Alltru honors 2024 Juneteenth Heritage Award recipients

Alltru Credit Union, a leading Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in the Greater St. Louis area, congratulates the five recipients of the Juneteenth Heritage Award. The Juneteenth Heritage Award, created by Alltru in 2022, recognizes youth in the Greater St. Louis community for the ways that they celebrate the Juneteenth holiday. Individuals between the ages of 5 and 25 were invited to illustrate what Juneteenth means to them by sharing their own expression of creativity in various forms of artistic work or creative expression.

Participants of this year’s Juneteenth Heritage Award answered the question, “How do you celebrate your Juneteenth heritage?” The awards were presented on June 14th, 2024 at St. Louis City Mayor Tishaura Jones’s office in a special ceremony held in honor of Juneteenth. Jones presented the winners with their Juneteenth Heritage Award Certificate and Tracy Verner, Community Development Manager at Alltru Credit Union, presented the monetary award.

The Juneteenth Heritage Award is awarded annually to youth between the ages of 5 and 25 who demonstrate outstanding artistic achievement with cash prizes totaling $1,800. The 2024 award recipients are as follows:

• In the 5-10 age category, 8-year-old Tobias P. took home the award for his visual art submission.
• In the 11-13 age category, 13-year-old Chanell B. received the award for her visual art and poetry submission.
• In the 14-17 age category, 15-year-old Kamiyah J. was recognized for her dance submission.
• For the 18-25 age category, 18-year-old Zion S. was awarded for her visual art submission and 18-year-old Brooke E. for her passionate poetry and spoken word submission.

"As a credit union, we strive to do more than provide the youth in our community with the financial tools and education they need for success; we desire to celebrate them as individuals," said Verner. "The Juneteenth Heritage Award is a way for us to do just that. We’re honored to celebrate these young members in our community for their creativity and artistry."

Alltru is honored to share in celebration of Juneteenth with this year’s Juneteenth Heritage Award winners. Alltru is featuring the many creative works on social media during the month. To view all of the Juneteenth Heritage Award submissions, visit Alltru's Facebook page.

Alltru Juneteenth Heritage 2024 Awardees being honored at Mayor Jones’ office. Pictured from left to right: Alltru Financial Benefits Coordinator Kenneth Paige, Kamiyah J., Alltru Vice President of IT Donn Dischert, Tobias P., City of St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, Zion S., Chanell B. and Alltru Community Development Manager Tracy Verner.

Award Recipient Tobias P. pictured with St. Louis City Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and Alltru Community Development Manager Tracy Verner at the 2024 Juneteenth Heritage Award Ceremony.