A program of InterFaith Works: 4th annual Racial Justice Award presentation:
Wednesday, April 1 at Syracuse Stage, 820 East Genesee St. the fourth annual Justice Awards will be presented to Geneva Hayden, Community Activist and Eva Williams, Counselor at Corcoran High School.
The Racial Justice award is presented annually to celebrate individuals living in Central New York who work vigorously for racial equity.
“Join us in honoring these two women, an evening of thought provoking-theater, a discussion about the power of hate and what citizens can do when the seeds of hate take root in a community,” said Beth Broadway, Director of CWD.
Schedule:
6:30 p.m. – Dessert Reception with presentation of this year Racial Justice Award & Lifetime Award for Racial Justice.
7:30 p.m. – The Diary of Anne Frank
Following Performance – Panel and Audience Discussion Standing Against Hate
Moderator: George Kilpatrick – Director of Community Affairs, WCNY-TV
Panelists:
Dr. Joseph Downing – Associate professor, School of Music, Syracuse University.
One of the hate crimes in our community last year involved the murder of a transgendered individual. Dr. Downing will reflect on the effect a hate crime towards one member has towards all members of a community.
Deputy Chief Frank Fowler – Syracuse Police Department
Presentation on the current situation in our community of hate-related crimes and the role of the legal system in addressing them.
Imam Abdur-Rahim Muhammad – Board Member, CWD to End Racism
Discussion on the importance of interfaith allies in standing against hate and the role of dialogue in creating the kind of community where hate cannot flourish.
Ruth Federman Stein, PhD – Interiam Director, Academic Integrity Office, Syr. Univ.
Dr. Stein’s parents escaped Nazi Germany in the late 1930”s. She will tell some of her family’s stories of survival and courage, and talk about the importance of standing up to hate.
The preview performance of The Diary of Anne Frank in partnership with Syracuse Stage is a fundraiser for Community Wide Dialogue to End Racism, a program of Interfaith Works of CNY. Suggested donation for tickets in support of the work of CWD is $25 to $150 per person, as your resources allow. A limited number of tickets are available this year, so register early.
For more information or to reserve tickets contact Maquisha Mullins, 449-3552 ext. 119 or e-mail [email protected].
About the two honorees:
Geneva Hayden, Community Organizer
2009 Racial Justice Lifetime Achievement Award
In 1994, Geneva Hayden retired from her 25 year career as a teaching assistant at Danforth School. “What’s next?” she thought, and launched her second “career” as a community organizer. She first developed CURN, a grassroots community action organization to respond to the needs of residents of the Midland Avenue, Furman Avenue, and Kennedy Street. Seeing children without the needed adult supports, she started driving children to school when the parents failed to do so. She met with the young men who hung on the street corner, plopping her lawn chair in their midst, and listening to their despair about finding a summer job. A summer car wash grew in her driveway, the youngsters using her hose and buckets to make some pocket money for the summer. Next, she opened her living room to community children, building a free library and after school program.
As the word spread, her work spread, including the creation of Kwanzaa Park in an abandoned lot across from her home. This park became a focal point of pride for the neighborhood and included a community garden where each child could have a little bed of vegetables and flowers, while learning about nature, and creating beauty in the neighborhood. “Beauty strengthens and inspires,” says Geneva. After participating in the Central New York Community Foundation’s Neighborhood Leadership Training, she learned about power dynamics, and “became empowered,” building a sitting area with a mural fence through her grant from them.
As the work grew, the need for community collaboration was apparent, and Hayden wove a network of organizations together to support the neighborhood. She got support from Syracuse City School District and moved the after school program to Beard School, pulled in her colleagues from Danforth, got Betts and Beauchamps Library, which became the headquarters for the weekly reading program, and now a new math tutoring program. Syracuse University sent grant-writers and student mentors; and three Presbyterian Churches in Marcellus, Little Falls, and Syracuse and the Methodist Church in North Syracuse gave support, as did the Gifford Foundation.
In the last few years, Hayden’s work has morphed into Light a Candle for Literacy, a year-round program that supports adult and child literacy and parenting skills throughout Syracuse’s south side, culminating in a summer parade and festival. Literacy is broadly defined in this amazing effort, not just limited to reading, writing, math, and using a computer. Literacy means feeling connected to the village, seeing oneself as responsible for one’s family and the village, being able to navigate the larger community, learning how to return to the village to share the gifts that have been given. She’s now building a parenting program with Peace, Inc.’s Project Connection.
Geneva has been married to Al Hayden for 45 years, and together they have four children, Cheryl, Ronnie, Kevin and Randy. She has seven grandchildren and three great grandsons.
“Throughout my life, I have tried to teach people that they are valued and to open the doors of opportunities. One of the mom’s from our neighborhood with two little boys is getting her nursing degree at OCC, we’ve got kids in college now who come back and say ‘thanks for saving my life.’ Her next project is employment, helping her neighborhood to establish day cares, become teachers, and one day, burying the phrase “I CAN’T” and replacing it with “I CAN!”.
Eva D. Williams
2009 Racial Justice Award
A large poster on the wall behind her desk proclaims: “I will be the first in my family to get a college degree, to have a career I love, to earn enough money to enjoy life.” Throughout her own career, Eva Williams has helped hundreds of young people realize this dream.
Born in the US of Liberian parents, Eva says she was “raised Liberian,” meaning with a strict parental eye on her actions, whereabouts and values. Eva’s maternal grandfather was the Liberian ambassador to the UN, and her father’s family came to the US fleeing political unrest that killed her great grandfather and great uncle. Though her parents came from opposite sides of the Liberian political spectrum, they formed a family together here in their new country. She credits this careful upbringing with her own life philosophy:
{Q}”I always wanted to see fairness and right. It comes from my heritage. I grew up in the arms of people who made sacrifices for justice, and I learned that justice doesn’t come without a price,” Eva Williams said.{Q}
Williams is currently a school counselor at Corcoran High School, Syracuse. Prior to that, she was a school counselor at Jamesville-DeWitt High School, at Henninger High School, and served as senior admissions advisor for SUNY-ESF.
At Corcoran, she provides academic and developmental counseling for 300 students, and helps prepare students for their post-secondary careers. Widely respected by the students, parents, and peers, Eva has initiated the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) Summer Enrichment Academy, has coordinated the Corcoran-Cazenovia High School Exchange with Community Wide Dialogue to End Racism, initiated and participated in the staff dialogue entitled Helping Every Student Succeed which is helping to inform school policy and practice related to racially relevant teaching, and both initiated and serves as the advisor for the youth chapter of Rotary International – Interact, and the newly created W.E.B. Dubois National Honor Society.
“Often, we hear colleges and employers telling us that they cannot find qualified candidates of color,” Williams said.
This is a statement that Williams never accepts. She designed and implemented SUNY-ESF’s Summer Environmental Awareness Program for seventh through twelfth graders, as well as a pre-college orientation program. Eva is a true believer of garnering belief into action. She opened the doors of the college for students of color.
She is married to Lawrence Williams, and together they have three children, Lauren, Adjuah and Ayanna. She and her husband have been one of the driving forces behind the success of the Kirk Park Colts.
“I have spent my career working for educational equality for students of color. God led me to positions that have enabled me to do this. Because of my family foundation, hearing the stories of my elders, watching them, I learned and understood the potential of our community. It is that potential that drives my passion and work. I don’t feel I have done more than anyone else; I am doing what I believe is my responsibility to those who have come before me and those yet to come,” she said.
