Mountaintop Awardees
2026
Community
Dr. Natalie Ellington
Founder, Director of Eileen and Callie’s Place
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Dr. Ellington is a collaborative leader, coach/mentor, educator and nonprofit leader with over fifteen years of post-secondary experience. As the Executive Director of Eileen & Callie’s Place (ECP), she leads a mentoring program for young women impacted by the foster care system, connecting them to resources and services in the context of long-term relationships that help them successfully transition to self-sufficiency.
Dr. Ellington donates her time, money, energy and resources to an array of community organizations and is active in the community above and beyond what her role at ECP requires, making her an asset and a model leader in our community.
Education
Delbert Richardson
Founder, Curator of the American History Traveling Museum: The Unspoken Truths
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Mr. Delbert Richardson is a Community Scholar, Ethnomuseumologist, and Second-Generation Storyteller, of the “Unspoken Truths”: National Award-Winning American History Traveling Museum. With the use of authentic artifacts, storyboards, and the ancient art of "storytelling", Mr. Richardson teaches "American History" through an Afrocentric lens. His work is broken into four sections: Mother Africa: which focuses on the many contributions by Africans in the area of science, technology engineering, art, and mathematics (S.T.E.A.M.), American Chattel Slavery: the brutal treatment and psychological impacts on African Americans of the Diaspora, The Jim Crow Era: The racial caste system that focused on the creation and enforcement of legalized segregation, and Still We Rise: which focuses on the many contributions in the Americas; Black inventors/inventions.
Richardson's work is primarily geared towards k-12th grade students as well as professional development training.
Awards:
2013 National Campus Compact Newman Fellows Award
2017 National Education Assoc. (NEA) Human and Civil Rights Award
2019 Seattle Mayor Arts Award
2019 Seattle Crosscut Courage in Culture Award
2020 Assoc. of King County Org. (AKCHO) Heritage Education Award
2020 National Marquis Who's Who Award
2021 Governor's Arts & Heritage "spotlight" Award
2021 Kwanzaa "Imani" award
2021 Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) Educator of The Year
2022 Seattle Public Schools Dept. of Racial Equity Advancement (DREA) Outstanding Educator Award
2023 Sri Chinmoy Oneness-home Peace Run Award
2023 Certificate of Achievement/Cultural Space Agency
2024 WASA (Wash. Assoc. of School Administrators) Certificate OF Merit
2024 PSESD (Puget Sound Ed. Service Dept) Transformational Partner Leadership Award
Business
Donald I. King, FAIA
Co-Founder and Sr. Project Director of the Nehemiah Initiative Seattle
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Donald I King, FAIA is an architect, planner and educator with over 50 years of professional
experience in the practice areas of architectural design, community planning and project
management. He has specialized expertise in urban design and planning, design of communitybased projects, healthcare facilities, educational facilities, affordable family housing and special
needs housing. He is a co-founder of the Nehemiah Initiative Seattle and is currently the Sr.
Project Director. Donald King is an Affiliate Professor of Architecture at the University of
Washington’s College of Built Environments.
2025
Community
Isiah Anderson, Jr.
Founder and Artistic Director
Acts on Stage| Leader at BUILD 206 - Brothers United
Education
A.C.E Academy Leadership Team
Clarence Dancer, Jr., Marcus Harden, Willie Seals, III
A.C.E. Academy
Business
Roger Rieger
President
The Tudor Foundation
2024
Community
Derrick Wheeler Smith
Director of Office For Civil Rights | City of Seattle
Education
Dr. Dwane Chappelle
Department Director at City of Seattle Department of Education and Early Learning
Lifetime Service
Eddie Rye Jr.
Community Leader/Activist Urban Forum Northwest
2023
Community
Violet Lavatai
Executive Director of the Tenants Union of WA
Business
Molly Moon Neitzel
Founder and CEO of Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream
Education
Charlett Shoecaft
Founder and Executive Director of Empowering Youth and Family Outreach
Lifetime Service
Rev. Allen A. Belton
1939-2022
