The American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware will celebrate the 30th anniversary of its Kandler Memorial Awards Dinner tonight. The event honors The Wilmington HOPE Commission as well as Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. executive director and longtime disabilities rights attorney Daniel G. Atkins,
Daniel G. Atkins, one of this year’s honorees, has been a disabilities rights and poverty lawyer with the Community Legal Aid Society, Inc. (CLASI) in Delaware since 1990. Atkins has represented people with disabilities in a variety of civil contexts, including fair housing, special education and the Americans with Disabilities Act cases. He also helped develop the medical-legal partnership program between CLASI and the Delaware Division of Public Health.
The Wilmington HOPE Commission was established in 2005 by executive order of former Wilmington Mayor James Baker to identify, review and act on social and community issues related to violent crime in Wilmington. Their work has included strengthening and centralizing re-entry programs for ex-offenders with the goals of reducing the rates of incarceration and recidivism in the city. The HOPE Commission’s award will be accepted by executive director Charles A. Madden and chairman Michael Purzycki, whose efforts as executive director of the Riverfront Development Corporation have led to a revitalized Wilmington Riverfront community.
As a special addition to this year’s event, a collection box will be set up at the dinner for donations to a holiday toy drive co-sponsored by the ACLU and The HOPE Commission. The toys will be distributed to children of former offenders participating in The HOPE Commission’s re-entry programs.
The Kandler Dinner was first held in 1986—the ACLU of Delaware’s 25th anniversary—and was named in memory of past ACLU of Delaware president Gerald E. Kandler. Born in 1930s Germany, Kandler escaped to England as part of the Kindertransport and came to the United States at the age of 12. His passion for public education and the rights of those less fortunate led to critical changes for students in Delaware, including securing free appropriate education for all special-needs children, the establishment of clear and precise policies on students’ rights and responsibilities, and the desegregation of New Castle County schools.
Kandler served as president of the ACLU of Delaware for 14 years until his sudden death. On the day after his death, the ACLU’s Board of Directors passed a resolution creating the Gerald E. Kandler Memorial Award, to be presented annually to a person whose “leadership in defense of the principles embodied in the Bill of Rights makes him or her worthy of honor in the name of our late president and dearly loved friend.”
Past recipients have included attorney Louis Redding, former Governor Elbert Carvel, Judge Roxana Cannon Arsht, former Governor Russell Peterson, Vice President Joseph R. Biden and Gov. Jack Markell.
