Cincinnati, OH - May 15, 2007 (For immediate release)

The Cincinnatus Association, a group of community leaders dedicated to improving the quality of life in Greater Cincinnati, has given its Citizen Crusader Award to Kent Friel, chairman of the Association's Excellence in Education Panel.

Cincinnatus Association awarded Kent Friel with its highest honor - the 2007 Citizen Crusader Award - for his work with public education in Cincinnati.  "There is no one who works harder in Cincinnatus Association, and no one who works harder for Cincinnati education than Kent," said Gwen Robinson, Cincinnatus President, as she announced the award at the Association's May meeting.  Friel is the Chairperson of the Association's Excellence in Education Panel and is currently a Community Fellow with the KnowledgeWorks Foundation.

Kent Friel has been actively involved for decades working for excellence in Cincinnati education.  Kent was instrumental in the development and implementation of the new Woodward Career Technical High School and, more recently, worked with Cincinnati Public SChool (CPS) Superintendent Rosa Blackwell to initiate and staff the new Principal Mentoring program for CPS principals.  He was co-convener of the Citizens' School Committee, dedicated to improving public information, accountability and oversight of CPS.  Kent has recently been granted an "Award of Excellence" honorary degree by the University of Cincinnati.  He is past chairman of Cincinnati Works and past president of the Better Business Bureau. 

The Citizen Crusader Award recognizes the exceptional contribution of a Cincinnatus member to the work of the Association.  The award memorializes the deeds of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a retired consul of the Roman Empire who had returned to farming.  As an enemy army threatened, the Roman Senate gave Cincinnatus the powers of dictator so he could protect the nation and defeat the enemy.  He did so in 16 days time, after which he simply relinquished his powers and returned to his farm.  To this day, Cincinnatus is held up as a model leader and citizen - a man who neither sought power nor held on to it when his duties had been fulfilled.
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The Cincinnatus Association, founded in 1920 by Cincinnati leaders to fight corruption in city government, is now comprised of 100 community leaders committed to initiating, participating in, and promoting projects that improve the quality of life for the citizens in Greater Cincinnati.  The efforts of Cincinnatus are coordinated and attributed to organizational sub-groups, known as panels, each delegated a specific area of the Association's overall mission.  The Excellence in Government panel focuses on the effectiveness and efficiency of local and state government; Excellence in Education on improvement and support of public education; Community Inclusion on uniting all citizens across racial, ethnic, economic and religious boundaries; and Arts & Culture on improvement and support of arts and culture organizations.

More information is available at www.CincinnatusAssoc.org.

Cincinnatus Association may be contacted at Cincinnatus_Assoc@hotmail.com.