NCJW Sacramento Impact Awards

Please join us for brunch and a celebration honoring three inspiring women who have transformed the lives of women and children in Sacramento and beyond.

Location, ticket prices, and sponsorship opportunities to follow.

Hannah G. Solomon Award Recipient:

Liz Igra, Founder, Central Valley Holocaust Education Network

Women of Valor Award Recipients:

Lisa Culp, Executive Director, Women’s Empowerment

Nilda Valmores, Longtime Executive Director of My Sister’s House

Hannah G. Solomon Award

Liz Igra, Founder, Central Valley Holocaust Education Network
Elizabeth “Liz” Igra was born in 1935 in Krakow, Poland. During World War II, she walked with her mother from Poland to Czechoslovakia and then to Hungary, where they went into hiding until the war ended. Many members of her family were killed during the Holocaust. After the war, Liz resettled in the United States. In 1977, she earned a bachelor’s degree in education with honors from Sacramento State, and in 1987 she earned a master’s of science in educational administration. In 1979, she helped found and taught at Shalom School, Sacramento’s Jewish Day School. She dedicated her career to education, teaching in the Elk Grove Unified School District for decades, and sharing her expertise in the education of future teachers. Liz works tirelessly to teach others about the causes of genocide and the fragility of democracy and to fighting antisemitism. In 2009, she founded the Central Valley Holocaust Educators’ Network (CVHEN), whose mission is to support teachers “in effectively implementing a Holocaust curriculum that meets California Social Studies and Language Arts Standards”. CVHEN connects Holocaust experts to area schools and community organizations to speak about their experiences. These stories ensure that we do not forget the horrible events of the Holocaust, and help to illuminate its effect on subsequent generations.

Women of Valor Awards

Lisa Culp, Executive Director, Women’s Empowerment
By age 13, Lisa Culp knew she wanted to make a difference in the community and did so by helping those who founded Sacramento Loaves & Fishes bring food to people experiencing homelessness. A long-time activist and voice for justice and human rights, Lisa spent 10 years working in Nicaragua with children orphaned by the Contra war and with microloan projects for women. When she returned to the United States, she continued working with those struggling to survive by creating various programs with Sacramento Loaves & Fishes and Sacramento Cottage Housing.

One of the projects Lisa designed grew into the nonprofit Women’s Empowerment (WE), which Lisa still leads today. WE educates and empowers women who are homeless in Sacramento with the skills and confidence necessary to secure a job, create a healthy lifestyle, and regain a home for themselves and their children. Since its founding 23 years ago, more than 1,800 women once homeless have graduated from WE with their 4,000 children.

Lisa is a member of the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency Community Action Board and the Sacramento Women’s Commission. She studied at UCLA and University of Grenoble in France and received her bachelor’s degree from UC Davis.

Nilda Valmores, Longtime Executive Director of My Sister’s House
Nilda Valmores’ person mission is to create a better future for all children. For over 30 years, Nilda has worked with non-profit organizations on a statewide and local level addressing issues affecting children and the poor, in the education, social services, and housing arenas.

Nilda operated My Sister’s House, the Central Valley’s only shelter for abused Asian / Pacific Islander women and children for close to 18 years. She was the only Filipina Executive Director of more than 100 domestic violence shelters during her tenure.

My Sister’s House helps Filipinas and other Asian/Pacific Islander and other underserved communities’ victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking by operating a 24/7 multi-lingual help line, two emergency shelters (including a unique one for Muslim women) and two transitional shelters, legal services, counseling and a job training program which includes My Sister’s Café and My Sister’s House Treasures.

A graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and Loyola Marymount University, Nilda recently became Sierra Health Foundation’s Senior Program Officer for its Stop the Hate grant.

She currently serves as the President of the Soroptimist of Sacramento and is also a Friend of the Sacramento Women’s Commission.