Aaron Bartley, co-founder and executive director of the community development agency People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH), is the recipient of the first annual Alison Des Forges Memorial Award.

The award, which recognizes an individual or organization whose actions exemplify a commitment to advancing the cause of human rights and social justice, was presented as part of the fifth annual Alison Des Forges Memorial Committee Symposium, “Counterterrorism, Electoral Politics and Human Rights,” held April 27 at UB.

The award honors Des Forges, the internationally recognized human rights activist who died in the 2009 crash of Flight 3407 in Clarence.

Bartley is credited with founding, developing and sustaining PUSH, as well as spearheading afterschool programs, energy conservation, and public and private investments on Buffalo’s West Side and key issues on the East Side.

His nominators noted that “no other individual in Western New York has done more to ensure economic development, social justice and community sustainability for low- and moderate-income individuals in our community.”