About Joel Hernandez
The Joel Hernandez award honors a champion whose protest in the face of discrimination inspires us all. For 25 years, Joel Hernandez worked in the electronics industry at Raytheon as a calibration technician. After testing positive for cocaine in 1991, Joel resigned his position to prevent being fired. After he found recovery and with the support of his family, he applied for his old position at Raytheon. He found he faced a lifetime ban for employment at the company after receiving a card in the mail saying his application had been denied.
Joel fought hard to return to his old workplace and to help others in the future. His fight to get his job back under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) went all of the way to the US Supreme Court in a suit that he filed to regain the chance to compete for any job he had been qualified for in 25 years of being employed.
In 2004, a settlement in Joel’s favor was reached before it was ever brought before a jury. “People in recovery from addiction, their families and friends know that there is hope for every one of us, in spite of our past history. When I decided to sue Raytheon, I wanted to let others know that recovery works, and that we can give a good, positive message that we can be productive, tax-paying citizens,” Hernandez stated.
Joel’s fight to restore a basic civil right ignited the recovery movement and goes down as a pivotal moment in our history. Faces & Voices of Recovery honors this remarkable man, Joel Hernandez, who championed recovery advocacy until he passed away from cancer in February 2006.
About Vernon E. Johnson
The Vernon Johnson award honors the legacy of a man who devoted his life to spreading the message of recovery and helping others find recovery. Johnson was a person in long-term recovery and an Episcopal priest. After getting into recovery in 1962, Johnson began challenging the then-popular conviction that people with alcohol and drug use disorders had to hit bottom before they could begin to recover. As a result, he advocated for early intervention-a position that may be one of the priest's most valued legacies.
Because of early intervention, the jobs of thousands were saved as they were confronted by co-workers and professionals about their drinking. Many were sent to treatment centers and others treated in local outpatient facilities. Programs of intervention and employee assistance became common in the corporate world.
As a clergyman, Johnson encouraged the incorporation of faith into treatment and recovery and reached out to churches to make their facilities available for meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon and other groups.
In 1966, he co-founded the Johnson Institute, named in his honor. For over 40 years, the Johnson Institute trained people in recovery to carry their stories into places to decision makers, promote good public and private policies, and equip people of faith to respond to alcohol and other drug problems in their congregations in order to conquer addiction in our lifetime.
Johnson was a faculty member of the Rutgers University Summer School for Alcohol Studies and became nationally known for his lectures and three books on recovery including I'll Quit Tomorrow. Johnson passed away from cancer in 1998.- About the Joel Hernandez Award Recipient
- About the Vernon Johnson Award Recipients
- About America Honors Recovery
- Awards Home
Faces & Voices of Recovery and Hazelden's Center for Public Advocacy have joined together to host America Honors Recovery honoring the legacies of Joel Hernandez and Vernon Johnson. All contributions to the America Honors Recovery awards event will go to Faces & Voices of Recovery. For questions, please email or call Dannie Greenberg at (202)737-0690.
