On October 22, Bill Isler, President and CEO of Family Communications, received the United Cerebral Palsy / Community Living and Support Services (UCP/CLASS) Gertrude Labowitz Lifetime Achievement Award. The Community Heroes Awards Dinner celebrated Bill's efforts as well as others whom the organization recognized as Pittsburgh’s top humanitarians.

UCP/CLASS called Bill "a longtime professional educator and advocate for children."

Before presenting the award, the more than 300 guests saw highlights of Bill's career which included:

• his early years as a teacher and administrator;
  
  
• serving on the Pennsylvania Department of Education as Commissioner of Basic Education and Senior Program Advisor for Early Childhood Education;
  
  
• joining FCI twenty five years ago, where he works to guide the organization to best serve the mission of its founder, Fred Rogers;
  
  
• becoming the inaugural Executive Director of The Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College in 2005;

In accepting his award, Bill expressed his gratitude for receiving such as honor and called UCP/CLASS "a great organization filled with hope, achievement and love that helps people reach their full potential."

For more on UCP/CLASS visit their website.

Watch a segment from Bill's acceptance speech below.