Former President Barack Obama was the recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization’s Ripple of Hope Award in New York City on Wednesday night, according to CNN.

RFK Human Rights is an advocacy group named after the former U.S. senator and attorney general who fought for civil rights and social justice.

Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert Kennedy and the president of the organization, presented the award to Obama. This year is the 50th anniversary of Robert Kennedy’s 1968 assassination, the same year of his historic campaign for the presidency.

The Ripple of Hope is given to leaders “who have demonstrated a commitment to social change.”

Barack Obama joins past recipients of the Ripple of Hope including Al Gore, Robert DeNiro, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.

“I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but I’ve been on this hope kick for a while now,” Obama said during his speech. “Even ran a couple of campaigns on it. Thank you for officially validating my hope credentials.”

Following the honor, the 44th president commented via Twitter on the achievement.

“As Bobby Kennedy taught us, the thing about hope is that it travels through space *and* time, first splashing against the rocks, but eventually breaking down the walls of cruelty and injustice,” he wrote.

“And if we do our best with the time we’re given, others will take hope in our example.”

The Ripple of Hope was also given to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Humana CEO Bruce Broussard and Discovery CEO David Zaslav.