Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims Jr. presented Foward with a key to the city during the city commission on Wednesday.
Mims said, “Now I’m not sure what that key will open, but I just want to make sure that you know that you are very much appreciated here in the city of Dayton for all that you do.”
Foward said he was honored to be selected as activist of the year, considering there are more than 2,200 NAACP units across the country.
“If it wasn’t for my team, I still would not have received this award,” he said.
Foward said he was nominated for the Image Award by his fiancé Tiwona Branham, treasurer for the Dayton NAACP and a teacher at Thurgood Marshall High School.
He said he asked Branham to marry him at the NAACP Image Award ceremony in Hollywood, California. She said yes.
“That was the first time that had ever happened — that someone had actually proposed at an NAACP Image Award,” he said.
The NAACP Image Awards were held earlier this year during a star-studded event at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium that was broadcast on CBS and BET.
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