STRIVE honors the life and legacy of Christine Hart-Wright, who passed away on February 28th, 2020. Chris was the first Executive Director of STRIVE's site in Washington DC, making a difference in thousands of lives during her tenure from 1998-2013. With strength, charisma, and compassion, she built STRIVE DC from its foundation to be a place where every person who walked through the doors is treated with authenticity and respect.
Chris lived a lifetime of service and purpose. She served as a Board member of the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals, a member of the District of Columbia Child Support Enforcement Guideline Commission, and a member of the National Child Support Association. In 2007, she won the Gelman, Rosenberg, Freedman Excellent in Chief Executive Leadership Award for her work in the nonprofit sector. She was always showing up for others within her community, whether teaching basic education skills at For the Love of Children or bringing friends and colleagues to various volunteer projects.
Those who knew her recall her strong character: as nurturing, compassionate, determined, passionate, and a warrior until the very end of her life. Friends and colleagues remember her as someone who lived life to the fullest and always having a project going, from writing grants for a local high school choir to attending trapeze school. Hundreds of people whose lives she touched attended her memorial service, a testament to the impact she had one everyone around her.
STRIVE is grateful to Chris for sharing her personality and strength with our organization and all those in it. Every day, she met everyone she saw with incredible kindness and energy. We celebrate her as one of STRIVE’s many heroes.