Bismarck Human Relations Committee Names Annual Humanitarian Award Recipients

The Bismarck Human Relations Committee (HRC) has selected a youth, an adult, and a business or nonprofit organization to receive its annual Humanitarian awards for leadership in advancing human rights. The awards recognize individuals and organizations that educate, advocate, and work to eliminate discriminatory barriers while promoting dignity and equal opportunity for all.

The awards will be presented during the June 23 Bismarck City Commission meeting at 5:15 p.m. on June 23. Honorees will be recognized in the following order: Youth Award Recipient, Levi Engelstad; Adult Award Recipient, Megan Frankl-Mann; and the Business or Nonprofit Organization Award Recipient, Century High School Peer to Peer Program.

Levi Engelstad

The HRC named Engelstad as the recipient of the Youth Humanitarian Award. He was nominated by Rhonda Styles-Rohde. Engelstad has volunteered throughout his childhood and teenage years, particularly with Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID). His four years in this program have developed advanced skills in critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, collaboration, leadership, cross-cultural understanding, communication, digital literacy and self-reliance.

"Levi's leadership is rooted in compassion, humility, and a genuine desire to make life better for others," Styles-Rohde wrote in her nomination. "He leads not by authority, but by example-through kindness, reliability, and a steady commitment to human dignity and community service."

Engelstad has also created welcome kits for new students at his school, ensuring every new student - regardless of background, ability or circumstance - feels supported from day one. He also helped create May Day cards to brighten the days of classmates, staff and community members who may be struggling or feeling overlooked.

Megan Frankl-Mann

The HRC selected Frankl-Mann as the Adult Humanitarian Award recipient. Frankl-Mann, director of Hope Manor, first engaged with the organization as a participant in 2014 before becoming its leader in 2023. Hope Manor provides structured residential living environments for individuals recovering from alcoholism or addiction.

"(Frankl-Mann) doesn't talk about the people Hope Manor serves as recipients of help; she talks about them as colleagues in recovery, neighbors, future alumni, future leaders," wrote the individual who nominated Frankl-Mann. "That stance shows up in small, repeated acts of dignity. She writes character reference letters for residents headed to court. She drafts pardon applications. She designs participation policies that treat residents as adults with agency, not subjects to be managed. She sponsors women in recovery scattered across the country, holding monthly Zoom meetings because geography shouldn't determine who gets support. When alumni reach milestones, she celebrates them publicly - not as proof of Hope Manor's success, but as proof of theirs."

Century High School's Peer to Peer Program

The HRC has selected Century High School's Peer to Peer Program as a recipient of the business or nonprofit organization Humanitarian Award. The program was nominated by Sara Bohrer.

Peer to Peer is a structured support system that pairs students to learn with, and from, one another with the goal of building connections, sharing knowledge and strengthening academic and social skills. Bohrer highlighted one event, Neurodiversity Palooza, where students from multiple schools created and ran interactive booths as part of a communitywide celebration of inclusion.

"At the event, Peer2Peer students worked alongside individuals with disabilities to design, run, and participate in the booths," Bohrer wrote in her nomination. "Everyone had a role in engaging with visitors and sharing in the experience, regardless of disability. The focus was not on limitations, but on participation and connection. This event helped show the community what inclusion looks like in action. By working together, all participants had a meaningful role."

Human Relations Committee

The HRC is a seven-member volunteer advisory board for the City of Bismarck. The committee meets at 4 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month in the Mayor's Conference Room on the fourth floor of the City/County Building, 221 North Fifth Street.

You can learn more about the HRC, as well as see past Humanitarian Award recipients, by visiting the HRC webpage.