June 13, 2025
The Training Fund’s mission is championed by a team of remarkable individuals who are dedicated not only to serving members, partners, stakeholders, and the community but also to supporting one another. On Friday, February 28th, we celebrated our extraordinary team members with Peer Recognition Awards. We would like to acknowledge the recent recipients and nominees. We are excited to share your accomplishments with everyone. It was an honor to celebrate you all!
Peer Recognition Award Recipients
Grand Peer Recognition Recipient: Bernadette Jackson
I am honored to nominate Bernadette for her unwavering dedication and exceptional contributions to theTraining Fund over the past 20 years. Her relentless efforts to perfect the Nursing program have been instrumental in its success. Bernadette has played a crucial role in fostering the growth and development of countless students, ensuring they receive the highest quality education and support. Bernadette is truly a gem, and her hard work and dedication deserve to be recognized and celebrated. Her commitment goes beyond the ordinary; even on days when she wasn’t feeling her best, Bernadette’s passion for her students drove her to push through and continue her work with grace and determination. Her selflessness and perseverance have made a profound impact on the program and its students.
I am delighted to nominate Bernadette for her outstanding work ethics and invaluable contributions to theDistrict 1199C Training Fund for over 25 years. Bernadette has been a breath of fresh air, especially on days when my workload was overwhelming. Her smile lights up a room, and her willingness to offer assistance or ask how she could help was always welcoming and heartfelt. Her dedication, kindness, and professionalism make Bernadette truly deserving of this nomination. Bernadette has been a pleasure to work with, whether it was grabbing copies off the copier, sharing coffee and laughs, or simply being a supportive colleague. She has always been sweet and dedicated to her work. Bernadette speaks highly of her students and loves working with them, which is evident in her daily interactions.
She always had positive work ethics and outcomes. She is analytical and take her work serious in making sure it’s within compliance with the program and the state policies. She’s passionate about the youth/students she served throughout the years.
I’m nominating Bernadette due to her continued and long-standing dedication to her students, staff and stakeholders.
Bernadette and I have worked together for almost a quarter of a century. I thank her, for always helping/supporting over these years. It has been an amazing experience working with Bernadette. She is professional, kind, understanding, compassionate, and reliable. She is over all a beautiful person inside and out. Her dedication to helping the students succeed is wonderful. Thank you again for always supporting me.
The amount of things she has to juggle as a leader and teammate to keep things moving like a machine. There’s always time to hear an idea and get a well thought out plan of action with accommodation.
She has demonstrated outstanding leadership, commitment and selfless service to the Training Fund as well as her department. This agency benefitted from her perseverance during the pandemic! She was one of the few required to come downtown daily to help meet her department’s and this agency’s goals to remain open. The number of nursing students who have prospered through her department is considerable large; not to mention those patients who 1199c nurses have served. For approximately 20 years, Bernadette Jackson has been amain cornerstone of this agency!
Grand Recognition Recipient: Lily Applebaum
Lily is always a breath of fresh air and the epitome of hard work, dedication and advocacy. She is empowering and gentile yet such a strong leader! Her work ethic and moral compass is impeccable. And I would love to nominate Lily A.
She contributes a lot through excellence in teaching, guiding other instructors, community involvement, demonstrates amazing and engaging methods that improve not only students’ skills but their lives by providing them opportunity to grow.
Lily demonstrates wonderful leadership and dedication as a Head Teacher. Her commitment to the instructional team during and outside work hours is to be commended. She consistently makes time to help others and does it with a smile.
Leadership/DedicationFor her outstanding contribution of encouragement and respect to the growth and education enrichment to her students. Lily is their greatest Cheerleader!! Lily is a real team worker who strives to make a difference in our team. Lily is a shining light in our department.
Lily is a team player and is always looking for ways to help improve our program and student enrollment.
Thoughtful and insightful. She does a lot to make sure that everyone she works with gets what they need and isa great support.
Kindness Matters: Thanks for the snacks in the Staff Pantry!
Top Recognition Recipients:
Pictured L to R: Jennifer Herrmann; Executive Director, Lily Applebaum, Sean Choi, Michele Alexander, Traci Kinsler, Den’Nisha Dubose, Helen Wilkes, Nettie Minus, Stacey Campbell
Den’Nisha DuBose
Den’Nisha Dubose just may beat me in a “passion for programming” competition. She loves what she does, and gives the families such a pleasant encounter as she turns over every stone possible hoping that they agreeable. Despite so much adversity this year…she shows up and she is always always finds a way to pour into that’s more filled than her own.
Den’Nisha is being nominated for her exceptional contributions to the Early Head Start program. She has worked alongside different departments at T&U to build healthy relationships with new parents, providing much-needed support to those in need of care for their children. Den’Nisha has also assisted families of students attending ESL classes and the nurse aide program, always taking the time to answer any questions about childcare with a warm smile.
Always willing to help even outside of her jurisdiction.
Den’Nisha’s dedication extends beyond her immediate responsibilities. She frequently suggests ways to make our office environment more welcoming, and I am excited to see some of her plans come to fruition. Her commitment to creating a supportive and friendly atmosphere is truly commendable. Den’Nisha’s hard work and positive attitude is why I would like to nominate her as a candidate for peer recognition.
Moves like a boss and puts in a great deal of work in spite of the challenges. The scope of things she accomplishes in a day is outstanding.
I would like to nominate Den’Nisha as my peer for her exceptional dedication and helpfulness around the office. She consistently goes out of her way to assist, whether it’s helping students sign in when no one is at the front door, refilling paper in the copying room, or simply offering a warm smile. Den’Nisha is always working diligently, moving from her office to the printer, and still finds time to say something nice to everyone and check on colleagues she hasn’t seen in a while. Her compassion was especially evident during the recent plane crash incident. Den’Nisha took the initiative to make calls and send emails to staff members she knew lived in the area or close by, ensuring their safety and well-being. Her kindness and dedication to her colleagues make her a truly deserving candidate for this nomination.
Michele Alexander
Michele holds the office down! She did a great job organizing our resource room, is always willing to help and greets us every day with a smile.
Michelle works is committed to serving the Union Members and community members. She is a person dedicated to her job and becoming proficient in all aspects of our institution, taking opportunities for professional development seriously.
Michele is absolutely wonderful! She gets the job done. Whenever I need something she’s always there to help.
Stacey Campbell
Stacy Campbell was specially recruited by the founder and president of District 1199C over 20 years ago and has been on fire for the Training Fund. The many challenges that occur when dealing with the reimbursement funds that our union members request is ongoing. Goes above and beyond! For all these years, StacyCampbell, similar to the mathematical women in the film: Hidden Figures, has truly been one of this agency’s unsung heroes.
She is very knowledgeable and experienced. She is also supportive and gives helpful advice.
A wealth of knowledge and experience. Fierce dedication to the organization and it’s mission to provide the best experience to everyone that comes to the Training Fund.
Sean Choi
Sean goes above and beyond to help out beyond his role and always with a positive attitude! He’s able to transition so quickly from working 1:1 with his students to admin tasks to helping others. Great to have you on the team, Sean!
Very dedicated to this organization as well as his professional responsibilities – Extremely knowledgeable and skilled with his delivery when instructing math class – Fluently speaks more than one language – Very optimistically interacts with the staff and our patrons – Has a wealth professional and personal experiences that he willingly shares when applicable with staff and/or students – Sean takes the initiative to go above and beyond his job description. He’s extremely upbeat and his pleasantness is contagious!
Has gone above and beyond to support his colleagues, new volunteers and contribute to team success.
Nettie Minus
Willing to help in crunch time!
I can always count on Nettie whenever I have a question or need something in a crunch from finance. She is kind, dependable, and clutch!
She pays the BILLS!
Traci Kinsler
How she tackles challenges and works hard to make sure everything gets accomplished and ready to go to keep thing moving smoothly.
Traci has been and continues to be one of the key figures of the Training Fund’s nursing program. Traci sets the tone of how serious all classes are and will continue to be. As the new students apply to the nursing program,Traci’s influence and presence tells them that they have just become a part of a no-nonsense program that gets results! They know that much is expected of them and we’ll work with you to meet your goals. Tracy was also one of the few staff members that had to come into The Land Title Building daily during the COVID19 pandemic.
I would like to nominate Traci Kinsler for her diligent work with enrolling and processing information for the Nursing students and the support of the Philadelphia Eagles! Traci brings forth unity in the office with her morning coffee mug, smile, jokes, and love for the Eagles. What a beautiful combination! We Love Traci!
Helen Wilkes
Helen is always looking for ways to improve office culture. She initiated and coordinated the holiday gift exchange, and it was such a fun time watching everyone enjoying and engaging in the exchange game excitement!
Kindness Matters: Thanks for putting together the Pollyanna & leaving the cute notes & sweet treats on our desks!
Do you believe in unicorns? We do! Helen is the sweetest most outgoing people we have at T&U. Helen is very thoughtful and a Team player. Helen came up with the idea of the Holiday Exchange idea which was a great success. Helen also passed out individual Valentine’s Day notes for staff with delicious chocolate attached that warmed many hearts. Helen is a gem, and I can’t wait to work with her on some additional ideas to boost the moral around the office. Thanks Helen
Special Recognition
The following have all been selected by your peers for special recognition. Thank you for your commitment and positiveimpact on our team! Your efforts have not gone unnoticed!
Yuliia Andriiash
Mike Boesz
Nikia Brown
Kai Davis
Jennifer Herrmann
Michelle Heyward-Ramsey
Yael Johnson
Russon Joseph
Kim Lucas
Geniya Merriweather
JoAnn Miller
Shona Murphy
Vince Robinson
Shatera Smith
Nafeesah Taylor
ShaRon Taylor
Michael Westover
Francyne Wharton
Stean Wilborn
Valda Xavier
The Staff of the Training Fund
Service Award Recipients
5 Years of Service: ShaRon Taylor
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