Lori Stokes, distinguished visiting community scholar and acclaimed broadcast journalist, was recently honored with the 2025 Voice of Vision Award from Selfhelp.
After a distinguished 40-year career on the air—including anchoring for New York's WNYW-FOX 5 News and WABC’s Eyewitness News This Morning—Stokes retired in 2022 and turned her attention to advocacy, public service and her deepening involvement with Selfhelp.
Her connection to the organization is both personal and principled. Founded to support Holocaust survivors who fled Nazi Germany, Selfhelp has since expanded its mission to serve people from all walks of life, particularly the elderly and vulnerable, providing them with housing, care and, above all, dignity. Since 2017, Stokes has been a tireless advocate and volunteer for the organization, serving as the emcee of their annual gala and even spotlighting their work on television.
“I have listened to our clients’ stories—from Holocaust survivors to clients who had nowhere to call home,” she said. “Selfhelp gives them joy, peace and the dignity that comes with being treated as a human being.”
The role of social workers in the organization's mission is deeply personal—her grandmother relied on public assistance, and it was her caseworker, Ella Mae Johnson, who made a lasting impression on Stokes.
“She treated my grandmother with compassion and dignity,” she recalled. “I see that same philosophy in Selfhelp’s social workers and in what we teach at the Mandel School.”
As a distinguished visiting community scholar at the school, Stokes finds deep meaning in the synergy between her volunteer work and her role at the school.
“The only thing people want is to be respected, to maintain independence and to be seen as human,” she said. “That’s what we teach our students, and that’s what Selfhelp lives every day.”
Looking ahead, she hopes to build bridges between the two institutions by exploring internship opportunities for students—especially those based in New York and enrolled in the online MSW program.
The connection to Selfhelp also echoes Stokes’s family legacy. Her father, the late Louis Stokes, was a civil rights trailblazer and longtime U.S. Representative, known for his unwavering belief that housing, healthcare and education are non-negotiable human rights.
“I grew up with a front-row seat to the civil rights movement,” she said. “And I was taught that giving back is not optional—it’s a part of who we are.”
With her deep roots in advocacy, journalism and education, Stokes continues to inspire through a life lived in service—and by bridging two institutions committed to compassion, community and change.