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Federation, Multi-Million Dollar Black- and Latino- Operated Agency “Dissolved” Using Judge’s Order With Suspect Signature And Missing 10-Pages

David Mark Greaves
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By Milton Allimadi

Part Two of a series on the disputed dissolution of Federation of Multi-cultural Programs (FMCP): This article  was reported on by The Black Star News’s Milton Allimadi, and Guerrilla Journalism’s Carolyn Jenkins and Michael Howard. It was written by Allimadi.

The order purportedly signed by New York State Supreme Court Judge Richard A. McNally dissolving a 50 year-old Black- and Latino- operated non-profit agency tending to people with developmental disabilities is missing 10 pages and the signature on it appears not to match the judge’ signatures on other documents in the same case.

It’s not at all clear if McNally signed the order since it also does appear to have the stamp of the Albany, county clerk.

Additionally, signatures on other documents in this same case, attributed to Judge McNally, appear not to always match.

Meanwhile, receivers appointed to oversee the Federation of Multi-Cultural Programs’ (FMCP) affairs have paid themselves and their staff almost $2 million since June, 2015.

In the first part of this series, The Black Star News reported that ousted executives of Federation claim their organization was a victim of a “power grab” by competitors who have since been awarded Federation’s clients and 14 buildings it owned worth about $25 million. They claim there was no financial mismanagement and that the lawsuit was a ruse.

The Black Star News sent written questions to Messrs Bruce A. Hidley, Albany County Court Clerk, and Robert D. Mayberger, Clerk of the New York State Supreme Court, Third Appellate Department, in Albany, asking them to verify whether at least three of the several documents in the case were signed by Judge McNally.

There were two different actions against Federation one with caption 400/2015 and the other 5671/2015. Some documents in the case are filed in the county court house and others in State Supreme Court at the appellate department.

The documents The Black Star News questioned the clerks about are: The Order dissolving Federation, dated February 4, 2016, which is missing 10 pages. After the first page the next pages are 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16.

A second document, is an order dated June 7, 2016, restraining Federation from signing documentation that would permit fired executives Danny King, the CEO and Beatrice Gonzalez, the human resources director, from drawing from their vested pension funds.

A third document in question is an order dated July 27 and attributed to Judge McNally that authorized the financial receiver Joseph Nelson “to release to himself the balance of funds held back from the retainer installments that he has been able to obtain to date for the payments of the balance of his fees, as well as those of his retained professionals, for the period from February 1, 2016 through March 31, 2016 and it is further ordered, the receiver is authorized to continue disbursing to himself monthly retainers on an ongoing forward basis and applying 50% of such retainers to his fees, as well as those of his retained professionals, on a monthly basis, all in accordance with prior orders of this court.”

Unlike all the other signatures –even when they don’t seem to match– this particular signature on the July 27 document does not appear to have been executed with a black ink pen. A copy of the order was sent to Regina Felton,  a lawyer representing Federation in its appeal by James Lagios’s law firm; he’s financial receiver Nelson’s lawyer.

The signatures on all the three documents The Black Star News asked the court clerks to verify all don’t appear to match.

Other documents reviewed by The Black Star News include the June 11, 2015 order appointing Nelson the financial receiver and the January 7, 2016 order that denied then Federation lawyer Paul Bleifer’s motion to McNally to reverse the order appointing Nelson.

Jessica Barrett Secretary to County Clerk in an e-mail message to The Black Star News said: “The Albany County Clerk verifies an original Judges signature by placing Mr. Hidleys stamp below the signature.”

The June 11, 2015 McNally order appointing receiver Nelson does have the clerk’s stamp.

The McNally order of January 7, 2016 denying Bleifer’s motion to reverse the appointment of Nelson does not appear to have the clerk’s stamp;  The June 7, 2016 order blocking King and Gonzalez from drawing from their vested pension funds does not appear to have the clerk’s stamp; and, the February 5, 2016 order of dissolution, which had a signature but not even Judge McNally’s name, does not appear to have the clerk’s stamp.

The Black Star News did not receive a response from the clerk at the appellate department by publication time.

“This order is very questionable,” says King, the fired CEO, referring to the dissolution order missing 10 pages.

“There are no findings of fact and no conclusions of law,” says Felton, the Brooklyn-based lawyer handling the appeal.

Federation was “dissolved” about eight months after the financial receiver Nelson was appointed by Judge McNally.

When the Office of People with Development Disabilities (OPWDD), the agency that funds Federation,  petitioned Judge McNally in December, 2015, to dissolve Federation –six months after the judge had appointed receiver Nelson– the state asked for an expedited process claiming Federation executives were depleting its resources.

Instead, what was really happening was “an orgy of billing” says one of the executives fired by Nelson, referring to the money paid by the receivers to themselves and their staff.

Here’s how the fees escalated and now heads towards $2 million: Nelson paid himself a monthly fee of $75,000 beginning in June, 2015 after his appointment, then the judge approved his request to increase his fee to $102,000 per month; Nelson’s lawyer, Lagios, has been paid a monthly average exceeding $50,000; Tom Lydon, the COO of a Federation competitor, Lifespire, who was appointed the operating receiver by OPWDD in a possible conflict of interest, has a handsome monthly fee of $100,000; financial receiver Nelson also pays $26,000 per month for two armed security guards he’s placed at Federation’s headquarters; and, there are  additional tens of thousands of dollars in other fees and expenses.

What’s more, as previously reported, Lifespire was sued for $25 million last year by the mother of a mentally-challenged girl who was raped in its Harlem facility. (Megan O’Connor-Herbert, assistant commissioner of OPWDD, didn’t respond to a written question as to whether the lawsuit against Lifespire was taken into consideration before she selected Lydon as operating receiver).

Documents related to the case, in the form of a letter from Nelson’s lawyer, Lagios, to the New York State Office of Medicaid Inspector General, Division of Medicaid Audit say the operating receiver, Lydon, was an executive of a company named Manhattan Management Solutions (MMS). The Black Star News confirmed that the address listed as MMS’s was the exact same one for Lifespire.

Lagios reported to the Inspector General’s office that Lydon had discovered $1.6 million unaccounted for in Medicaid-sourced funds designated for Federation’s clients. “Is it not interesting that that figure matches the amount the receivers have paid themselves and their staff?” says King.

He adds that Federation had passed OPWDD reviews for six years in a row.

In a statement issued last week to The Black Star News in response to questions, a spokesperson for the New York State Attorney General confirmed that OPWDD had hired Lifespire as the operating receiver and that it was McNally who appointed Nelson.

The statement reads: “The financial receiver was selected and appointed by the court. The operational receiver was selected by OPWDD, based on their criteria for experience and qualifications, and appointed by the court. Fees and expenses are paid pursuant to court order. Lifespire is the temporary operating receiver. None of FMCP’s programs have been or will be transferred to Lifespire. The court is the primary oversight authority, pursuant to statute. The receivers are required to comply with Charities Bureau and OPWDD requirements applicable to FMCP’s operations.”

(Bleifer, the lawyer who represented Federation before the dissolution order claimed in a court filing that he never consented to the appointment of receiver Nelson, as Judge McNally wrote in his order; McNally later denied Bleifer’s motion to reverse the appointment).

Messrs Nelson, Lagios, and Lydon didn’t respond to written questions for this report submitted to them by e-mail message, including a question about whether any of them had a relationship, business or otherwise, with Judge McNally before the Federation case.

Separately, Lifespire’s CEO, Mark Van Voorst, didn’t respond to an e-mail message seeking comment.

“These obscene fees are drawn from Medicaid-sourced funds designated for Federation’s clients. For the clients’ food and medication,” says King, the fired CEO.

King says he fears the receivers may now write even larger checks for themselves since the July 27 court order –with a signature The Black Star News asked the clerks to verify– sets no cap on the amount of money that Nelson can pay himself.

As previously reported, after OPWDD sued Federation in January, 2015, claiming it couldn’t pay its bills, OPWDD and the Department of Health (DOH) the other agency that funds Federation, both claimed that they had made mistakes in their rate calculations about 10 years earlier and over-funded Federation by $7.6 million. OPWDD and DOH recouped all the money within a four-months period by reducing funding to Federation until all the money was recovered.

This aggressive recoupment, which crippled Federation, wasn’t discussed during the hearing before Judge McNally, King says.

Even with the aggressive recoupment, Federation executives made adjustments. King, for example, reduced his own salary by $35,000.  Additionally, when OPWDD sent Federation a funding-check for $5 million King says he sent it back.  “That check I returned, plus the millions in reduced funding should have satisfied the $7.6 million recoupment,” he says. “What happened to the millions I returned? This proves that this was about taking over Federation.”

King says he also hired “one of the best” financial consultants, David Picker, a former senior OPWDD executive of 30 years, to help Federation develop a financial recovery plan to endure the aggressive recoupment. He also hired a second financial consultant named Sanjay Singla.  He said the two experts put together a plan and Federation sent a weekly report to OPWDD.

Singla didn’t return phone messages from The Black Star News seeking comment. Picker declined to comment when contacted beyond acknowledging that he did perform work for Federation and saying, “My testimony speaks for itself.”

The court reporter in State Supreme Court didn’t have a copy of the transcript because when Picker testified McNally conducted the hearing in Rensselaer County Courthouse, in Troy, where New York State Supreme Court judges also sit.

Federation has 360 full-time Local 1199SEIU unionized employees in Brooklyn’s economically-depressed neighborhoods of Brownsville, Bed-Stuy and East New York sections; and, in the Bronx’s Huntspoint area.

Meanwhile, some Federation employees claim they were recently fired for suspected loyalties to King.

“I worked with OPWDD for nine years as a purchasing agent,” says, Lionel White. “My termination was based on an accusation that I cut a check for attorney services. I didn’t have the authority to do that. I had outstanding performance evaluations during my employment.  I have been promoted three times: from direct-care assistant manager to H.R. coordinator, culminating with purchasing agent.  I never took a day off.  My attorney is appealing this termination.”

White says his termination letter was signed by Judge McNally and issued by assistant attorney general Laura Sprague. He says he hasn’t been paid three weeks’ of vacation time owed.

“My termination resulted from an anonymous telephone call accusing me of attacking someone,” says a second fired employee, Parris Jones, who was an assistant manager.  He said he’d never received any complaints or reprimands during his four-years employment.

On Monday, the appellate department approved Felton’s motion to consolidate her appeals –the appointment of the receivers and the order of dissolution– and to extend the appeal deadline from July 25.  Assistant attorney general Sprague had opposed the motion.

Federation’s buildings and clients were all distributed to the following competitors by Judge McNally’s order dated June 25, even while Federation is appealing his decisions and rulings: Institute for Applied Human Dynamics, 32 Warren Avenue, Tarrytown, NY, 10591; Services for the UnderServed, 305 Seventh Avenue, 10th Floor, NY, NY, 10001; Birch Family Services,104 West 29th Street, Third Floor, NY, NY, 10001; and, Evelyn Doughlin Center for Serving People in Need, Inc., d/b/a The Thrive Network, 241 37th Street, Suite 604, Brooklyn, NY, 11232.

Note to Our Time Press and Black Star News readers:
The following signatures appear on various documents reviewed by The Black Star News, in the Federation of Multi-Cultural Programs (FMCP) case, are attributed to Supreme Court Justice Richard A. McNally Jr. (The five signatures are the ones that appear above his name; not the letters that appear like BaRB, next to 6-8-16 and 6/16/15). Beginning with the top signature and going downward, they appear on the following documents: (1) A letter from assistant attorney general Laura A. Sprague signed on February 5, 2016 as “so ordered” by McNally authorizing the firing of “disruptive employees.” The name appears as Richard A. McNally, instead of Richard A. McNally Jr., as it appears on all other orders (2) Order signed June 7, 2016 restraining Federation from allowing fired CEO Danny King and human resources director Beatrice Gonzalez from access to their vested pension (3) Order signed June 11, 2015, appointing financial receiver Joseph Nelson (4) Decision and Order signed January 7, 2016 denying then Federation Paul Bleifer’s motion to reverse the appointment of Nelson and to change the Order to reflect that Bleifer didn’t consent to the appointment (5) Order dissolving Federation signed February 4, 2016 and missing 10 pages. Only a signature appears but not the name Richard A. McNally Jr.

Letters To The Editor

David Mark Greaves
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0

Non-Profit as Target Draws Responses

To the Editor:

The closing of non-profit in black and brown comminutes has become the new form of corporate greed. Vital servers re take out of the community and given to agencies that have become the new poverty pimps. FMCP article outlines this concept of classism; economic freedom and racism within a system that feels people of color can’t manage millions of dollars. The more you read FMCP history this article become more intense as how and why FMCP was targeted. I live in Brownsville and seen how FMCP serve various programs to educate the developmental challenge. Hey have provided the community inclusion and integration within the senior population.

I will also state the information in this article asked question that must be answered by Office for persons with Developmental Disabilities (OPDD) and Attorney General Office (AG) to see if there was conclusion between them. Their needs to be more extensive writing on this story and let the truth be told. I am also amazed how the abuse of authority and so few can make so much money were as the people who provide the services make much less.

Tamika Jackson

 

 

To the Editor:

The FMCP article is very disturbing. The fact that a people of color agency that provides service to those who cannot fend for themselves was taken out of the community and given to another community is simply economic racism. I find it is the loss of jobs and opportunity that was given to the men and women of these communities such as: Brownsville, Bronx and Manhattan. The abuse of authority by the Attorney General Office and OPWDD need to be looked into. The information in this article is clearly about redistributing the assets of this agency. Most people make about $25,000.00 a year while the receiver appointed by the court makes $120,000.00 a month just to manage an agency that had provided vital service for over 50 years. These communities that are affected should be outrage and our local elected officials should be put on the spot for allowing this injustice to occur.

Danielle Boyd

Flatbush Takes It Back Before It’s Gone

David Mark Greaves
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Flatbush Takes It Back Before It’s Gone

By Akosua K. Albritton

Like so many Brooklyn neighborhoods, Flatbush and East Flatbush are experiencing unsettling change. They have been known for decades as strongholds for people of Caribbean descent—English and Creole-speaking. In fact, Flatbush is known as “Little Haiti” and claims to have more Haitians residing there than in Port-au-Prince. Block after block along Flatbush Avenue (Flatbush’s key commercial corridor) and along Nostrand Avenue (East Flatbush’s key commercial corridor) down to the Flatbush-Nostrand junction, the avenues are dotted with produce stands that offer tropical foods such as negro yam, yautia, buru, papaya, pineapple, sour orange, dragon fruit and salt fish.

Back in the 1970s, the historic landmark district called Prospect-Lefferts Gardens was designated on October 9, 1979 for its architecturally distinct housing. Prospect-Lefferts Gardens Neighborhood Association (nee 1968) had operated as a neighborhood preservation company on Flatbush Avenue to respond to the residential and commercial needs of the area. One project was ensuring the route of the J’ouvert Morning revelers was a safe and joyful one.

Today, Flatbush and East Flatbush residents are facing displacement. Many people prefer to the term “gentrification” but this term literally means “the process of becoming gentry or of the middle class”. Most of the Caribbean people who moved into these neighborhoods came to the area in the 1960s for the express purpose of being home and business owners. They opened restaurants, lounges, medical offices, printing shops and other enterprises to experience the “American Dream”. They fight back the displacement with the call to “Before It’s Gone,Take It Back”. That call was coined by the activists involved with Equality for Flatbush.

Equality for Flatbush hosted a rally on Saturday, August 13, 2016 in Prospect Park close to the entrance on Flatbush Avenue off of Empire Boulevard at high noon. On this hot and muggy day, people living in Flatbush, East Flatbush and other parts of Brooklyn rallied to decry the displacement of longstanding residents, the construction of high-rise luxury condominiums and to decry the harassment, violence and death of people of color by the hands of New York City police officers.

Imani Henry is the founder of Equality for Flatbush, which is a people-driven organization that formed in June 2013. He proudly told the crowd that 17 of the board members were women. Dressed in a black T-shirt emblazoned with the phrase, “Brooklyn Is Not for Sale” in white letters, Henry introduced the day’s speakers.

This reporter arrived as the representative for Brooklyn Movement Center made his closing remarks and Imani Henry called Nabil Hassein of Millions March NYC to the front to address the attendees who were seated on the grassy slope. Hassein talked about the Shut Down City Hall effort where people established a tent village named “Abolition Square”. Hassein said Abolition Square was a response to police aggression against black and brown people. He stated, “The police are supposed to criminalize and brutalize the black and brown community” under the current administration.

This tent village went up in City Hall Park on August 1, 2016 in an effort to remove William Bratton from the NYC Police Department Commissioner seat. Bratton had estimated resigning from the post in 2017 but instead resigned the second day of Shut Down City Hall.

Imani House Executive Director Bisi Ideradullah put the current neighborhood and housing crisis facing Flatbush and East Flatbush within the context of the domestic and international social struggles. Ms. Ideradullah encouraged people to be active and consistent in their effort. Up to recent weeks, Ideradullah Imani House at 76A Fifth Avenue was faced with business eviction along with Tabeel Aromatherapy Gifts and Salon at 76 Fifth Avenue. She made note that both establishments are owned by women of African descent and located on Fifth Avenue in Park Slope. The two fought successfully to keep their enterprises at their longstanding locations. Ideradullah directed the attendees’ attention to the Marcy Houses in Bedford-Stuyvesant. She said the NYCHA property is a prime location for renovation and tenanting by the newcomers to Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Noha Arafa, a public defender, Brooklyn member of New Yorkers Against Bratton and Coalition to End Broken Windows talked passionately about the dollars and sense of jumping the subway turnstiles. Arafa explained, “Jumping the turnstile is a misdemeanor punishable by one year in jail…For not paying $2.75, the city spends $500 to process an arrested person. Many offenders are encouraged to accept the one-year sentence”. Arafa added, “People have more time in jail than Police Officer Peter Liang, who killed Akai Gurley”.

Equality for Flatbush member Ryan Richardson informed rally attendees about Guy Hochman and his MySpace NYC growing chain of realty offices. Richardson opined, “Hochman is profiting off of a displacement business model based on working with building owners to harass existing renters to replace them with higher-income tenants and raise rents”.

MySpace NYC realty offices are located in Crown Heights and Flatbush. Richardson said, “Landlords and real estate businesses like MySpace NYC don’t want to be put on blast but that’s what we’re doing”.

The event transitioned from rally to the “neighborhood walk”. On this hot, muggy day, people of all colors smoothed on sunscreen, picked up picket signs and banners to form a long line. Imani Henry preferred calling the march a “neighborhood walk”. He advised the body that “the walk had unnamed stops in Flatbush and East Flatbush”. Not naming the stops in advance was done in order to not disturb the activities occurring at the places of interest.

The group left Prospect Park to head south on Flatbush Avenue to reach 262 Flatbush Avenue. This is the address of the luxury high rise with studios renting at $2,000 monthly; one-bedroom apartments starting at $3,000 monthly; and two-bedroom apartments starting at $4,000 monthly. Hudson Company Security did not permit the body-holding signs that read “Before It’s Gone Take It Back”, “Brooklyn is Not for Sale” and “Brooklyn No Se Vende” to enter the premises, though they had agreed over the telephone to give a tour.

Just one block and across the street from the new condominium sits MySpace NYC at 661B Flatbush Avenue. Though a Saturday afternoon, the office was closed with the front gate rolled down. The activists chanted and knocked on the gate for five minutes before walking north on Flatbush Avenue to reach Fenimore Street. Henry guided the group to the middle of the block before stopping the walk and chanting to explain how longtime homeowners and tenants on Fenimore were experiencing stops and questioning by the NYPD and increased ticketing.

The group continued walking and chanting on Bedford Avenue to Church Avenue. As they approached an outdoor prayer service within the Holy Cross Church school yard, the group became quiet and resumed the chanting yards past the scene.

Given the heat wave, the demonstrators maintained adequate energy to walk and to chant various calls. Imani Henry and other Equality for Flatbush members unfailingly distributed flyers to people along the neighborhood walk route. The end of the walk was across the street from the 67th Police Precinct on Snyder Avenue. Noha Arafa increased her fervor in the presence of the police. With bull horn at her mouth, she led the group in a call and response that ended with the phrase, “F*&k the Police”. The visit to the police precinct and chanting was due to these women, Chantal Davis and Kyan Livingston, having been killed by 67th Precinct police officers.

To learn more about Equality for Flatbush and Before It’s Gone Take It Back which documents Brooklyn residents’ responses to displacement, visit Equality for Flatbush and Take It Back Before It’s Gone at their respective Facebook pages. Contact Equality for Flatbush by telephone at 646-820-6039 and visit Before It’s Gone Take It Back online at www.beforeitsgone.com.

Local Brooklyn Kid Journalist Gets Inside Scoop on DNC through Premier Scholastic Program

David Mark Greaves
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Local Brooklyn Kid Journalist Gets Inside Scoop on DNC through Premier Scholastic Program

Only 34 other young people in the nation can claim to have done what 12-year-old Adedayo Perkovich did this summer.

The brilliant young resident of Ft. Greene/Clinton Hill, was one of 35 young gifted and talented kid reporters in Scholastic News’ Kids Press Corps, the nation’s oldest and largest student reporting program. And they landed the plum assignment of covering the Democratic National Convention earlier this month.

At the DNC, she talked to voters, fellow journalists, and politicians including Symone D. Sanders, the Former National Press Secretary for Bernie Sanders, and Congressman John Lewis of Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District, with whom she’s seen in the photo we received from Scholastic, Inc. 

Here in Brooklyn, when Adedayo has free time, she plays the piano and sings.

Our Time Press is proud to publish Ms. Perkovich’s DNC story here, and hopefully others in the future.

.  .  .

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON MAKES HISTORY

by Adedayo Perkovich

Hillary Clinton accepts her party’s nomination for the presidency on Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

On July 28th, Hillary Clinton became the first woman in United States history to be nominated for the presidency by a major political party.

“It is with humility, determination and boundless confidence in America’s promise that I accept your nomination for President of the United States,” the former Secretary of State said. It was the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the crowd at the Wells Fargo Center was electrified.

Throughout the week, Democratic politicians, public figures, delegates and celebrities came to Philadelphia to express support for the former Secretary of State.

“I hope that Clinton will lead America to higher heights,” said Representative John Lewis of Georgia, “and sees that all of our young people get the best education.” Lewis, who is also a civil rights leader and an author, worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. to help organize the 1963 March on Washington.

A DIVERSE GROUP OF SUPPORTERS

An enthusiastic and diverse group of supporters filled the arena during speeches by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama, among others.

Adedayo earlier this year with Representative John Lewis, a civil rights leader and Democratic Congressman from Georgia.

“In this election,” the First Lady said on the opening night of the convention, “there is only one person who I . . . believe is truly qualified to be President of the United States, and that is our friend Hillary Clinton.”

“A BETTER TOMORROW”

On Thursday night, Chelsea Clinton and Katy Perry, among others, took the stage. Excitement in the arena was building until Hillary Clinton appeared in a white suit. White was the color worn by women who fought for the right to vote in the early 20th century.

“America’s destiny is ours to choose,” Clinton said. “Let’s build a better tomorrow for our beloved children and our beloved country. And when we do, America will be greater than ever.”

On Friday morning, Clinton and her vice presidential running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, headed out on the campaign trail. They held rallies in Pennsylvania and Ohio, two states that will be crucial in the presidential election. The “jobs-focused” bus tour is aimed at appealing to voters who are struggling economically.

Clinton will face Republican Donald Trump, a New York City businessman, in the general election on November 8.

The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce Annual NY City Economic Development Day at Columbia University

David Mark Greaves
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The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce Annual NY City Economic Development Day at Columbia University

By Jennifer Cunningham

Photos by Nadezda Travodova

Honorees: John Schreiber, NJPAC; Stephanie Allen of Verizon FIOS,
NYPD Asst. Chief Kim Y. Royster;

A national civil rights activist, a trailblazing African-American female NYPD Chief, the President of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and Verizon FIOS were honored at a special luncheon as part of HARLEM WEEK’s NY City Economic Development Day.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, NYPD Assistant Chief Kim Royster, John Schreiber of NJPAC and Verizon FIOS were feted Aug. 11th at the 3rd annual Basil A. Paterson Business Awards Luncheon at Columbia University.

Royster urged others to consider careers with the NY Police Department and acknowledged that she stood on the shoulders of many to get where she is. “But for all the trailblazers on the dais, those that have gone on, I would not be standing here today,” she said.

The event drew some of New York’s best and brightest, including NYC Council member Inez Dickens, Congressman Gregory Meeks; Kenneth Knuckles, Esq., UMEZ; NAACP head Dr. Hazel Dukes, former Mayor David Dinkins, former Gov. David Paterson and Hon. H. Carl McCall, Chairman of SUNY among the esteemed guests.

The luncheon also included a special tribute to Rep. Charles B. Rangel as he prepares to depart from the House of Representatives after 46 years. The “Lion of Lenox Avenue” promised that he would remain very active. “Retiring from the Congress doesn’t mean that I’m retiring from Harlem,” Rep. Rangel said. “I’ll be here–including serving as Chairman of the Harlem/Havana Music & Cultural Festival.”

Gov. Paterson gave a glowing introduction to his great friend, the Rev. Sharpton “Every time there has been a problem, he’s been there to stand with the community and defend it,” the governor said. But the Rev. Sharpton attributed much of his activism locally, nationally and internationally to Basil Paterson and his close friends saying it wouldn’t have been possible without the “Gang of Four” – Mayor Dinkins, Basil Paterson, Rep. Rangel and Percy Sutton.  “May we never forget that the trail we walk did not start with us and will not end with us, but let’s walk it as best we can while we’re here,” Rev. Sharpton said.

The event was part of the annual Hon. Lloyd E. Dickens and Hope R. Stevens, Esq. New York City Economic Development Day where New York businesses, nonprofits, city, state and federal agencies and the public came together to discuss ways to keep the economies of the Harlems of New York robust and diverse. Many sponsors of the event participated in the daylong indoor business expo. Artists from the hit Broadway musical “The Color Purple” provided much-sought-after tickets to the show for the chamber’s business drawings which also included trips to the Caribbean.

Hon. David Dinkins, Rev. Al Sharpton, Hon. David Paterson
MTA

Staff helped attendees to navigate the many exhibits including MetroPlus, MTA, NYC & Company, Infrastructure Engineering booths.  “We’re here today because it’s really important to understand the economic benefits provided by the various exhibitors,” said Zakia Feracho, of the New York Road Runners, which will host the Percy Sutton Harlem 5K Run on August 27th as part of HARLEM WEEK. “We’re here to talk about economic health, but your health is your wealth, and it’s something you can be in control of.”

HARLEM WEEK, which is presented by The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, celebrates all things uptown through a series of music, cultural and community events all summer.

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