Over 230 people joined in celebrating Hopewell Center’s silver anniversary on Thursday, October 27, 2005, in the Crystal Ballroom of the Renaissance Grand Hotel downtown. 

The Hopewell Awards for Service in Mental Health are given to honor individuals that have made significant contributions to the mental health field. The honorees were:

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Kathy Carter,    the Chief Executive Officer of the Missouri Coalition of Community Mental Health Centers, which is comprised of a statewide network of comprehensive community mental health centers, as well as substance abuse treatment programs.

The Outstanding Advocate and Educator Award was presented to Jim House, Executive Director of the Mental Health Association of Greater St. Louis.  He has spent his entire career working to educate the public about mental illness and the needs for services and to reduce the stigma of mental illness. 

The Outstanding Volunteer Award was presented to Charles Saulsberry, who has generously shared his time and talents with Hopewell for over 12 years.  He has served as Chair of the Board and is currently the Treasurer of the Board. He serves as Interim Chief Executive Officer of the St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable as an executive on loan from his law firm, Saulsberry & Associates, LLC.

Virgina H. Beard, Ph.D., was a psychologist, educator and administrator.  She served as director of clinical services at Hopewell Center and later on the Board of Directors for Hopewell Center.

The Dr. Virginia H. Beard Award was presented to Robert L. Williams, Ph.D., who developed the “Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity” and several other culturally specific tests.  He has published over 60 professional articles and three books:

Ebonics: The True Language of Black Folks, 1975; The Collective Black Mind: Toward An Afrocentric Theory Of The Black Personality, 1981; and Racism at an Early Age.

Dr. Williams has been a guest on several national television programs relating to IQ testing including: CBS’s “IQ Myth” with Dan Rather, Prime Time Saturday Night, The Phil Donohue Show and The Montel Williams Show. Most recently he appeared on Black Entertainment Television (BET) and NBC News to discuss the controversial topic of “EBONICS,” a term he coined in 1973.  His works were also used for one of the Good Times TV programs. From 1970-1992 he was employed as Full Professor of Psychology and African and African-American Studies at Washington University.  During his tenure, Dr. Williams trained hundreds of African Americans to work in the mental health field.  He developed the Black Studies Department at Washington University and served as its first Director. He retired from Washington University and is now Professor Emeritus.