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 This year, the Community Foundation decided to begin
awarding two Philanthropist awards – one for Bloomington-Normal and
the other for outside the Twin Cities (other parts of McLean County,
plus DeWitt, Logan and Livingston counties).
The criteria for the award are: outstanding civic responsibility
through philanthropic efforts; serving in leadership roles,
providing vision and the ability to involve others in philanthropic
activity; and voluntary commitment of time and contributions of
financial resources. Current IPCF board members and staff are not
eligible to be nominated.
Arthur and Camille Taylor
The Taylors of Bloomington have done so much for our local community
over many years working tirelessly as community leaders.
Both have been instrumental in fighting racism in the Twin Cities.
Arthur has been actively working to increase communication and
transparency between the community and the police through his work
as immediate past chair and current member of the Public Safety and
Community Relations Board, a civilian review board established by
Bloomington’s City Council. Camille has a nearly 20-year involvement
with Not in Our Town, whose mission is to stop hate, address
bullying and make a safe, more inclusive community. The organization
has worked within the communities of Bloomington and Normal to
foster an appreciation of all marginalized groups, raise awareness
and work for social justice. Camille is Co-Chair of the NIOT
Steering Committee and Not in Our Schools, which she helped launch
in 2015.
Both Taylors have worked tirelessly on improving race relations
locally, leading trainings, serving on panels, attending workshops
and presenting on the topic to various social groups. Arthur has
been called a “social justice warrior”; Camille has a passion for
equality and celebrating diversity.
Arthur retired in 2017 from State Farm Insurance Cos., where he
worked in various positions as an Auto Claims Representative, Staff
Assistant in Subrogation, Director of Diversity and Inclusion for
Claims Services, and as a manager over employees in 16 states. Prior
to working at State Farm, Arthur had worked for 22 years at national
retail chains including Sears, Target, Best Buy and Circuit City in
sales and managerial capacities.
Camille retired in 2012 after 35 years with Normal Unit 5 School
District, where she taught in the elementary and junior high levels
as a self-contained and itinerant special education teacher,
Positive Life Skills Teacher and an At-Risk Interventionist. Camille
was a counselor during her last 12 years at Normal Community High
School. While with Unit 5, she was president of the Unit 5 Education
Association and chief negotiator for UFEA. She taught evening
classes as an ISU non-tenured track faculty member in the Special
Education and Curriculum and Instruction Departments.
Both are members, elders and past Deacons of First Christian Church
in Bloomington, where Arthur was past congregation president and was
named Honored Servant. Camille serves as greeter and works with
children’s programs. They both are volunteers for the Bloomington
Center for the Performing Arts. She also served as a consultant with
the development of Illinois Prairie Community Foundation’s Youth
Engaged in Philanthropy program.
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Arthur served on the selection committee for the
recently retired Bloomington Police Chief. He is the recipient of
the Alpha Omicron Pi Outstanding Community Service Award. Camille is
an active member of the McLean County League of Women Voters and has
served on its board, as well as the board of The Baby Fold. She is a
past board member of the YWCA, and chairs its Foundation Board and
the WINGS Award program.
Camille was named 2001 YWCA Woman of Distinction for
Education and was inducted into the Illinois State University
Division of Student Affairs Steve and Sandi Adams Legacy Hall of
Fame. She received the ISU College of Education Distinguished Alumni
Award, League of Women Voters Diversity and Inclusion Award, and
City of Bloomington’s Martin Luther King Jr. Award.
Susan Hoblit
Hoblit of Atlanta demonstrates the traits of being a philanthropist,
deeply benefiting her hometown of Atlanta, Logan County and all of
Central Illinois.
She helped create and has been actively involved in the Endow
Atlanta Fund at IPCF, which has provided thousands of dollars for
local projects in Atlanta for the last 10 years. This fund has been
a model for other rural development endowments and Hoblit has served
as a willing spokesperson for how to revitalize rural small
communities.
Hoblit currently serves as Chair of the Board of Lincoln College and
has served as a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for children
since 1998. She helped found the Baby Fold’s Festival of Trees and
co-chaired the event from 1994-99. She served on the Baby Fold Board
of Directors from 2000-08 and IPCF Board of Directors from
2010-2018, serving as President of the Board her last two years.
She was instrumental in re-starting the Atlanta Community Band and
has continued to play in it for 29 years. Hoblit also started a
flower planting group, The Flower Buds, which maintains 40
containers of flowers in downtown Atlanta each summer. She has given
generously to Endow Atlanta and has created two endowed scholarships
at Illinois State University and one at Lincoln College.
Hoblit comes from a long line of philanthropists. Her ancestors
arrived in America in 1746 and came west to Illinois as pioneers,
homesteading on a land grant in what would later become Logan
County. Once Atlanta was established in 1853, the Hoblits served as
bankers, farmers, carpenters and public service volunteers. In the
1940s, the Hoblit family established the Hoblit Seed Company, which
served local farmers for more than 50 years. “It is my privilege to
be the seventh generation of my family to live in and serve
Atlanta,” she said.
A morning workshop for staff, board members and volunteers of
nonprofits entitled “Building Resilience and Opportunities for
Innovation” will be held from 9-11:30 a.m. Nov. 19 via Zoom. For
more information or to register, visit www.ilprairiecf.org-celebrating-local-philanthropy,
or IPCF at 309-662-4477.
[Michele Evans
Grants & Communications Director
Illinois Prairie Community Foundation] |
