Thanks for the Glorious Night – NYIC 2016 Gala a Success Because of You!

May 16th, 2017
Thanks for the Glorious Night – NYIC 2016 Gala a Success Because of You!

A big thank you from the Staff of the New York Immigration Coalition for attending this year's NYIC Gala on Tuesday, May 24th!

This past Tuesday, May 24th, a record 400 friends, allies, and supporters of the New York Immigration Coalition gathered for a wonderful evening to honor several distinguished champions for New York's immigrant communities! Thank you so much for making our 2016 Gala such a special, festive and jovial evening filled with laughter, music, and most importantly - wonderful people.

Over 400 guests gathered to celebrate the New York Immigration Coalition at this year's gala held at Capitale on the Bowery.

Because of your support, your donations, and your willingness to spread the word, NYIC surpassed its fund-raising goal with a record amount of donations! Your support will help us to continue doing critical work to improving the lives of New York's immigrant communities.

Click below to watch a video about NYIC's work this year:

Sincere thanks to our wonderful emcees: Juan Manuel Benítez, NY1 Noticias reporter and host of Pura Política and NYIC board member Linda Sarsour, executive director of Arab-American Association of New York for keeping our guests engaged all night!


NYIC Gala 2016 emcees Lindar Sarsour and Juan Manuel Benítez

And a huge congratulations to our amazing honorees for their contributions to New York’s immigrant communities!

The first award of the night – the NYIC Member of the Year Award - was presented to African Services Committee (ASC) for thirty three years of exceptional service to New York’s Black and African immigrant communities.

Click HERE to watch our Gala video about African Services Committee.


The first recipient of NYIC’s 2016 Justice & Opportunity Award for the night was presented to Josefina Vázquez Mota, President of Juntos Podemos whose leadership has helped better the lives of Mexican Americans, as well as improving their ties with Mexico.

Click HERE to watch our Gala video about Josefina Vázquez Mota.


The second recipient of NYIC’s Justice & Opportunity Award was presented to Joyce Chang, Managing Director and Head of Global Research at J.P. Morgan Chase, who is a critical role model for women and Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) New Yorkers.

Click HERE to watch our Gala video about Joyce Chang.


The final award of the evening was the NYIC Special Achievement Award, presented to the former Program Director for Migration at J.M. Kaplan Fund Suzette Brooks Masters for her contributions that truly shaped the field of immigrant integration across the country.

Click HERE to watch our Gala video about Suzette Brooks Masters.


And a big round of applause to our incredible evening entertainment, West African Percussionist Mangue Sylla and his team from Cumbe Dance: Center for African and Diaspora Dance for making people dance in and out of their seats!


A SPECIAL THANKS to those who made our gala so very special:

Huge appreciation to our major sponsors for their generous contributions: At the PatronLevel- J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.; Joyce Chang & David Robbins; Suzette Brooks Masters & Seth Masters; At the Ally Level - 1199SEIU Healthcare Workers East; 32BJ SEIU; The City University of New York (CUNY); David Polk & Wardwell LLP; Juntos Podemos; Partnership for a New American Economy; PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; United Healthcare Community Plan; Western Union; At the Friend Level- The Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York; Chul Pak & Michelle Lee; The City University of New York Chancellor James B. Milliken; Industry City; Pamela Klem & Thomas Dubin; Tiger Baron Foundation.

Humongous gratitude to our host committee: 32BJ SEIU; New York State Nurses Association; NYU Lutheran Family Health Centers (FHC); Transport Workers Union Local 100; World Education Services (WES); America's Voice; Alan Shapiro, MD, Co-founder and Medical Director of Terra Firma, a program of Montefiore and Children’s Health Fund; Carol Chang; Community Service Society of New York; District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO; Fay & Matt Jozoff; Gloria M Kim, Managing Director, J.P. Morgan; Jeffrey Lee, Mirae Foundation; Kathy Wylde; Laundry, Distribution & Food Service JB, Workers United, SEIU; Luis Oganes, Managing Director, Global Head of Emerging Markets Research, J.P. Morgan; Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service; Margie McHugh, MPI National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy; Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition; Michael Hirschhorn & Jimena Martinez; MinKwon Center for Community Action; Muzaffar Chishti; Nikki Cicerani, Upwardly Global; Parkin Lee; Penny Foley; Steven Koenig; Ted Ruthizer & the Business Immigration Group of Kramer Levin; Teresita Wisell, Community College Consortium for Immigrant Education, Westchester Community College; UJA-Federation of New York

Special Thanks to Southwest Airlines!


[Top right] NYIC honorees Suzette Brook Masters, Josefina Vázquez Mota, and Joyce Chang; [Top left] NYIC Staff Max Hadler, Charlotte Gossett-Navarro, Ariadna Rodenstein, and Andre Mozeak; [Bottom right] Amaha Kassa of African Communities Together and Taryn Higashi of Unbound Philanthropy; [Bottom left] NYIC Member of the Year African Services Committee, Bakary Tandia, Kim Nichols, Asfara Hadera, Ilfenesh Hadera;

Finally, cheers to YOU for believing in our work and for supporting immigrant rights every day!

We are only able to do this because of you—our members, allies, and supporters. Thank you! Please consider making a donation to help us continue our efforts to create a fairer, more just society that values the contributions of immigrants and extends opportunity to all.

We are United for Justice and Opportunity!

See more photos of our 2016 Gala on Facebook by clicking HERE.

The New York Immigration Coalition is an umbrella policy and advocacy organization for nearly 200 groups in New York State that work with immigrants and refugees.The NYIC aims to achieve a fairer and more just society that values the contributions of immigrants and extends opportunity to all by promoting immigrants’ full civic participation, fostering their leadership, and providing a unified voice and a vehicle for collective action for New York’s diverse immigrant communities.