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WILMINGTON, Del. - Governor John Carney on Monday signed a proclamation announcing May 1 - 7, 2022 as Public Service Recognition Week. This week has been celebrated during the first week of May since 1985 to honor the contributions of federal, state, county, and local government employees. Governor Carney, cabinet members, and the business community will recognize the inspirational service and commitment of Delaware's public servants through a series of videos highlighting the extraordinary work of state employees.

"Our state employees work hard every day to make Delaware a better place to live and work," said Governor Carney. "These past few years have been especially challenging, but we are moving forward thanks to the commitment and perseverance of our employees. With the support of Delaware's business community, we are able to present some of our most outstanding employees with well-deserved awards. I'd like to thank all of our public servants for their work to improve the lives of Delawareans."

During Public Service Recognition Week, individuals and teams of state employees will be honored for their excellence and commitment to public service in the last year - including employees who identified innovative new ways to deliver state services, and those who demonstrated acts of heroism and courage.

Awards will be presented in the following categories:

Tuesday, May 3 - Delaware Award for Excellence and Commitment in State Service
Wednesday, May 4 - Governor's Team Excellence Award (Champions Award, Commitment Award)
Thursday, May 5 - GEAR P3 Innovation & Efficiency Award and GEAR P3 Trailblazer Award
Friday, May 6 - Delaware Award for Heroism

Recognition videos will premiere each day at 11:00 a.m. on youtube.com/johncarneyde.

Delaware Award for Excellence and Commitment in State Service Award

The Delaware Award for Excellence and Commitment in State Service Award is presented to up to five State of Delaware employees, or small groups of up to five employees, who exemplify the highest standards of excellence and commitment in state service. In addition, the GEAR P3 Trailblazer Award provides special recognition for those individuals whose accomplishments demonstrate leadership in application of continuous improvement best practices.

Recipients of the 2021 award are:

Amber Clendaniel, Department of Human Resources
Cynthia Coleman, Superior Court
Anne Fenimore, Gloria Henry, and Vertie Lee (with Sakinaa Rock), Department of State
Casey Kim, Department of Technology and Information

GEAR P3 Trailblazer Award

Holly Reynolds, Department of Finance

Governor's Team Excellence Awards

This award category includes the GEAR P3 Innovation & Efficiency Award; Champions Award; and Commitment Award. The Governor's Team Excellence Awards, presented annually to a team of six to 20 state employees, encourages teamwork by recognizing groups of state employees for their efforts to use continuous quality improvement tools to excel in leadership, team dynamics and communication to produce superior customer service and tangible results.

GEAR P3 Innovation & Efficiency Award

This top award is a cooperative initiative between the State of Delaware and the business community. This public private partnership honors teams that not only use continuous quality tools to achieve outstanding outcomes but also develop innovative designs and process, establish best practices, and produce verifiable results that are sustainable, scalable, and adaptable to other areas of government. These teams serve as clear role models for other organizations. The recipient of this year's award is:

Delaware Overdose and Police Diversion Program Team, Delaware State Police, Department of Health and Social Services, and Department of Justice

Champions Award

This award recognizes teams that demonstrated a superior knowledge of continuous quality improvement techniques, produced tangible results, and increased efficiencies, customer satisfaction, or cost savings. Recipients of this year's award are:

DelDOT Vaccination Site Coordination Team, Department of Transportation
Office of Unclaimed Property Money Match Team, Department of Finance, Office of State Treasurer, and Department of Technology and Information

Commitment Award

This award recognizes teams that demonstrate a commitment to developing and applying quality improvement tools and techniques and achieving results that lead to continuous improvement in their organization. The recipients of this year's award are:

iLEAD Delaware Leadership Program Team, Department of Human Resources
DART Connect Micro-Transit Pilot Program Team, Department of Transportation/Delaware Transit Corporation
Port of Wilmington Expansion Project Permitting Team, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control

The GEAR P3 Trailblazer Award and the GEAR P3 Innovation and Efficiency Award were made possible through the support of the Government Efficiency and Accountability Review (GEAR) Board and a Public-Private Partnership (P3) between the State of Delaware and the Delaware business community. Private Sector contributors of the awards include Bank of America, Corporation Service Company (CSC), ChristianaCare, Delmarva Power, Highmark BCBS Delaware, JP Morgan Chase Bank, M&T Bank, The Precisionists Inc. (TPI), W.L. Gore & Associates, and WSFS Bank.

"As chairman of the Governor's Efficiency & Accountability Review (GEAR) P3 Taskforce for Governor Carney's GEAR initiative, I am thrilled that the private sector, with the strong backing of the Delaware Business Roundtable and the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, has partnered again with The State of Delaware on the Public-Private Partnership (P3) Governor's Innovation & Efficiency, and Trailblazer Awards. This program is a terrific step toward better government, and in recognizing state employees and teams on outstanding accomplishments," said Ernie Dianastasis, CEO of The Precisionists (TPI).

Delaware Award for Heroism

The Delaware Award for Heroism, established in 2013, recognizes state employees for acts of heroism and courage. The 2021 recipients are:

Barbara Bell, Yvette Fenn, Isaac Harris, Alethea Miller, and Diane Penland (with Elena Dill, Amy Fierro, Debra Remner, Melissa Sangare, and Glenroy Warner), Department of Health and Social Services.
Manuel Carlis and Sabrina Ellerbe, Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families
Deanna Carnevale and Shane Russell, Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families
Donald Deputy (with Eric Jensen), Department of Transportation
Travis Schirmer, Department of Transportation
Jonathan Simmons and Richard Wyatt, Department of Transportation

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State employees honored for excellence and commitment to public service