Join Us on April 17!
I warmly invite you to join me and the team at Community Impact at Columbia University for our Public Service Celebration and Awards Breakfast on Friday, April 17 at 9:00 a.m. in Lerner Hall on Columbia University’s Morningside Campus.
Guided by this year’s theme, Shared Stories. Collective Impact., this special gathering marks Community Impact’s 45th Anniversary and honors outstanding community members and partners who strive to build healthier, more equitable neighborhoods through diverse programs and practices.
Your partnership is instrumental to Community Impact’s work in Harlem, Washington Heights, and Inwood. This celebration is a testament to the power of collaboration and to Community Impact’s role as a bridge between the university and the communities we serve.
Please consider joining us as an event sponsor. The link below outlines available opportunities and benefits. Together, we can continue to support a rising generation of changemakers delivering high-impact services aligned with the most pressing needs of our communities.
Thank you for your partnership and for helping us celebrate 45 years of shared stories and collective impact.
Best regards,
Kenneth N. Ebie, Interim Executive Director
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Majority Leader Shaun Abreu (CC '14) is the Majority Leader of the New York City Council, representing Upper Manhattan and chairing the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. A Columbia University graduate and former tenant rights attorney, he has built his career fighting for working families and keeping New Yorkers in their homes.
Leila Bozorg, Deputy Mayor of Housing and Planning for the City of New York, represents the policy frontlines of New York City's most urgent challenge. The architect of the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, the most sweeping zoning reform in a generation, she brings decades of housing expertise at the city and federal levels to bear on a crisis that profoundly affects the communities Community Impact serves.
Richard R. Buery, Jr., CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, became the driving force behind Pre-K for All as Deputy Mayor under Mayor de Blasio, ensuring universal early education for every four-year-old in the city. Now leading Robin Hood, New York's premier anti-poverty organization, he continues to channel an intimate understanding of inequality into transformative, citywide impact.
Gerrard P. Bushell, PhD (CC '83), Chairman and Partner of Carlyle Airport Group Holdings (CAG), exemplifies the possibilities of a Columbia education applied to the public good. A Columbia alumnus and adjunct professor, he led the team that closed and delivered the $9.5 billion New Terminal One at JFK, the largest single-asset project financing in U.S. history, while ensuring that over $1 billion went to minority- and women-owned businesses and that 40 percent of jobs went to local workers.
Joan E. Griffith-Lee, Director of Columbia Community Service, is the connective thread between Columbia and its neighbors. Through her leadership of the CCS Annual Appeal, she has channeled the generosity of Columbia faculty, staff, and retirees into meaningful support for dozens of nonprofits addressing hunger, health, literacy, and opportunity in Harlem and Morningside Heights.
Reverend Dr. Serene Jones, President of Union Theological Seminary, has spent nearly two decades as one of Columbia's most distinguished neighbors and intellectual partners. The first woman to lead the 188-year-old institution, she has transformed the Union into a national voice on theology, democracy, and justice.
The Literacy Assistance Center has been one of New York City's most essential — and most quietly indispensable — forces for equity since 1983. A nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the adult education system and advancing literacy as a foundation for social and economic justice, the LAC trains teachers, coaches, instructors, supports curriculum development, and advocates for the 2.2 million adult New Yorkers who lack a high school diploma, English language proficiency, or both.