The Frances McClelland Practitioner Vision Award is given to honor an individual who works directly with the Southern Arizona community on a day to day basis, works in the social services realm, and should have at least 3-5 years of established work experience and commitment to Frances’ legacy and vision of improving the lives of children, youth and families in Southern Arizona and the world. 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.

Laura Coleman's vision, dedication and passion for helping people improve their lives is seen daily in the way that she advocates for her clients. She is dedicated to their success and committed to improving the well-being of those with whom she works. Like Frances McClelland, Laura Coleman has overcome personal challenges in her own life and has become a positive example and role model to her co-workers and clients. With 30 years of experience, she works directly with people who have disablilities to help them improve their lives. Her work history includes being a manager of culinary training for DK Advocates, where she supervises a crew of people with disabilities as they perform all aspects of menu planning, ordering, food preparation, serving and clean-up for a medical clinic which serves 30 – 50 meals per day. While working for the DKA, Laura has successfully ran several in-house projects, such as making hot meals for families at the Ronald McDonald house, developing a training program with Camp Wellness at the University of Arizona, and the implementation of the Food FUNdamentals program to help youth in foster care. Laura also has helped to develop a collaborative, cross-border, multi-cultural program with Casa Harmony and Serena Health Care in Ensenada, Mexico to train service provider staff members with strategies, ideas and hands-on experience in providing delicious and attractive meals while including their residents in the preparation.