— 2024 Unity Award Recipient —

Diana Kriner

Newport, RI

Diana has spent the past 30+years fighting for unity and inclusion in the Newport community and schools. She has championed many causes and programs to benefit not only our special needs population, but all of the children in our community. Her "glass half full" and "can do" attitude is contagious. She has collaborated with Newport Recreation on many programs, including a Special Olympics team, a social skills class, and a number of other inclusive activities and events, including the first ever city-wide celebration of Unity Day. This past fall, Diana was instrumental in helping us develop a series of events to celebrate the day. She coordinated an after-school program at the elementary school that teamed members of the high school cheerleading team with the elementary students. The cheerleaders taught the children the Unity Day dance and then invited the kids to perform it with them at halftime of the football game. Diana assisted in the promotion of Unity Day city-wide by having teachers, students and community members all wear orange to celebrate the day. Finally, she put together a Unity Day special event for families. She is already planning bigger and better things for October 2024.

Nominated by Carol Johnson