BY BEN CONLEY
DPNews@DominionPost.com
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on Dec. 10, 1948, acknowledging the inalienable rights held by every human, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, language, political opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
In 2016, the Morgantown Human Rights Commission began observing the annual anniversary of the global pledge by recognizing one individual and one organization upholding the goals and ideals of the declaration here in Morgantown.
The 2024 recipients are Eve Faulkes and the Morgantown Area Youth Services Project.
Faulkes, a 2019 West Virginia Governor’s Honorees for Advancing Civil Rights through Advocacy, is a graphic design artist and professor in WVU’s School of Art and design.
Her most recent project is a 132-page graphic novel West Virginians’ Experiences in Civil Rights: How we have been connected all along. Faulkes designed, wrote and illustrated the book, which features 22 storytellers – ages 20 to 100 – from more than a dozen counties across West Virginia.
Among many other efforts, she previously compiled, designed and wrote Preserving the Stories of Scotts Run, WV: A Partnership from 2011 to 2021 and spent more than a year traveling the state as part of Listening for Racial Understanding, a project that assembled voices from diverse faiths, political parties and the LGBT+ community for one-on-one conversations that were interpreted by artists.
The Morgantown Area Youth Services Project, or MAYSP, was formed in 1996 by social workers Danny Trejo and Juinell Riivald, who recognized a need for counseling services for low-income families struggling with substance abuse and delinquency.
The non-profit, which currently has a staff of four professionals, is funded through grants and local sources, and has provided intervention services to at-risk teens and their their families for more than 28 years.
As part of its mission, the nonprofit strives to eliminate societal stigma. It works closely with the criminal justice and child welfare systems to help suffering with substance use, delinquency and domestic violence, offering a change to rehabilitate, and, often, reunify families.
Faulks and representatives of MAYSP were recognized during a ceremony held Dec. 8 at The Aull Center.
Previous Human Rights Day Award winners include:
2016 — Evan Hansen; PSALM Program at St. Francis School
2017 — Charlene Marshall; Community Coalition for Social Justice
2018 — Barbara Evans Fleischauer; Greater Morgantown League of Women Voters
2019 — Danielle Walker; West Virginia Innocence Project
2020 — Mavis Grant-Lilley; First Presbyterian Church
2021 — Bob Pirner; Milan Puskar Health Right
2022 — Ixya Vega; Hollar Health Justice
2023 – Amanda Ray; West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness
Additional information about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is available at un.org by following the “About us” and “UDHR” links.
The Morgantown Human Rights Commission currently has multiple openings. Members must be residents of the city. Applications are available at morgantownwv.gov.
