Honoring Acel Moore.

WHEREAS, The Council of the City of Philadelphia is pleased and proud to honor Mr. Acel Moore for more than 43 years of civic and community service to the City of Philadelphia through his groundbreaking work at

The Philadelphia Inquirer

in various capacities including writer, associate editor, recruiter, and editorial board member; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Moore joined the

The Inquirer

in 1962, and quickly worked his way from copy boy to a position as a staff writer. In another equally swift and impressive professional accomplishment, Mr. Moore, just a few years after becoming a staff writer, earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1977 for his series of stories profiling the abuse of inmates at the Fairview State Hospital in Fairview, PA. In the same year, the series also earned Mr. Moore the

Heywood Broun, the National Headliner, and the Robert F. Kennedy awards for journalism. Two years later, he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship from Harvard University; and

WHEREAS, The combination of his talent and passion for journalism led Mr. Moore to not only hold leadership posts in industry organizations such as the American Society of Newspaper Editors, but to create opportunities for minorities in journalism, becoming a founding member of the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Black Journalists. To date, these organizations remain the vehicles largely responsible for connecting black journalists not only to one another, but also to otherwise unrecognized opportunities at some of the country’s largest and most reputable publications; and

WHEREAS, Mr. Moore’s profound interest in creating opportunities for blacks to compete successfully in the field of print journalism moved him to, while at

The Inquirer

, create two training programs that not only encourage minority students to pursue careers in journalism but help them through the beginnings of their careers. These are the Art Peters Memorial Fellowship Program -- a copy editor internship program that has resulted in at least 50 minorities launching careers at daily newspapers since 1979 -- and the Journalism Career Development Workshop, which has trained dozens of Philadelphia-area high school students since 1984. For this work, Mr. Moore was awarded the John S. Knight Gold Medal Award for Journalism Excellence in 1999; and

WHEREAS, In the capacity of associate editor for

The Inquirer

, Mr. Moore directed recruitment, training and staff development. He served on the faculty of the Summer Program for Minority Journalists at the University of California, Berkeley, and is consultant to the Institute for Journalism Education. He was visiting professor of journalism at Florida A&M University, and a journalism instructor at Temple University. He has lectured at several other colleges and universities and has been a consultant for journalism workshops at Northwestern University, Duquesne University, the University of Kansas and Norfolk State University; and

WHEREAS, In his career, Mr. Moore has been the recipient of more than 100 journalism excellence and community service awards. Just this year, he was honored with the Robert C. Maynard Legend Award, given by The National Association of Minority Media Executives, and The Legacy Award from the National Association of Black Journalists for his work on creating diversity in the newspaper industry. Much of Mr. Moore’s work as a columnist has been devoted to exploring how public policy affects people, how they deal with social problems, and what they do to incite change. He plans to continue this focus with us in his future columns which he will continue to produce occasionally for

The Inquirer

. He also plans to serve as an advisor to the paper’s editorial staff, and will remain on the publication’s masthead, under the title of "Associate Editor, Emeritus”; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we hereby recognize and congratulate

Mr. Acel Moore for more than 43 years of civic and community service to the City of Philadelphia through his groundbreaking work at

The Philadelphia Inquirer

in various capacities including writer, associate editor, recruiter, and editorial board member.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Mr. Acel Moore as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.

End