On Tuesday evening, over 200 women and men attended the 2009 Neighborhood Dinner to celebrate three visionary women leaders of Brooklyn at the historic Brooklyn Academy of Music. For the last 15 years, the Dinner has recognized the power of women acting in and for their communities and has honored exceptional women leaders who have demonstrated commitment to neighborhood-based work on behalf of women and families in New York City.

This year’s recipients of the Neighborhood Leadership Award were Laurie Cumbo, Founder and Executive Director of Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Benita R. Miller, Founder and Executive Director of Brooklyn Young Mother’s Collective, and Barbara Turk, Senior Fellow of Community Resource Exchange and former Executive Director of the Brooklyn YWCA. There was a special tribute to the late Sister Mary Paul Janchill, the Co-Founder of The Center for Family Life and the 2005 recipient of the Neighborhood Leadership Award.

Rossana Rosado, the Publisher and CEO of El Diario and New York Women’s Foundation® (NYWF®) Board Member, hosted the 15th annual Neighborhood Dinner. Yvonne Graham, the Deputy Borough President of Brooklyn presented citations to each honoree and a proclamation to The Foundation from the office of the Borough President. Also in attendance were Letitia James, Brooklyn Council Member, David Weprin, Queens Council Member, as well as representatives of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce. Many of The Foundation’s Brooklyn grantee partners were present to share their work in the community.

“Since 1999, The Foundation has invested over $3.4 million in Brooklyn’s community based programs. Through your support, we increased our grantmaking by over 20% this year,” said Ana Oliveira, President and CEO of NYWF, “we are truly pleased to welcome three new Brooklyn organizations as grantee partners: Local Development Corporation of East New York, Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, and CHANGER. We are committed to supporting the incredible work of our women leaders and our grantee partners in creating community-led solutions.”

Thank you to all the honorees, co-chairs, our friends and supporters who made the 2009 Neighborhood Dinner a great success!

Photographs by Sue Orchant and Randi Klein