Jean Albrent and Samantha Thomas "Making a Difference for Women"
The Domestic Violence Center of the Santa Clarita Valley’s co-executive Directors were awarded the prestigious "Making a Difference for Women" award by the Santa Clarita Soroptimist International of the Santa Clarita Valley, in a special ceremony on held at the Valencia Hyatt last week. Jean Albrent, MSW and Samantha Thomas, LCSW, currently serve as the co-executive directors for the Domestic Violence Center of the Santa Clarita Valley; a position they created together to enable the Center to continue to provide crucial domestic violence services to the 200-square mile Santa Clarita Valley. The two women proposed that, in addition to the roles they were currently filling as grant manager and children’s therapist, they would take on the executive director and program director responsibilities duties as well. Their creative, ambitious and generous proposal to the center’s Board of Directors in October 2004, enabled the Center to continue its mission of providing domestic violence services for families. "Although Jean and Samantha worked for the agency for several years in other capacities, both would be new to the larger task to which they were committing," explains Dean Anderson, Domestic Violence Center board member. Jean and Samantha’s extraordinary and generous proposal, together with their commitment to service and their expertise, are crucial to the Domestic Violence Center’s success in providing families with domestic violence services in the Santa Clarita Valley. For their extraordinary efforts, Jean and Samantha received the Soroptimists "Making a Difference for Women Award" for 2006.