The New York Public Library Presents $10,000 to the Winner of the 2000 Brooke Russell Astor Award

New York, October 22, 2000 -- On Thursday, October 26, The New York Public Library presented Yolanda Sanchez, Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Association for Community Affairs, with the Brooke Russell Astor Award. The $10,000 annual award, established in 1987 by a  generous gift to the Library from David Rockefeller, recognizes unsung heroes who have substantially contributed to improving the quality of life in New York City. The award was presented at a cocktail reception in the Trustees Room of The New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

Honorable Mentions went to Ruth Elizabeth Knapp, Founder of Lincoln Center's Department of Programs and Services for People with Disabilities and Ned O'Gorman, Founder of the Children's Storefront School and the Ricardo O'Gorman Garden and  Center for Resources in the Humanities.

Yolanda Sanchez is a life-long community advocate and activist whose work on behalf  of Puerto Rican and Latino children and women spans more than four decades and has resulted in major policy implications in child welfare, housing, and health services at local, state, and federal levels. She has served as a board member on the East Harlem Council for Human Services for years and has helped the organization become one of the most comprehensive multi-service agencies in East Harlem. She was a leading force in the  creation of the Boriken Neighborhood Health Center, the development of Taino Towers, a subsidized housing unit for the poor, and the creation of Casabe Houses, housing units for the elderly and handicapped. Ms Sanchez has served as Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Association for Community Affairs (PRACA) since 1993. She helped PRACA develop the first bilingual, bicultural day care curriculum in the 1970s which was later used as a model by nonprofit and government agencies throughout the country. Ms. Sanchez was also instrumental in helping a group of young people start Muevete, a movement to address the lack of curriculum in the public schools that speaks to the culture and history of the Puerto Rican and Latino communities. Ms. Sanchez has also a been founder and organizing member of ASPIRA of New York, the National Latinas Caucus, the New York Women's Foundation, and the New York Woman's Agenda.

Ruth Elizabeth Knapp is the Founder and Coordinator of Lincoln Center's Department of Programs  and Services for People with Disabilities ­ the only department solely devoted to outreach to people with disabilities at any performing arts organization in America. She was chiefly responsible for making Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater the most accessible theater in the country. She has helped launch large type and Braille services at Lincoln Center and has organized a program that brings volunteers with disabilities together for outreach to the community. Her acclaimed "Passport to the World of Performing Arts" program, which provides youngsters with disabilities and their families the opportunity to participate in arts performances and workshops, has become a model for other cultural organizations. She also serves on many committees including: NY State Board of Regents Select Commission of Disability and the Media, Health and Safety Commission of the US Institute for Theater Technology, and Capitol Projects Advisory Panel of New York State Council for the Arts.

Ned O'Gorman is a poet who has devoted much of his life to teaching and encouraging young people  in Harlem. He founded the Children's Storefront School in Harlem as a neighborhood preschool. It has grown into a tuition-free academy serving children from prekindergarten through eighth grade. After leaving the Storefront School in 1998, Mr. O'Gorman founded the Ricardo O'Gorman Garden and Center for Resources in the Humanities where children study match, science, art, music, geography, French, and Chinese. The Garden and Center seeks to give children a wide awareness of cultural possibilities, a strong sense of self, and the courage to deal with racial problems in this country.
 

The Brooke Russell Astor Award
The Brooke Russell Astor Award was established in 1987 as part of a generous endowment gift to The New York Public Library from David Rockefeller. Mr. Rockefeller's gift is a tribute to Mrs. Astor's continued commitment to supporting the role of individuals who improve the quality of life in New York City. Given annually, the Brooke Russell Astor Award honors an unsung hero or heroine, someone whose unrelenting efforts and tireless dedication to this city have contributed substantially to its betterment.

Nominations for the 2000 Brooke Russell Astor Award were solicited from over 200 individuals and  organizations, including cultural groups, universities, foundations, elected officials, community groups, and social service agencies. The selection committee included representatives from the cultural,   academic, government, and social service communities of New York.

Previous Astor Award Recipients:

1999 - Yvonne Stennett, Executive Director of the Community League of West 159th Street, who has devoted extraordinary energy and commitment to improving living conditions for the people in the Southern Washington Heights area

1998 - James Gilmore, a New York City police detective in Washington Heights and co-founder of One Hundred Blacks in Law Enforcement, a fraternal organization dedicated to working for social   justice.

1997 - Cordell Cleare, Co-Chair of the New York City Coalition to End Lead Poisoning, has conducted workshops on lead poisoning prevention at day care centers, head starts, public schools, and for the Montefiore Medical Center's Lead Poisoning Prevention Project.

1996 - Kathy Goldman, Founder and Executive Director of the Community Food Resource Center, has been working on city, state, and federal levels to address food, hunger, nutrition, and low-income issues in New York City.

1995 - Henry J. Carter, Founder of Wheelchair Charities, Inc., an organization that, through the efforts of volunteers, raises funds for people with disabilities.

1994 - Frank Carucci, Coordinator of Cultural Arts for the Career Education Center of the Board of Education. Mr. Carucci engages homeless and educationally disadvantaged "at-risk" adolescents in hands-on performing arts production.

1993 - Sister Elizabeth Hasselt, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Encore Community Services, an agency dedicated to improving the quality of life of poor and homeless elderly people in the Times Square and Clinton communities.

1992 - Dr. Joyce Wallace, M.D., F.A.C.P., Executive Director of the Foundation for Research on Sexually Transmitted Diseases and a pioneer in the field of AIDS care and research.

1991 - Guy Polhemus, Founder and Executive Director of WE CAN, a bottle and can redemption program that provided jobs for the homeless.

1990 - Marie Christopher, Co-Founder of Alliance for a Drug-Free City, who waged a successful battle against a drug dealer operating in her apartment building.

1989 - Genevieve Brooks, President and Executive Director of MBD Community Housing Corporation, a coalition of churches, tenant associations, and service groups created in 1974 to stop the deterioration of a Bronx neighborhood.

1988 - Rita Zimmer, Founder of "Women in Need," an organization on the West Side of Manhattan serving homeless women and their children.

1987 - Emma Blake, a retired practical nurse who devoted her personal resources to the hungry and homeless in Central Harlem.

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