The Phoenix Equal Opportunity Department and the Mayor’s Commission on Disability Issues announced the honorees for the 2025 Disability Awards and Recognition Event. 

The award ceremony is held annually to honor and recognize champions that made a commitment to improving the quality of life for all residents and communities of Phoenix. The commission hopes it will inspire others to emulate the honorees and provide inclusiveness for the community of Phoenix.

An awards event will be held later this month.

Valerie Pieraccini, vice president of Clinical Strategic Partnerships & Public Affairs, for United Cerebral Palsy of Central Arizona, speaks in a video for the organization. Pieraccini is one of two recipients this year for the city of Phoenix’s Detective Walter Olsen Lifetime Achievement Award.

(Courtesy Foundation for Blind Children)

2025 Honorees

Detective Walter Olsen Lifetime Achievement Award

Valerie Pieraccini

Gina Lipko

Outstanding Educator Award

Pauline Arrillaga, Executive Director, National Center on Disability and Journalism, Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University

Outstanding Business Award

CHESWORTH films

Architecture Award

South Mountain Visitor Center, city of Phoenix, Parks and Recreation Department

Community Service Award

Councilwoman Debra Stark

Darrel Christenson

Outstanding Nonprofit Award

First Place AZ

The Awards are shown for the 2024 Phoenix Disability Awards and Recognition Event.

(Courtesy city of Phoenix)

To learn more about the Mayor’s Commission on Disability Issues, visit Phoenix.gov/mcdi.

Editor’s note: The above was republished from a city of Phoenix news release.