Remembering Elsie Richardson …
Our Time Press launches their March 9 – 30 Womens History Month Phenomenal Women series this week, with a look at women fighting on the ground for social and community justice — activists, community builders, and careerists who epitomize the spirit of the great Elsie Richardson (1922-2012). The Brooklyn civil rights and community activist’s visionary work in the 1960s led to the organizing of Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, the first community development corporation in the US. During the 1940s, Ms. Richardson, Harlem-born, also fought for Civil Rights alongside Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. in Harlem.
On Page 6 of this issue, members of the powerful Church Women United-Brooklyn organization of Christian women are highlighted. The cover story below the ongoing social justice work of Zakiyah Ansari, Advocacy Director for the Alliance for Quality Education in New York, and Zara Nasir, Director of The People’s Plan – NYC. The continuing community engagement work of the spirited ever-young Hon. Betty Staton is illuminated.
Next week, an OTP exclusive interview with Ms. Blondel Pinnock, Restoration’s first woman President and CEO appointed in July 2022 — the heir of Richardson’s dynamism and visionary thinking, will be featured next week. The Rev. Dr. Valerie Oliver-Durrah, President & Chief Executive Officer of the Neighborhood Technical Assistance Clinic, will be featured in the March 30 issue. -The Publisher