We award Outstanding TLA Organization of the Year to Community Building Art Works, a visionary non-profit organization making a huge difference in the world. Each week, CBAW offers lots of workshops in writing, visual arts and more for veterans and active military, their families and communities, and the general public. These workshops not only build connections, creativity, and mutual understanding and support, but help thousands of people struggling with emotional and physical injuries caused by trauma. CBAW is guided by a board of veterans from all four branches as well as established artists, military family members, and professionals.

We are proud to have Seema Reza, CBAW founder and CEO here. Seema is a poet, essayist, and deep-down TLAer – she served as chair of our TLA Network board and several Power of Words conferences, and also earned a BFA and MA from Goddard College on TLA. She began working with service members at the Walter Reed Army Medical center in 2010 and went on to create CBAW with Joe Merritt, an artist and facilitator who is medically retired from the United States Marine Corps.

Seema Reza says, “When you’ve experienced things that are out of the ‘norm’, it’s easy to feel totally isolated. Our programs give people the tools and space to talk about these things, first with people who feel the same way and then to people in their lives who are potentially very different from them. It’s how we begin to heal the fissures, and find ourselves experiencing belonging.” 

See more at https://cbaw.org/

Outstanding TLA Organization of the Year: Community Building Art Works, presented by John L. Swainston, a proud veteran, at the 2023 Power of Words conference