Two Springfield women to be recognized for work in their community

The Illinois Jaycees will honor two Springfield women as part of its Outstanding Young Persons of Illinois awards program.

The program annually recognizes young people who excel in their chosen fields, endeavors and show a great commitment to their respective communities.

Haley Wilson, the director of communications for the city of Springfield, was recognized for cultural achievement while Erin Burneson of Williamsville was recognized for humanitarian and/or voluntary leadership.

Wilson and Burneson will be recognized at an awards banquet in East Peoria on April 27.

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Wilson, 33, is the founder of The Culture Experience LLC, an organization with a mission, according to a news release, "to create a cultured and comfortable environment for minority groups to embrace the joy of new and unique experiences by facilitating fulfilling cultural collisions to happen."

Wilson recently told The State Journal-Register that The Culture Experience was born out of the city's history of segregation traditionally divided east and west by the Ninth Street railroad tracks.

Wilson is a member of Kiwanis, Together Women Rise, Illinois Women in Leadership and the Informal Educators Group and serves on the United Way of Central Illinois marketing committee.

Burneson is co-founder of BHAYLI, a project that empowers women in rural Indian villages by helping them to secure sustainable livelihoods through opportunities in up-cycling.

She also founded Studio Rachanā, a creative consulting company whose mission is to work alongside individuals, communities and businesses to catalyze creativity for social and environmental impact and collaboratively solve complex humanitarian problems.

While in India, Burneson co-founded a collaborative learning program designed for adults from different religio-cultural communities to learn with and from one another.

Jaycee membership is open to people between 21 to 40. For more information, visit illinoisjaycees.com or springfieldjaycees.com.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Two women from Springfield area to be recognized by Illinois Jaycees