By Herald Digital News
Cincinnati native and community leader Gwendolyn Ivory Robinson received the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award from President Joe Biden during the recent Top Ladies of Distinction Leadership Conference held in Detroit, Michigan. Robinson received the award for her lifelong commitment for building a stronger nation through volunteer service.
Robinson said she was struck speechless when presented with the award by Georgia State Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler. “It totally took me by surprise,” she said.
Robinson’s volunteer work is committed to youth, adults and the greater Cincinnati community. Her volunteer work stems from her philosophy of life, “to lead is to serve.”
A retired lead principal with Cincinnati Public Schools, Robinson credits her humble beginnings to serving as the foundation for her lifelong commitment to making the Cincinnati community a better place to live. Born in the West End, she grew up in the Laurel Homes, a public housing project; the oldest of five children.
Fighting for a better world began in the early 1960s, as a Walnut Hills High School student and later in college, she protested the racial “Jim Crow,” laws and inequality by walking the picket line at Woolworth’s, Coney Island and other places in Cincinnati which discriminated against people of color. Later in life, her public service focused on children and adults.
Robinson is a lifetime member of Top Ladies of Distinction and served as its National Area V Director from 2011 to 2015. She joined the organization in 1983. Today, she continues to volunteer her service to the programs and projects of TLOD and its major focus Top Teens of America. Also, she is a lifetime member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Sigma Omega Chapter, having given 60 years of continuous service to national and local initiatives.
Her volunteerism has garnered other honors including Urban League of Southwestern Ohio Glorifying the Lions Award, February 2017; The Cincinnati Herald Nefertiti Award, July 2017; Keep the Dream Alive! Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, January 2013; Cincinnati Enquirer Women of the Year, Class of 2011; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc’s Outstanding Great Lakes Regional Chapter President, 1987; featured in the Global Issues and Change, Triangle Publishing, 2004, that showcased her public-school work and being a Cultural Bridge builder and Colors of Cincinnati Honoree, 2000.
