On Dec. 9, the Port Townsend branch of the American Association of University Women honored Zhaleh Almanee Weinblatt as its local “Woman of Excellence” for 2024.

Katherine DeForest Evans, who coordinates publicity for AAUW Port Townsend, noted that this marks the 27th year that AAUW Port Townsend has recognized “an individual who has enriched the community,” through either paid or volunteer work in Jefferson County.

“It’s a very special award,” DeForest Evans said. “The ‘Woman of Excellence’ title is an opportunity to show our gratitude to local women who are role models, change agents, community activists, or teachers and mentors.”

Port Townsend’s Debbi Steele, who was AAUW’s “Woman of Excellence” for 2012, conducted a presentation at Port Townsend Elks Lodge 317 on Dec. 9, during which she described the 2024 “Woman of Excellence,” Weinblatt, as “amazing.”

According to Steele, Weinblatt is “a multi-heritage ritual theater artist, social justice educator, and cultural organizer,” as well as “a humble mother of four,” and as “an Iranian-American Jewish person she has continually worked to achieve her vision of a community that offers a healthy, just and inclusive space for all of us.”

Weinblatt has lived in Port Townsend for 13 years, and as a teacher, Steele credited her with going “far beyond, to create a platform for marginalized voices to share their stories, and envision better futures,” by conducting “restorative circles,” where parents whose students have experienced racism in school have had space to be heard by school officials.

Weinblatt also co-founded the Community Equity Initiative, which contracted with schools to bring in “multiple people of different identities,” in Steele’s words, to work with staff and students, in addition to co-founding the Mandela Center for Change with her partner, Mark Weinblatt.

“Youth theater groups have also benefited from her involvement,” Steele said. “They have addressed complex social issues through creative theater forms.”

Weinblatt currently serves as the program director for Owl360, “The Nest,” which Steele summed up as “a new gathering place for teens,” where Weinblatt “brings inclusive and collaborative leadership to youth.”

Steele concluded her remarks about Weinblatt by saying, “In today's world, we honor this young woman — perhaps the youngest who has received our award — (for) showing our youth and our community that they belong today, and (they) can help lead our world tomorrow.”

Although Weinblatt was unable to attend the award ceremony in person, her parents received a plaque honoring her from AAUW Port Townsend, and Weinblatt herself had submitted a prerecorded address, in which she described herself as “surprised” to suddenly find herself among the prestigious company of the other women who have been named “Women of Excellence” by the AAUW over the years

“I was even more shocked, and really humbled, to realize that some of the women who have come before me are elders, mentors (and) women in the community whom I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for,” Weinblatt said. “It is very meaningful to me to stand with them.” Weinblatt summed up her efforts over the past 13 years as “chipping away” at what she could, and she’s found it “very exciting to partner with so many incredible people along the way, to help weave a tighter fabric in our community,” so that “we can see and hear one another better.”

Another way Weinblatt has sought to foster such connections is through her work with the Poetic Justice Theater Ensemble, “to use theater as a form of dialogue,” and she credited her freshly bestowed “Woman of Excellence” award with “giving me a lot of energy to keep going.”

Weinblatt concluded that “I look forward to seeing you in the community partner together on future projects, to continue to help uplift young people in the community,” as she assured her audience that “we really can hold each other well, and keep making good things happen.”

DeForest Evans noted that AAUW is celebrating not only 75 years in Port Townsend, but also $100,000 in scholarships, made to local women and girls through its sister organization, the University Women's Foundation of Jefferson County.