An award named for Nancy Latimer will be given Thursday to two women who've long worked to improve the well-being of young children.

Dr. Glenace Edwall and Zoe Nicholie will receive "Nancy Awards" at a conference in Brooklyn Park.

Edwall has served as director of the Children’s Mental Health Division at the Minnesota Department of Human Services since 2000. She is responsible for the state’s county-administered mental-health service system, supports the state’s 95 children’s mental health and family service collaboratives, and oversees policy related to children’s mental-health benefits provided through Medicaid.

Nicholie retired this year from Ready 4 K, the statewide early childhood advocacy organization, where she directed the Build Initiative and Ready 4 K's public policy work. She helped broker a new coordinated, comprehensive early childhood system. She also helped lay the groundwork for the creation of a statewide early learning council and launch the Minnesota Quality Rating and Improvement System, a collaboratively developed system of assessments, incentives and education to improve the quality of child care.

The award is named for the late Nancy Latimer, a longtime senior program officer at The McKnight Foundation and lifelong advocate for children and families. Her husband, George, was mayor of St. Paul.