Brooklyn Council Members Jumaane D. Williams and Laurie Cumbo will on Friday host the 4th Annual Shirley Chisholm Women of Distinction award ceremony at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Branch, honoring, among others, Angela Rye, principal and chief executive officer of IMPACT Strategies, CNN political commentator.
The ceremony takes place at the library’s Dweck Auditorium, Grand Army Plaza, from 6 – 8:30 pm.
Williams, Deputy Leader of the City Council, and Cumbo said they will honor the following other women from New York City, “who are blazing the trail in advocacy and public service”: Officer Ronette Benjamin, NYPD Community Affairs Officer for the 63rd Precinct in Brooklyn; Lori Knipel, NYS Committee Woman District Leader; Evelyn Ortiz, chief external affairs officer for Opportunities for Better Tomorrow; Debbie Almontaser, founding and former principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy; Joo-Hyun Kang, director of Communities United for Police Reform (CPR); and Carmen Perez, criminal justice reform activist and organizer.
There will be a spoken word performance by Assembly Member Diana Richardson and a keynote speech from Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Nisha Agarwal.
Williams said Rye has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump’s policies and advocate for disenfranchised communities in America.
Rye, a former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, has made several appearances on CNN, where she discusses the intersection of race and politics in this country.
Williams said the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA) has been at “the forefront in recent weeks following President Donald Trump’s immigration executive orders.”
He said MOIA has worked with his office in the past few weeks to organize town halls, “where immigrants could learn about their rights, access to resources and quell rumors of indiscriminate immigration stops.”