The New York Public Library Awards $10,000 to Le Lieu Browne

New York, October 24, 2003 -- The New York Public Library’s Brooke Russell Astor Award for 2003 has been awarded to Le Lieu Browne, the Founder and Chair of the Refugee Women Council 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 ceremony in the Trustees Room of The New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.

Le Lieu Browne is the Founder and Chair of the Refugee Women Council (RWC), a nonprofit Bronx-based self-help group. The RWC was founded in 1986 by a group of women, many of them also refugees, to help other refugee women in the New York metropolitan area with acculturation and integration into their new environment. The RWC works to inform and advise the women about their rights and to direct them to available resources for their support and development. The purpose of the Council is to provide a platform for refugee women to identify and to make known their needs, problems and aspirations.

Special Mentions were awarded to Henry Pelayo, Jr., President, Castle Hill Little League; Frances Scarantino, Founder, Striving to Achieve and Reach Success, Inc.; and L. Ann Rocker, Founder and President, North River Community Environmental Review Board, Inc.

Among those attending the ceremony were Mrs. Astor, who warmly congratulated the winners; New York City Council Member Simcha Felder, of the 44th District, Brooklyn, who nominated Mrs. Lubling; and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, Jr., who is a member of the Selection Committee. “I feel very blessed to have been chosen,” said Mrs. Browne in her acceptance speech. “My childhood and family were taken away from me in Europe during the Second World War. As long as I can, I will do whatever I can to make people’s lives better.”

2003 Astor Award, Honorable Mentions
L. Ann Rocker
Founder and President, North River Community Environmental Review Board, Inc.
L. Ann Rocker is an environmentalist, who is the founder and president of the North River Community Environmental Review Board, Inc. (NRCERB).  For the past eighteen years, Ms. Rocker has been a leading voice for a pollution-free environment and for minimizing the impact of pollution on residents. Through educating the community, she has recruited and trained volunteers to speak out for the safety and preservation of their own neighborhoods.

Frances Scarantino
Founder, Striving to Achieve and Reach Success, Inc.
Frances Scarantino founded Striving to Achieve and Reach Success, Inc. (STARS) in 1996.  STARS consists of caring and dedicated volunteers who endeavor to provide mutually rewarding activities and events for the youth in the neighborhood and surrounding community. The STARS youth center offers educational programs, such as storybook and game classes, that promote literacy; recreational programs, such as performing arts classes and sports related activities; and self-development programs, such as the Self-Esteem Team, Girl Talk, and arts and crafts classes.

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 2003 Brooke Russell Astor Award were solicited from over 400 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 (past 5 winners)
2002 -- Miriam Lubling, the Founder and President of the Rivka Laufer Bikur Cholim. An advocate for patients and their families and is involved in numerous organizations that provide aid to children, holocaust survivors, and the poor and disadvantaged.

2001 -- Bryan Pu-Folkes, Founder and President of New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE). His response to an anti-immigrant billboard led to the founding of NICE, which is now recognized as a leading immigrant advocacy organization in New York City.

2000 -- Yolanda Sanchez, Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Association for Community Affairs, 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.

1999 -- Yvonne Stennett, Executive Director of the Community League of West 159th Street, 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.

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Contact: Debbie Bujosa, 212-704-8600.

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