Lisa Thorpe-Vaughn has won local and national accolades for her work with the children of prisoners -- she has even been honored at the White House -- but she is still nervous about Monday, when she will be recognized by the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh at their 18th annual Racial Justice Awards.

"It's very humbling," she said.

Ms. Thorpe-Vaughn is one of four individuals and two organizations that the YWCA will commend at the Westin Convention Center hotel.

But despite her far-reaching work as the president of the Nonprofit Leadership Training Institute, an organization that pairs mentors with the children of prisoners, Ms. Thorpe-Vaughn said she is awed by the company she will have at the podium.

"To be up against such honorable people as George Miles is really just huge for me," she said.

George L. Miles Jr. will be honored as the executive director of WQED Multimedia, which won in the company or business category.

Mr. Miles graduated from college in 1963 with a degree in accounting, but he could not find employment as an accountant because of his race.

Instead, he nurtured WQED into a company with a diverse work force that broadcasts relevant and award-winning local programming.

Grace Robinson, a State Farm insurance agent who founded Tomorrow's Future Inc., will be honored in the community engagement category. Her mentoring and job-training program has served more than 350 Allegheny County teenagers.

University of Pittsburgh professor Laurence Glasco will be honored in the education category. Dr. Glasco, who has taught African-American history since 1969, is the author of two books about the history of black Pittsburgh.

Father Regis Ryan will be honored in the faith-based category for his work with Focus on Renewal, a nonprofit that serves McKees Rocks and Stowe.

And Nueve Lunas, a local group that provides educational workshops for Latino women on topics from pregnancy to parenting, is being honored in the health care category.

Ms. Thorpe-Vaughn is being honored in the public safety category. She said she is driven by a desire to help people whose voices are silenced; more than 75 percent of the children of prisoners will end up incarcerated, she said.

She said that because the national incarceration rate is increasing, and the average prisoner has three children, the number of children with a mother or a father behind bars is enormous.

The award has inspired her to keep pushing against those numbers.

"I need to work a little harder," she said.

The general reception for the YWCA ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m. Monday. The dinner and award program will begin at 6:30 p.m. People who would like to attend can contact Melanie Steven Cosnek at 412-255-1466 or go to www.ywcapgh.org.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.