Hosted by G. Angela Henry, this year’s Civic Spirit Awards dinner will honor Eleanor Jackson Piel, Esq., Fern Khan and David R. Caplan.
Monday, April 25th, 2011
6:30 Reception
7:15 Dinner and Program
Cosmopolitan Club
122 East 66th Street
For ticketing details, please view the invitation
For the evening’s program please click here
WCC’s 95th Anniversary Honoree Eleanor Jackson Piel has been a member since 1966 and serves as Co-Counsel to the organization. She was the only woman in her law school class of 1943 at the University of California Berkley. A trailblazer in criminal law and civil rights issues, she took on civil rights cases, class-action suits for gender discrimination and death penalty appeals. Not only was she the first to use DNA in defending clients but Piel also argued before the Supreme Court four times. She has been described by Yale Law School Journalist in Residence Linda Greenhouse as one who “has devoted her energies to the most downtrodden, despised, friendless segment of our society.”
Dean of the Division of Continuing Education at Bank Street College, Fern Khan’s 21 years at the college included developing Bank Street’s Head Start program to meet the needs of homeless children and families, overseeing and managing programs, personnel and budget. She also provides courses, workshops, institutes and consultations for educators, social workers and after school staff. Previously, as Associate Dean for LaGuardia Community College’s Division of Adult and Continuing Education, Khan implemented the first comprehensive program in NYC providing deaf adults access to continuing education courses and developed the College for Children Program on Saturdays.
David Caplan, a Board member of National Public Radio and 3 time honoree as “Man of the Year” before retiring from a successful career in the apparel and textile industries, currently works as the “Dean” for City Year New York. A non-profit organization, City Year selects 17 to 24 year old youths to be trained to do intensive tutoring and mentoring in 20 of the city’s highest need schools for a year. “The students thrive with the help of our corps and our corps thrives through their work with the students,” says Mr. Caplan.
Presenting their awards, respectively, will be Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., WCC member and former Bank Street President Augusta Souza Kappner, and writer Morgan Pehme, Executive Director of New York Civic.
