CELEBRATING ITS TENTH YEAR, THE UNION SQUARE AWARDS HONORS
TWELVE NEW YORK CITY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
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FOUR PAST RECIPIENTS and EIGHT EMERGING ORGANIZATIONS WILL RECEIVE MORE THAN THREE-QUARTERS OF A MILLION DOLLARS
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November 1, 2007
This year, the Union Square Awards will mark its tenth anniversary
by honoring eight important, emerging community organizations
in New York City and by adding a “Special Achievement Award”
to recognize four past recipient organizations. The awards ceremony
itself will take place on December 8th at Manhattan’s Riverside
Church.
Special Achievement Awards of $100,000 each will go to four past awardees for
their outstanding accomplishments. In addition, eight emerging
organizations will each receive the prestigious $50,000 Union
Square Award in recognition of their exceptional work addressing
critical issues that are otherwise overlooked, neglected or inadequately
addressed. This year’s awardees work on a range of social
justice concerns and span across neighborhoods from Brooklyn’s
Sunset Park to the South Bronx.
Union Square Award recipients are widely recognized locally and
nationally as visionaries and leaders. They engage new communities
in public discourse, change public policy, and create innovative
models of service.
"We wanted to make this, our tenth year, a particularly unique
and uplifting one," said Union Square Awards Executive Director
Iris Morales. "So, we decided to add the 'special achievement
award' for past Union Square Award recipients who have sustained
themselves and expanded their work despite minimal resources.
Their work is recognized nationally and internationally for revitalizing
local neighborhoods and making significant and lasting contributions
to the people of our City," she continued.
The Union Square Awards realize the dream of an anonymous donor
to bring attention to grassroots activists taking action to improve
people’s lives and create social change. The Awards are
named after the park on 14th Street where New Yorkers have organized
and spoken out about major social issues since the nineteenth
century. Since its inception in 1998, the Union Square Awards
has granted more than $10 million to 160 organizations that have
not yet received either substantial funding or public accolade.
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
A $100,000 award toward general operating support will be made
to four past Union Square Award recipients for their outstanding
achievement in the following areas:
Developing Youth Leaders
The Brotherhood/Sister Sol (BSS) is a Harlem-based organization
that offers educational and organizing programs to develop Black
and Latino youth as critical thinkers and community leaders. 2000
Union Square Award recipient.
Creating Innovative Models
Based in Queens, Hour Children is a multi-faceted
family services provider for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated
mothers and
their children that offers a range of supportive services both
in prison and in the community. 2001 Union Square Award recipient.
Mobilizing Local Communities
Make the Road New York promotes economic justice,
equity and opportunity through community and electoral organizing,
strategic policy advocacy, leadership development, education,
and legal and support services. 1999 Union Square Award recipient.
Building Leadership for Community Development
Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, a center
for urban ministry located in the Bronx River Soundview/Bruckner
neighborhoods, develops the leadership of young people and local
residents so they may engage in rebuilding their communities.1998
Union Square Award recipient.
UNION SQUARE AWARDS
Eight grassroots organizations will receive the $50,000 Union
Square Award.
The Arab American Association of New York provides
a range of health and educational programs, social services
and cultural
activities for Arab immigrant families living in Brooklyn. Co-Founding
Members, Basemah Atweh, Dr. Ahmad Jaber, Hicham El-Anmati &
Suhad Kazma.
Grassroots Artist Movement (G.A.ME) is a membership organization
providing leadership development and other programs for Black
and Latino youth in the Bronx. Co-Founders, Omowale Adewale, Mutulu
Olugbala, Neneh Jalloh-Adewale & Francis Peña.
In the Spirit of the Children works with young people who have
lived in New York City’s foster care system providing programs
to help them successfully transition into adulthood and to prevent
them from becoming or remaining homeless. Founder & Director,
E.P. Jones.
The Interfaith Coalition of Advocates for Reentry and Employment
(ICARE) works to restore the rights of the formerly incarcerated.
It conducts educational workshops, seeks legislative changes,
and assists in ministry development. Founder & Director, Rima
Vesely-Flad,
La Union de la Comunidad Latina is a member-directed
community organization that mobilizes and builds leadership among
Latino immigrants in Sunset Park to improve living and working
conditions. Co-Founding Members, Artemio Guerra, Leticia Alanis,
Elizabeth Mendoza & Gerardo Cacique.
Mentoring in Medicine aims to increase diversity
in the health field and address health care disparities by providing
opportunities
and hands-on experience to low-income students of color. Co-founders,
Dr. Lynn Holden, Dr. Yvette Calderon & Dr. Jocelyn Freeman-Garrick.
Queens Congregations United for Action is committed to building
a faith-based organization that unites the community to achieve
social justice through organizing. Co-Founders, Pastor Bruce Ferguson
& Reverend Dr. Lancelot Waldron.
The Red Hook Initiative works “to confront and affect the
consequences of intergenerational poverty by providing support
in the areas of education, employment, health and community development.”
Founder & Director, Jill Eisenhard.
For more information about the Union Square Awards, visit www.unionsquareawards.org
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