Categories: Network Events
10.21.2013
Honorees include New York's Medicaid director, True Colors Residence, Dr. Frank Lipton and more
Ted Houghton introduces guests at the Network's Awards Gala. For more pictures from the event, see our Facebook page or scroll to the bottom of this article.
New York’s supportive housing community congregated once again last week for the Network’s tenth annual Awards Gala. Some 550 guests arrived at Capitale on Wednesday for a night to celebrate the outstanding individuals and residences of supportive housing.
Despite the federal government shutdown and a still-recent death in the supportive housing family, the mood was cheery at Capitale. The evening began with a 90-minute cocktail hour as guests arrived, mingled, sipped drinks and noshed on hors d'oeuvres. We made sure to give guests plenty of time to network, celebrate old friendships and make new ones.
The night culminated, as always, with our awards ceremony. This year, we awarded five remarkable individuals and two stellar residences. Richman Housing Resources President Bill Traylor began the ceremony with a quick welcome and a moving tribute to Alan Epstein, a Network Board Member who passed away last month.
“We dedicate this night to the memory of Alan Epstein, a great friend and a great champion,” Mr. Traylor said. “Alan also loved a great party, so we have to party as well.”
Next to the stage was Network Executive Director Ted Houghton, who served as a master of ceremonies for much of the night. Mr. Houghton sought to reassure those assembled that the shutdown would not impact supportive housing’s established reputation in government.
“Whatever happens, supportive housing’s going to be OK,” he said. “If we’re going to have a civil society, we need this kind of model for people.”
Mr. Houghton also urged attendees to get involved in three major housing initiatives: United for Homes, Housing First! and United to End Homelessness.
The first honor of the night went to True Colors Residence, winner of the NYC Residence of the Year award. True Colors offers housing and services to 30 LGBT formerly homeless youth in Harlem. This historic residence is the very first supportive housing program in the nation specifically for LGBT youth. In accepting the award, West End Residence Executive Director Colleen Jackson thanked the building’s development partners, the staff and the Network.
“The Network’s commitment and dedication to all of us who develop supportive housing make it one of the most effective and most powerful organizations in the state,” Ms Jackson said. “I’m really proud to be a member.”
The Upstate Residence of the Year award went to Hill Street Inn, a 20-unit supportive housing program in Troy. Hill Street Inn overcame intense initial opposition to become a pillar in its community. Kevin O’Connor accepted the award on behalf of Joseph’s House and Shelter, the building’s provider. In his speech, Mr. O’Connor recalled his days in New York City during the start of the supportive housing movement.
“In 1989, we had this SRO Providers Group, and we all said ‘We need to get better organized,’” he said. “Those little meetings on the West Side became the Supportive Housing Network of New York. And now we’re here at Capitale on the Bowery? It’s very impressive.”
Shannon McEachern received the first of two Tenant of the Year Awards. A tenant at YWCA of Binghamton and Broome County, Ms McEachern has overcome a decade of homelessness and a crippling addiction. She’s now a celebrated advocate who also sits on YWCA of Binghamton and Broome County’s Board of Directors. Shannon’s advocacy famously inspired U.S. Rep. Richard Hanna to become the only Republican to sign a letter urging Congress not to enact cuts to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Program.
“This award gives me the reassurance that what I’m doing is right,” she told the crowd.
The other Tenant of the Year award went to Johanna Flores, a longtime tenant at Hour Children in Queens. Ms Flores was overcome with emotion as she thanked Hour Children Executive Director Sister Tesa Fitzgerald and her entire Hour Children family. If there were any dry eyes in Capitale’s ballroom, we didn’t see any.
“I never would have believed that this award would happen to me when I went to Hour Children straight from prison 10 years ago,” she said. “I was homeless. I didn’t have friends or any family in New York City. It was Sister Tesa who gave me a second chance.”
The next award went to Dr. Frank Lipton of the NYC Human Resources Administration. Dr. Lipton is the second recipient of our Tim O’Hanlon Unsung Hero of the Year award. Father John McVean and Father John Felice, the founders of the very first supportive housing residence, introduced the honoree. The fathers recalled a young Dr. Lipton in the 1980s who conducted a study on the effectiveness of supportive housing at one of their residences.
“Long after that study was over, the tenants would ask about Frank,” Father Felice said. “He treated them as friends, not as patients. They loved him.”
In his wide-ranging and insightful speech, Frank thanked the pioneers of supportive housing, many of whom were in the building that night: Fathers McVean and Felice, Ellen Baxter of Broadway Housing Communities, Tony Hannigan of the Center for Urban Community Services and Laura Jervis of the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing.
“I feel obligated to set the record straight,” he said. “For its pioneering advances in coordinating care, improving health outcomes, decreasing institutional costs and fostering residential stability, supportive housing deserves to be recognized as the true unsung hero.”
Rick Lyon of Capital One Bank accepted this year’s Private Sector Partner of the Year award. Mr. Lyon was introduced by JoAnne Page, Executive Director of Fortune Society. Ms Page noted that Capital One has helped finance 516 units of supportive housing in NYC since 2008, including Fortune Society’s own Castle Gardens.
“I don’t know how you cup your hands around the difference that 516 homes make to families, to individuals, to communities,” she said. “The Talmud says to save one life is to save the universe. I don’t know how many universes your life has touched, Rick.”
For his part, Mr. Lyon pledged to help continue Capital One’s investment in New York supportive housing.
“We’re here tonight because a society should be judged not what they do for their most wealthy, but what they do for their most vulnerable in their hour of need.”
The night’s final award went to Jason A. Helgerson, New York State’s Director of Medicaid. The recipient of our Government Partner of the Year award, Mr. Helgerson has almost single-handedly led New York to become the first state to invest in supportive housing as a means to lower Medicaid costs. Mr. Helgerson thanked the Network in particular for helping him see the light on supportive housing and healthcare.
He closed the night with a call to action.
“The challenge we have now is to take our evidence to Washington,” Mr. Helgerson said. “We need to convince our federal colleagues that supportive housing is the kind of program that Medicaid should help finance. If we can get the federal government to contribute to this effort, we could really see Medicaid become a major catalyst for expanding access to affordable, supportive housing.”
We’d like to extend a huge thank-you to everyone who helped make this our most successful Gala to date. Along with giving us a chance to honor those in our community, the Awards Gala helps fund roughly one-fifth of the Network’s annual budget to advocate on behalf of New York’s 220 supportive housing providers. We sincerely hope you had an enjoyable evening. See you next year!