Michelle Hughes

NC Child

The Partnership for America’s Children will present the 2022 Florette Angel Memorial Child Advocacy Award to Michelle Hughes, Executive Director of NC Child. The presentation will take place during an online event for the Partnership network on August 3, 2022.

The Florette Angel Memorial Child Advocacy Award is named for West Virginia child advocate, Florette Angel, who grew up in racially-polarized Mississippi in the 1940s. It honors the executive director of a Partnership member organization who has been nominated by their colleagues and selected by a panel of their peers. It reflects the admiration and respect of the Partnership community for someone who exemplifies the best of child advocacy. This annual award, which dates back to 1996, is given to an executive director who has:

• demonstrated exemplary leadership as a representative for the interests of children and their families across a number of policy issues;
• successfully promoted public policies and investments that help improve the lives of children and families, with a particular focus on those experiencing poverty;
• played a critical role in articulating and championing the needs of children and defending their interests in the political process, even when those positions were not popular; and
• advanced the growth and credibility of multi-issue child advocacy as a profession.

The 2022 honoree is Michelle Hughes, Executive Director of NC Child. Michelle joined NC Child in October 2014. As Executive Director, Michelle oversees the staff, finances, and strategic direction of the organization. Additionally, Michelle serves as NC Child’s primary point of contact to external allies, including policymakers, the media, and private allies. Michelle has worked in the field of children’s advocacy for more than twenty-five years in North Carolina. She has served in a number of executive and leadership positions including Project Director of the Partnering for Excellence Initiative at Benchmarks, Executive Vice-President for Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina, and Public Action Director at
the NC Child Advocacy Institute, the organizational predecessor to NC Child. Michelle’s leadership and advocacy for children has been recognized both nationally and in North Carolina. She is the 2012 recipient of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families Commissioner’s Award and the 2012 North Carolina Pediatric Society, Tom Vitaglione Child Health Advocacy Award. A graduate of Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland, Michelle holds Master’s degrees in English and Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Michelle and her family live in Durham, NC.