2025 Woman, Young Woman of Consequence Award Winners Announced

WORCESTER, Mass. - The City of Worcester Advisory Committee on the Status of Women (ACSW) presented the 2025 Woman and Young Woman of Consequence Awards Tuesday night. This year's theme was "Empathy in Action."

The 2025 Woman of Consequence Award was presented to community organizer Winifred Octave.

Octave was recognized for leading professionally and as a volunteer with vision, strength, and commitment to community uplift. Her leadership began decades when she was a child in St. Lucia, where she helped raise her siblings and followed in the footsteps of her mother, a community leader. After migrating to the United States, she worked for the City of New York, Merrill Lynch, United Way of Central Mass, and the City of Worcester. She currently serves with the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission.

In response to an uptick in violent crime in her Worcester neighborhood, Octave organized bi-weekly meetings with neighbors, police, city councilors, and state representatives. This grassroots initiative led to the creation of the Green Hill Neighborhood Association, a now-thriving organization that tackles safety, beautification, and community building. Her ability to unify residents, halfway house staff, social service agencies, elected officials, and businesses around a common goal exemplifies strategic and inclusive leadership.

Octave led efforts to renovate Worcester's Grant Square Park, a vibrant community hub. She also initiated and continues to coordinate the annual Earth Day clean-up with the Regional Environmental Council, led advocacy efforts that resulted in free summer programming for youth through Recreation Worcester, including job opportunities and meals for children ages seven through 13. Each year, she organizes the Green Hill Neighborhood Cookout, which brings together residents, elected officials, and service organizations to share in celebration and resource sharing.

The 2025 Young Woman of Consequence Award was presented to Worcester Public Schools graduate Jailene Matias. She is a freshman at College of the Holy Cross.

As a participant in Mass Audubon's Youth Climate Leadership Program, Matias has taken on a variety of leadership roles as a young climate activist. She recently emceed the Youth Climate Summit in Worcester event, where she moderated a panel of climate activists and facilitated a climate justice workshop alongside co-leaders.

Matias was an active and dedicated member of the Worcester State University Upward Bound program, where she assisted with organizing a fundraiser during the 2025 Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Breakfast. Upward Bound students, including Matias, came together to raise money to rent a bus to take their peers on a college tour. Under Matias's leadership, the Upward Bound program visited Boston University during the 2025 spring semester.

The ACSW was created in 1977 to formulate, encourage, promote, and monitor programs and policies relating to the status of women in the City of Worcester. The ACSW promotes community awareness of women's issues such as sexual exploitation, pay equality, and childcare through forums and recommendations to the City Manager and public awareness campaigns. Since 1996, the ACSW has highlighted extraordinary women of all ages through the Women of Consequence Awards.