Monday night’s 21st annual Phipps Community Builder Awards gala raised close to $900,000 to help Phipps Neighborhoods further the ongoing development of innovative solutions to the challenges that plague impoverished communities. The event was held at Cipriani 42nd Street and honored JPMorgan Chase Foundation for its ground-breaking vision and philanthropic work.
The evening highlighted the importance of education achievement, career readiness and community resources in rising above poverty and featured a video with stories from several program participants.
Shantel Burris, 24, participated in the Career Network: Healthcare program and shared her own personal story of going from unemployed to making twice the New York minimum wage as a dietary worker at Montefiore. “My life has changed since I got involved with the Career Network as far as me being able to be on my own, and me being able to provide for my family,” said Shantel. “I just feel like if I didn’t do it, where would I be right now?”
Thanking JPMorgan Chase Foundation for their financial support and partnership, Dianne Morales, Executive Director and CEO of Phipps Neighborhoods, discussed the importance of leadership and out of the box solutions:
We’re not doing this work to our communities or for our communities. We’re doing it WITH our communities. With the triple threat of high poverty, low academic achievement and high unemployment that continue to plague our communities, the times demand that we develop innovative strategies and solutions to address these issues. Funding that allows us to apply what we’ve learned, and provides room for advancing ideas, is critical to our ability to do that.
Watch the video Phipps Neighborhoods from the gala.