The Lucille Webb Award

"My philosophy is not about aging, but about living well,Lucille Webbhaving an impact on the community and giving back"

The Lucille Webb award is presented annually to an individual who exemplifies community leadership in Community–Based Public Health. Lucille Webb was a community health advocate volunteer devoting countless hours to helping others, working on boards, commissions, and task forces, and networking with organizations to plan, implement, and monitor programs that impact health, family life, and education. Dr. Webb was a member and served on the Wake County YWCA board of directors. She was a founding member and president of Strengthening the Black Family, Incorporated, a 501C(3) nonprofit community–based networking organization and chairman of the Executive Committee of Project DIRECT (Diabetes Interventions Reaching and Educating Communities Together), a CDC funded research demonstration project. Dr. Webb was a member and served on the Wake County YWCA board of directors.

Lucille Webb’s leadership in public health was national in scope. The Kellogg Foundation tapped her to lead their Community-Based Public Health Initiative to address inequities in the health of the nation’s ethnic minorities. She was heralded by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention as an expert in community-based participatory research, and for building support for programs addressing chronic health challenges impacting communities of color. She was a founding member of the National Community Based Organization Network and the Community-Based Public Health Caucus of the American Public Health Association.

In May 2023, Lucille Webb received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) during their spring commencement. She was awarded this degree in recognition of her decades of civil rights advocacy and contributions to community-engaged scholarship.

Dr. Webb was a retired social studies teacher and personnel administrator of the Wake County North Carolina School System. She held a master’s degree in education and was certified by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction in Education Administration and Supervision. She was the younger of two girls born to the late Lucille and Ellsworth Holcomb on October 20, 1927, in Richmond, VA and departed this earthly life on Sunday, August 25, 2024. She graduated from NC A&T University with a B.S. in Social Studies, married Dr. Harold Webb, who predeceased her, and adopted North Carolina as her home state. To that union, one daughter, Atty. Kaye Webb, was born. Dr. Webb earned her M.ED. in Social Studies from the State University of New York (SUNY) in Oneonta, NY, and her certification in administration and supervision from UNC at Chapel Hill.

The Lucille Webb Award is presented at the APHA Annual Meeting during the Community Reception hosted by NCBON. Funds may be available to support the award recipient to attend the APHA Annual Meeting and to accept their award. 

Lucille Webb Award Winners

  • 2025 – Dr. Tonya Roberson, Chicago, IL
  • 2024 – Susan Gust, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2021 – Dr. JoyceA. Chapman, Chicago, IL
  • 2020 – Lucille Webb, Raleigh, NC
  • 2019 -  Tara Hayden, Philadelphia, PA
  • 2018 -  Melissa Green, Chapel Hill, NC
  • 2017 – Morehouse School of Medicine PRC, Atlanta, GA
  • 2016 – Loretta Jones, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2015 – Sherida V. Morrison, Chicago, IL
  • 2014 – Melvin Jackson, NC
  • 2013 – Kent Key – Flint, MI
  • 2012 – Al Richmond – Raleigh NC           
  • 2011 – D'Ann Morris, Los Angeles Urban League, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2010 – Loretta Jones, Healthy African American Families II, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2009 – Ella Greene–Moton, National Community–Based Organization Network
  • 2008 – E. Hill De Loney, Flint Odyssey House Health Awareness Center, Flint, MI
  • 2007 – Linda Randolph, Developing Families, Washington DC
  • 2006 – Elmer Freeman, Center for Community Health Education Research and Service (CCHERS), Boston, MA

HOW TO NOMINATE

Nomination forms for the Lucille Webb Award are available HERE,

DEADLINE

Award nominations and brief descriptions of why the nominee should be considered for the 2026 Lucille Webb Award must be received no later than September 1, 2026.