Adrienne Montani is the Executive Director of the First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Society, where she has worked for over 20 years. Prior to working with First Call, she served as the Child and Youth Advocate for the City of Vancouver, and as the chairperson of the Vancouver School Board for three of her six years as an elected school trustee. Some of her earlier leadership positions included serving as the executive director of Surrey Delta Immigrant Services Society and of Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland.

Adrienne has a long-standing commitment to the issues of cross-cultural awareness and racism, women’s and children’s rights and the impacts of social exclusion on children and youth in low-income families. Her academic background is in Asian studies and adult education.

Adrienne’s work for BC’s children and youth has been acknowledged by a number of organizations: The British Columbia Medal of Good Citizenship, the Bill McFarland Award for the Excellence in the Advancement of Child Welfare from the Parent Support Services Society of BC, the Above and Beyond Award from the Federation of BC Youth in Care Networks, the MOSAIC Human Rights Award, the United Way’s Excellence in Action for Early Childhood Development Award and was also nominated for a YWCA Women of Distinction Award in the community-building category, and an Award of Excellence from the Federation of Community Social Services.

The Janusz Korczak Medal was awarded during the Janusz Korczak Awards in Child Advocacy Ceremony