Kentuckian Awarded 2023 Purpose Prize®

AARP Announces 2023 Purpose Prize® Award Winners; Recognizing Five Outstanding Non-Profit Founders with $50K Awarded to Each Winner’s Organization

Kentucky’s 2023 Purpose Prize Award Winner is Jamesetta Ferguson, President and CEO of MOLO Village, CDC

WHAT: AARP announced its five 2023 Purpose Prize winners who have founded a non-profit and will receive $50,000 for their organization which includes Jamesetta Ferguson, Kentucky-based president and CEO of local nonprofit organization MOLO Village, CDC.

In addition, 10 AARP Purpose Prize fellows and their organizations will be recognized with an award of $10,000. All award recipients will receive a year of technical support from AARP to help broaden the scope of their organization’s work. Alongside the winners and fellows, AARP will present critically acclaimed filmmaker, screenwriter, actor and philanthropist Tyler Perry with an honorary Purpose Prize Award for his work through The Perry Foundation.

About AARP Purpose Prize:
Launched in 2005, the national Purpose Prize award honors extraordinary people ages 50 and over who tap into the power of life experiences to build a better future for society. Purpose Prize recipients have proven they are using their life’s knowledge and experiences to make a meaningful impact in people’s lives by tackling some of the greatest societal challenges and also by helping to build a better future for us all.

• A full press release with the complete list of winners and fellows can be found here.
• More on the AARP Purpose Prize can be found here.

WHO: Jamesetta Ferguson of Louisville, Kentucky and founder and president of MOLO Village, CDC is one of this year’s five winners and will be available for interviews to discuss how MOLO Village, CDC addresses complex issues the neighborhood of Russell faces in Louisville. Please reach out to the press contact above for an interview opportunity with Jamesetta.

About Jamesetta and MOLO Village, CDC: Jamesetta Ferguson, 66, of Louisville, Kentucky, is the president and CEO of MOLO Village, CDC. Molo (“welcome” in the South African dialect Xhosa) Village is a grassroots organization committed to holistically addressing complex issues that the neighborhood of Russell — a once-thriving African American community — now experiences, including poverty, inadequate housing, limited food access, low educational attainment, and systemic racism. As a pastor and community leader, Jamesetta knew effort was needed to bring wholehearted wellness to Russell, the community of her childhood.


WHERE: All honorees will be recognized at the AARP Purpose Prize celebration event in Washington, D.C.
WHEN:   October 25, 2022