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Bismarck Human Relations Committee names Lauren Zent, YouthWorks and Gretchen as 2024 humanitarian award winners
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Summary
The Bismarck Human Relations Committee selected Lauren Zent as youth humanitarian, YouthWorks as youth organization, and Gretchen (pastor) as individual humanitarian of the year after reviewing nominations, scoring sheets and a ranked vote at a committee meeting.
The Bismarck Human Relations Committee voted to name Lauren Zent its 2024 youth humanitarian recipient, YouthWorks as the youth organization recipient, and Gretchen (a pastor at United Church of Christ) as the individual humanitarian of the year.
Committee members said they used a scoring sheet developed by Katie to summarize nominations across two main criteria — leadership and promoting personal dignity and eliminating discriminatory barriers — and then discussed conflicts of interest and qualitative details in the nomination essays before voting.
The committee’s chair described the scoring as a guide rather than a final decision and noted several members recused themselves from specific nominees because of conflicts; the group proceeded to select winners after discussion and a motion for each award.
On the youth award, committee members broadly favored Lauren Zent over another finalist, Jennifer, citing nomination details describing Lauren’s advocacy for individuals with developmental disabilities and volunteer work with United Sound. A committee member moved to select Lauren Zent; the motion carried with a voice vote recorded as “Aye.”
For the youth organization award, members discussed several nominees including YouthWorks, Dream Center and Missouri Valley Coalition. Members noted the Dream Center had won the award two years earlier and debated whether to honor coalitions versus single organizations. The committee voted to approve YouthWorks as the youth organization recipient; the motion passed on a voice vote.
For the individual humanitarian award, members read multiple nomination essays aloud (including profiles of Micah, Stacy Shaffer and Gretchen) and used a 3–2–1 ranked scoring method to break a tie. The tally gave Gretchen the highest total and a motion to approve Gretchen as the 2024 individual humanitarian of the year passed on a voice vote.
Committee members noted procedural details they want carried forward: inviting nominators to the city commission presentation, sending letters to both winners and non-winners, and optionally listing nominators on notification letters unless a nominator requested anonymity. The committee scheduled winners to be recognized at the City Commission meeting on June 24 at 5:15 p.m., and discussed inviting nominators to read or attend but left the approach optional.
Discussion items that did not result in binding action included how to broaden outreach to schools to increase youth nominations next year and how to weigh long-term advocacy when nomination forms vary in detail. Members also discussed the limits of the scoring sheet when applications did not fully document sustained work.
The committee recorded recusal and conflict-of-interest concerns for specific members and nominees and said those conflicts were considered when tallying scores and during discussion.
