The Frances McClelland Partnership Award is given to honor an individual who exemplifies the meaning of working in partnership with community to improve the lives of children, youth and families. The individual is committed to improving the well-being of children, youth, and families. The individual embodies the strength, dedication, vision and passion that Frances McClelland exhibited throughout her life. This award is for an individual who advocates to improve the lives of people in Southern Arizona and the world on a daily basis.

Claudia Powell is a Research Professor and the Associate Director of the University of Arizona-Southwest Institute for Research on Women (UA-SIROW). Claudia has worked in the field of homelessness, program evaluation, services for mental health and substance abuse treatment, HIV prevention, health promotion and domestic violence for the past 17 years. Claudia has directed several projects that facilitate providing a trauma-informed system of care that includes linkages to housing, health care, case management, substance abuse and mental health treatment and a wide array of support services to LGBTQ+ identified youth experiencing homelessness. The research associated with these projects has become part of the national conversation pertaining to best practices for serving LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness. Claudia has served as the local evaluator for numerous SAMHSA-CSAT and CMHS funded projects over the years with many community and tribal partners. Some of these projects include the Step Forward Project which provided sexual health curriculum and substance abuse and mental health treatment to at-risk youth, the MOMs project serving pregnant and post-partum women in substance abuse treatment and Project LAUNCH which provided health promotion and treatment services to tribal children (birth to age 8) and their families. As a long time community-based researcher, Claudia is committed to engaging in culturally-responsive, community-based participatory action research that is done in conjunction with communities and with a true spirit of collaboration.  Claudia chairs both the Pima County Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board and the Tucson Pima Collaboration to End Homelessness Executive Board, in addition to serving on SIROW’s Community Advisory Board and the UA SBS Diversity and Inclusion Committee.