Join us to honor impactful advocacy!

Our 2024 Honorees

Learn more about the 2024 Honorees!

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  Richard R. Buery, Jr.

  CEO, Robin Hood

  Vanguard Award

  A first-generation, Panamanian-American born and raised in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, Richard R. Buery, Jr. has spent his career fighting to advance equal opportunities for families and communities often left behind. At just 16 years old, Richard graduated from Stuyvesant High School and attended Harvard. He later earned a law degree from Yale.
  
  

  His impressive tenure includes a range of work in city government, including serving as Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives for the City of New York; launching Schools Out NYC and ThriveNYC; managing a range of city agencies; and creating the NYC Children’s Cabinet, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Mayor’s Office of Minority and Women Business Enterprises. Richard has also led four major nonprofits that are among Robin Hood’s grantees: the Brennan Center at NYU’s School of Law, KIPP, Children’s Aid, and Achievement First. In September 2021, Richard became the CEO of Robin Hood, one of the nation’s leading anti-poverty organizations.
  
  

  Richard has extensive experience as a leader, manager, and social innovator within local government, as well as New York’s vast social service nonprofit sector. A husband and father, Richard lives in Manhattan with his wife Deborah and their two sons.
  
  

  CCC has seen major success in our advocacy thanks to Robin Hood’s contributions to our participatory research projects and collaborative policy approaches to combat poverty and support NYC families. Read Richard’s full bio on Robin Hood’s website here.

• 

  Constance Christensen

  CCC Board Member

  Eleanor Roosevelt Award

  Constance Christensen has been a steadfast champion for CCC’s research, civic engagement and advocacy for the past three decades, playing a fundamental role in the success of our annual benefits and serving in a variety of CCC board leadership roles including Treasurer from 2006 to 2010 and President from 2021 to 2022. Constance played an instrumental role in helping the organization weather the economic repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic. She has supported the expansion of the organization’s research and advocacy teams and the re-envisioning of our community engagement programs, and in doing so has bolstered the organization’s efforts to produce first-in-class data analysis and participatory research, achieve budget and legislative victories, and create a more robust and inclusive community of advocates.
  
  

  Beyond CCC, Constance’s lifetime of service and philanthropic commitment has helped to create a more just and culturally vibrant city with a presence on boards such as the Brooklyn Museum and the Theater for a New Audience, the Brooklyn Hospital Center, and as the former Commissioner of the NYC Art Commission, now the NYC Design Commission.

• 

  The Healthy Minds, Healthy Kids Youth & Caregiver Council

  Samuel P. Peabody Award

  The Campaign for Healthy Minds, Healthy Kids (HMHK) is a coalition of behavioral health (mental health and substance use) providers, advocates, and families that seek to create the public and political will needed to ensure that all children and adolescents in New York receive the high-quality behavioral health services they need. The HMHK Youth & Caregivers Council is the Campaign’s foundation for intergenerational, community-driven advocacy.
  
  

  The council consists of New Yorkers who have experience with mental/behavioral health issues, are familiar with the needs of children and youth, and are passionate advocates for ensuring our communities thrive. The council works with the campaign to directly shape advocacy priorities that address issues based on their experience and deep knowledge of factors impacting the mental health of young people and their communities. The council’s work has directly shaped CCC’s advocacy around budget and legislative decision making at the state level.
  
  

  On behalf of the Council, the Council’s four impressive and dedicated elected Leaders will be accepting the award: Mashrafi Nur Anwar, Aprecia “Preem” Cabey, Mary Holiman, and Diane Tanner.
  
  

  Mashrafi Nur Anwar is a Bangladeshi-American currently pursuing his Master of Social Work degree at Columbia University under an Advanced standing Pathway and is one of the current youth council leaders for HMHK. He is a graduate of the NYU Silver School of Social Work with a BSW degree majoring in Social Work and minoring in Child & Adolescent Mental Health Studies. Mashrafi is currently a CPST and PSR service worker for the New York Youth Support Program.
  
  

  Aprecia “Preem” Cabey is a social and environmental justice activist currently residing in the Capital Region of New York State. She is a graduate of the SUNY Albany Emerging Nonprofit leadership accelerator and a former climate justice fellow for NYSERDA. Preem also serves as a board member and policy maker with many boards in the City of Albany.
  
  

  Mary Holiman received her Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with concentrations in Psychology and Criminology from Johnson C. Smith University. She obtained her Master’s in Public Health in Community Health Science and Practice from New York University. Mary has experience within the public school system teaching violence and substance misuse prevention, along with social and emotional regulation skills to K-12th grades. She currently works for Rise, an organization for parents impacted by the child welfare system, by parents impacted.
  
  

  Diane Tanner is a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother living in Rochester. She advocates for The Children Agenda, serves on a group forum for Monroe County Office of Mental Health/Substance Abuse, and is a service navigator for BIPOC PEEEEEEK which stands for Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Parents and Caregivers Elevating their voices to Educate and Empower Each other to Eliminate disparities in services related to the Emotional Health of our Kids. Diane is also a Family Peer Advocate (FPA-P) credentialed by New York State.