Community, and Environment (IDCE) Department—now called Sustainability and Social Justice—a visionary interdisciplinary department that focuses on training supporting students to work in partnership with communities to solve pressing global problems.
• Pioneered Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) – a bottom-up approach empowering rural and urban communities in Africa, Asia, and the U.S., including Worcester, MA and Lewiston, Maine.
• Believed “the efforts of the few can lift the circumstances of the many.” His work emphasized empowering women and local leadership.
• Remembered personally as “Mutua” in Kenya—“the one who had come to dwell among them”—and admired for his humility and lasting bonds.

Dick’s legacy resonates through generations of Clark students, alumni and community partners around the world, including those working in youth leadership, international development, and grassroots organizing. His vision of participatory development continues to shape the mission and vision of the department of Sustainability and Social Justice and its global network of scholars and development practitioners. 

About the Growing Hope Award

• Purpose: To honor and sustain the spirit of Dick Ford’s life’s work—grounded in participatory development, cross-cultural collaboration, and community empowerment, and to recognize changemakers who are aligned with Dick’s vision of global engagement.
• Eligibility: Individuals with meaningful ties to Clark University (students, alumni, faculty, staff, community partners in the US or abroad) who are working to advance community-driven development, self-reliance, social justice, environmental sustainability, or education. While projects may be based anywhere in the world, special consideration is given to work with international communities—particularly in African countries—reflecting Dick Ford’s lifelong commitment to participatory, locally led change in global contexts. Eligible nominees demonstrate a commitment to approaches that empower communities to define and lead their own solutions.
• Criteria:
  • Demonstrated use of participatory or community-centered approaches that build local capacity and leadership, enabling people to shape their own development priorities and achieve lasting self-reliance.
  • A track record of collaborating with communities that have historically had limited access to resources or voice in shaping their future—including women, youth and diverse cultural groups.”
  • Commitment to sustainable, grassroots-driven change 
  • Embodiment of Dick Ford’s humility, integrity, and global-mindedness.

Award Timeline

• Nominations Open: March 1
• Submission Deadline: May 30
• Selection Committee: Chaired by the Department of Sustainability and Social Justice and the Ford family
• Award Ceremony: Held at Clark each fall—a celebration of hope, community, and legacy. The award winner will be invited to campus to give a Growing Hope talk, interact with students, and attend a celebratory reception.

Call for Nominations

We invite the Clark community—students, alumni, faculty, staff—to help identify exceptional role models whose work reflects Dick Ford’s transformative ethos. To make a nomination, please submit:

1. A nomination letter (maximum 2 pages) outlining how the nominee reflects Dick Ford’s values and legacy.
2. The candidate’s résumé or CV.
3. Supporting documents (publications, project plans, testimonials, etc.)

Please send all materials by May 30.

Growing Hope Award Committee
Email: ssj@clarku.edu
cc: Ellen Foley, Professor and Chair, Department of Sustainability and Social Justice

Keeping the Flame Alive

By celebrating individuals who champion participatory, community-driven change, the Growing Hope Award ensures that Dick Ford’s compassionate approach continues to inspire generations to come.

For questions about the nomination process or award, please contact Ellen Foley or the Department of Sustainability and Social Justice. Alumni are also invited to share personal reflections on Dick Ford’s influence by emailing Professor Foley.