'Difference Makers' named to receive 2022 gala honors

ELYRIA — Four individuals and one organization will be honored Feb. 18 at the Difference Makers Gala and Excellence in Leadership Awards Ceremony. The event will be held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic "with all intent to celebrate those who are continuously making a difference in our community," according to Leadership Lorain County. • Honoree Jon Veard is president of United Property Management Co. Formed in November 1970, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary in May. In its first decade of operation, United took over 68 properties that had significant problems and were losing money. Now it owns and manages 78 rental projects in 42 cities and nine states, including more than 5,400 housing units. Through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development program, Veard has invested in more than 40 real estate partnerships involving multifamily housing, totaling up to $50 million in development. He won an award from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1986 for the $2 million rehabilitation of the old Antlers Hotel in Lorain, and another award for restoring the Steiner-McBride Apartments in Lima. And his renovation of the historic Duane Building in Lorain was named best of state by the Ohio Historical Society. He was recently awarded for the $1 million development of 36 units in Mineral Wells, West Virginia. • Honoree Wendy Caldwell is CEO of Place to Recover, a training and resource center in Elyria. She is a licensed chemical dependency counselor and qualified substance abuse professional, and has provided workshops for women in transitional housing at the Elyria YWCA and later with the WE3 collaborative. From 2010 to 2016, Caldwell co-owned Professional Integrity Consulting and Training, which conducted intervention services for first time intoxicated driving offenders. Less than six months into retirement, she was chosen by the Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery Services Board of Lorain County to be the project coordinator for a workforce development grant that addressed employment barriers for those in recovery and reentry. In 2019, Caldwell spearheaded Lorain County's First Restored Citizens Summit. Just recently, Place to Recover was awarded a faith-based expansion grant and is partnering with God's Kingdom to promote breaking the stigma of mental health and addiction. • Excellence in Leadership Award recipient Ann Schloss is superintendent of the Elyria Schools. She spent a number of years as a teacher before becoming an administrator. Before becoming superintendent in 2019, Schloss served as a director in the Academic Services Department and as assistant superintendent. For most of the past two years, she has led the district through the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. At its height, Schloss prioritized meeting the critical needs of Elyria's students and their families, and helped deliver more than 2 million meals to families in need. Schloss now serves on the board of Second Harvest Food Bank, where she continues to address food insecurity in Lorain County. • Emerald Award for Inspirational Leadership recipient Parris Smith is president and CEO of the Lorain County Urban League. She was named to the position in 2020 and works to empower African-American and disadvantaged individuals within the local communities. Smith started as a student within the Lorain County Urban League, and now provides a viewpoint that former presidents could not — raised in Lorain County, she remains dedicated to her community as a founding member of Connections Lorain County and a board member of Leadership Lorain County. Smith received a certification in advocacy from the National Urban League in 2020 and became a certified housing counselor by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2021. From 2009 to 2018, she found success as a medical internship coordinator for Mercy Health. She was also active as a program manager and operations manager for the Lorain County Urban League before her promotion to president and CEO. For her contributions, Smith was presented with the Rising Star Award from the National Urban League in 2019. Additionally, she was recognized as an Outstanding Educator in 2021 from the Lorain County Urban League and receive the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Elyria Unit of the NAACP. • The Urban League will be honored with the Excellence in Leadership Award. From its earliest days in the civil rights movement, through years of partnership with government and public agencies, it has been "a beacon of hope and a catalyst for change in Lorain County," Leadership Lorain County said. The Lorain County Urban League is designed to remove equality gaps through education and youth development; housing and financial empowerment; workforce development; entrepreneurship; civic engagement and advocacy; and health. The Urban League rose to meet the unprecedented challenges of 2020 by mobilizing the communities hardest hit by the coronavirus, keeping students on a path to academic success, preparing the unemployed for new employment opportunities and helping families keep their homes. It also fought back against a surge of racism.