2012 North Star Fund Community Gala

On May 8 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, North Star Fund brought together more than 500 people to celebrate our work as a community to create a New York City that offers economic opportunity, a healthy environment, and a life of dignity for all its residents. Together, we raised $550,000 to fuel North Star Fund's grantmaking programs supporting grassroots community organizing in New York City.

The 2012 Community Gala was dedicated to our co-founder, Toby D'Oench.

Click here for opening remarks from Hugh Hogan, Executive Director of North Star Fund.

2012 North Star Awards

Honoring New Yorkers committed to social justice

Photo: Gerard Gaskin

Marjorie Fine

Marjorie Fine is Director of The Linchpin Campaign, which expands resources available to community organizing. She was Executive Director of North Star Fund from 1988 to 1993, during which she led and shaped North Star's activist-led grantmaking and progressive donor programming.
• Read more about Marjorie Fine
Watch the Videos
• View her acceptance speech
• View Barbara Winslow's introduction of Marjorie
• View Gara LaMarche's introduction of Marjorie

Photo: Gerard Gaskin

Benjamin Warnke

Benjamin Warnke is founder and principal of Alembic Community Development where he fosters cooperation among government, corporate, private, and nonprofit partners to develop affordable housing for low-income families and people with special needs across the Bronx, East Harlem, and Brooklyn.
• Read more about Benjamin Warnke
Watch the Videos
• View his acceptance speech
• View Linda Oalican's introduction of Benjamin

Photo: Gerard Gaskin

Kai Wright

Kai Wright is editorial director of Colorlines.com, a daily news site offering award-winning reporting on racial justice issues. His investigative reporting and analyses exploring the politics of sex, race, poverty, and health are featured in The Nation, The Root, The American Prospect, and National Public Radio.
• Read more about Kai Wright
Watch the Videos
• View his acceptance speech
• View Rinku Sen's introduction of Kai

2012 Frederick Douglass Awards

Recognizing grassroots activists striving for equality, economic justice and peace.

Photo: Gerard Gaskin

MinKwon Center for Community Action

MinKwon Center for Community Action works to meet the needs and concerns of the Korean American community, placing a special emphasis on marginalized community members who have less access to resources, including the youth, the elderly, recent immigrants, low-income residents, and limited English proficient residents.
• Read more about MinKwon Center for Community Action
Watch the Videos
• View their acceptance speech
• View Kyung Yoon's introduction of MinKwon Center for Community Action

Photo: Gerard Gaskin

Picture the Homeless

By developing leadership among members of the homeless community, Picture the Homeless empowers people to impact policies and systems that affect their lives, while also creating space for homeless people, and their agenda, within the broader social justice movement.
• Read more about Picture the Homeless
Watch the Videos
• View their acceptance speeches
• View Mark Reed's introduction of Picture the Homeless

Click here for a video of highlights of last year's Community Gala.

View videos of the event on North Star Fund's YouTube channel.

Events Photos

These photos of the Community Gala are also available on our Facebook page to view and share with friends.

Download Event Program