Delaware Business Times unveils 2024 Mitchell Award class

The Delaware Business Times is excited to announce the second class of the Mitchell Awards, individuals in the First State who have demonstrated leadership and success in building bridges between communities despite race, gender and social status.

Named for the late Delaware civil rights pioneers Littleton and Jane Mitchell, the Mitchell Awards showcase those who are championing efforts to educate, inspire and impact communities across the state. This award is intended for those who work tirelessly to create opportunities for all Delawareans.

The late Mitchells had a long history in working for equal rights in Delaware through a difficult period in the state’s history, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case that desegregated all American schools.

Nominations were open to the public with final honorees chosen by the Mitchell Awards Committee officials after considering each application.

“Throughout this process, I have been in awe of the stories of Delawareans that put in the work in our communities throughout the state, be it through their work with nonprofits or other advocacy work,” Delaware Business Times Editor Katie Tabeling said. “I’m proud to announce this class of Mitchell Award winners that has touched many people’s lives in various ways.”

The annual awards program will recognize a handful of advocates with coverage in an October edition of Delaware Business Times. They will also be honored at a special event on Oct. 17 at the White Clay Creek Country Club.

The 2024 honorees include:

Charlotte King

Charlotte King

With a storied career in advocating for improved child welfare and being on the front line of the AIDS crisis, Charlotte King came to Delaware to retire in 2000. Instead, she found a second career in activism after accepting a job with Delaware Guidance Services and serving on the board of many organizations such as the League of Women Voters.

In 2015, she founded the Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice after seeing a need to connect people with various backgrounds in Sussex County and to eradicate racism. Under her leadership as the organization’s chair, the SDARJ offered scholarships to Black students, held monthly meetings to address societal problems and served as a voice on prison reform. She has recently stepped down as the organization’s chair after eight years of service.

Rep. Esthelda “Stell” Parker Selby

Estella Parker Selby | PHOTO COURTESY OF DELAWARE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Born in Milford and raised in Lewes, Stell Parker Selby attended segregated schools in her childhood. After earning a degree from Delaware State University, she was hired as a full-time teacher in the Cape Henlopen School District in 1970. There, she worked her way into several administrative roles, including administrator in the Departments of Human Resources and Community Services, Mentoring, and School Climate Issues in the Cape Henlopen School District.

After her retirement, Selby was elected to a five-year term to the Cape Henlopen school board and later served on the Milton town council before running for the House of Representatives where she still serves today.

Selby has also served on boards of various organizations, such as the Sussex YMCA Board of Managers, the American Red Cross of the Delmarva Peninsula, Beebe Medical Center Board and many others.

Virginia Forcucci | PHOTO COURTESY OF VIRGINIA FORCUCCI

Virginia Forcucci

Virginia Forcucci spent 25 years teaching English in southern Delaware schools. In 2018, she was honored for her work at Sussex Technical High School by being named Delaware’s Teacher of the Year, particularly for using literature to overturn perspectives.

Today, Forcucci now has branched out on her own with Summerfield Consulting, to work with nonprofits in the region to provide the same student-centered work she focused on when she was in the classroom. Clients include Pathways to Success, where she is working to create a program to prepare educators to be culturally responsive, as well as state schools to rethink career and technical education for middle school students through an equity lens.

Mary Roth

Mary Roth | PHOTO COURTESY OF MARY ROTH

As the executive director of the nonprofit Delaware Greenways, Mary Roth is the driving force behind many iconic trails and paths that work to connect many Delawareans with nature. In the past nine years, she has worked to establish iconic trails and protect green open spaces for all to enjoy. With Roth’s advocacy, Delaware Greenways has partnered with many state and county agencies as well as other organizations to support hundreds of miles of trails and byways.

Among key initiatives she has taken on, Roth was instrumental in updating the Brandywine Valley National Scenic Byway Corridor Management Plan, which set a vision for the next decade for preservation in the historic corridor. She also successfully advocated to make the Delaware Bayshore Byway, which runs on roads following the Delaware Bay from New Castle to Lewes, as a national byway.

Darryl Chambers | PHOTO COURTESY OF CENTER FOR STRUCTURAL EQUITY

Darryl Chambers

From the Riverside neighborhood of Wilmington, Darryl Chambers has spent countless years working to address violence in the city. It’s a cause that hits close to home as his own son was killed in 2011. With a master’s degree in criminology, Chambers became a valued community leader over the years, actively participating in several Delaware criminal justice reform commissions and initiatives like the Wilmington Street Participatory Action Research Project and the Community Intervention Team.

Inspired by that work, he started his own organization: the Center for Structural Equity. The organization relies on members who have social capital and lived experience to make a difference to the Black and brown communities and work to address violence in Wilmington.

Stephanie DiMartine

Stephanie DiMartine | PHOTO COURTESY OF STEPHANIE DIMARTINE

As the special events manager of Children & Families First, Stephanie DiMartine has focused on creating impactful events and large-scale fundraisers to fuel the organization’s mission of fostering safe environments for Delaware’s children. In her first year of planning events for the organization in 2022, she helped raise $70,000.

Outside of the office, she has used her coordination skills to help fundraise for several other initiatives, most notably for the Special Olympics Delaware. That includes raising more than $100,000 over the past five years. In her free time, she coaches bocce and basketball for the Special Olympics Delaware.