Partners for Livable Communities has selected nine individuals and organizations as well as one city to honor for civic stewardship and innovation. These prestigious awards will be presented by Washington, D.C.-based Partners for Livable Communities at its Partners Honors annual awards program on February 6, 2014.

For the last 34 years, Partners has honored individuals and organizations in recognition of innovative projects and records of achievement that have advanced the principles of livability. This year's honorees represent lifetimes of leadership in their respective fields spanning the arts, historic preservation, architecture, landscape design, environmentalism, social justice, and neighborhood development. Their innovative leadership has made their communities better places to live.

Partners hosts its annual awards ceremony because the efforts of the country's most inspiring civic leaders deserve to be lauded, and their stories and practices spread far and wide.

Partners Honors 2013 Honorees:

The Founders Award for Civic Leadership

For more than 50 years, Americans for the Arts has worked to advance the arts in schools and communities throughout the United States. Their work has resulted in public policy that recognizes the value of the arts in our society and their successes have promoted and protected access to the arts for the whole population. Robert Lynch is the president and CEO.

For nearly 50 years, the World Monuments Fund has worked for the preservation of historic architecture and cultural heritage sites around the world through fieldwork, advocacy, grantmaking, education, and training. Bonnie Burnham is the president and CEO.

Thomas Lovejoy is an accomplished conservation biologist who is often credited with coining the term “biological diversity.” He is perhaps most famous for bringing the vulnerability of the world’s tropical rainforests to climate change to national attention.

Investors in America Award

David Schwarz and his company, David M. Schwarz Architects, Inc., have constructed some of our country’s most recognizable architectural endeavors in recent years. Mr. Schwarz’ projects are always aesthetically-pleasing, suited to the clients’ needs, and above all, sustainable.

Charles Ansbacher Memorial Award for Culture and Community

Byron Rushing, the director of the Museum of Afro-American History and Second Assistant Majority Leader in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, has advocated policies that preserve the history and promote the rights of our society’s most disadvantaged populations, including African-Americans and the LGBT community.

Entrepreneurial American Leadership Award

Recently hired as the first female president and CEO of the United Way of New York, Sheena Wright has worked extensively towards improving community livability for the city’s most underserved populations. Prior to joining the United Way, Mrs. Wright spearheaded efforts to revitalize New York’s marginalized communities, as well as help build the first new high school building in Harlem in 50 years.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Henry R. Richmond co-founded 1000 Friends of Oregon in 1974 with then-Governor Tom McCall to defend Oregon’s new land use law. Local governments opposed enactment of the law, but had authority to say what it meant. 1000 Friends won dozens of court rulings in defense of the law while building a coalition of homebuilders, farmers, timber companies, and high tech companies. That broad support was essential for continued legislative support and implementation in 36 counties and 241 cities. Forty years later, the law remains a success - each city has an urban growth boundary (UGB): inside UGBs, higher densities and mixed uses increase housing affordability, transit feasibility, and reduce carbon emissions. Outside UGBs, 25 million acres of farm and forest land -- four times the area of New Jersey -- are limited to farm and forest use.

Entrepreneurial American Community Award

Houston has successfully transformed from a city once reliant on the fossil fuel industry into one of America’s boom towns. With a strong economy and high level of diversity, Houston today has set an example for what America should aspire to in the future.

William H. Whyte Award

Wolfgang Oehme and James van Sweden co-founded the landscape architecture firm Oehme, van Sweden & Associates in 1977 and have since created a ‘New American Garden’ style of landscape architecture. Their understanding of the strong sculptural relationship between architecture and landscape has helped promote the greening of cities and the has resulted in numerous public health benefits. Lisa Delplace is the principal and CEO of Oehme, van Sweden & Associates Inc.

Bridge Builders Award

For over 40 years, the Inter-American Foundation has helped fund development projects undertaken by grassroots groups and non-governmental organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean with a focus on the inclusion of the society’s most marginalized communities. Since 1972, the IAF has awarded over $680 million in grants that have benefited hundreds of thousands of families throughout the hemisphere. Robert Kaplan is the president and CEO.