Thank you for joining us on October 30th to hear inspiring stories from extraordinary advocates making change for children in New York City, around the country, and around the globe.
Your support will help CCC improve the lives of the nearly 2 million children living in New York City, one-third of whom live in poverty.
Keynote Speaker Ronan Farrow Eleanor Roosevelt Award Agnes Gund Vanguard Award Abigail Disney Samuel P. Peabody Award Child Welfare Organizing Project Master of Ceremonies Juju Chang Breakfast Co-Chairs Mahsa Pelosky, Nancy Solomon, Heidi Stamas
Speakers and Honorees Ronan Farrow The Gail B. Nayowith Keynote Address
Ronan Farrow is a writer, human rights lawyer and diplomat. At age 25, he is one of the world’s foremost experts on youth activism, having served as the United States’ first envoy on youth issues, led the Obama administration’s response to the Arab Spring revolutions, and founded the State Department’s Office of Global Youth Issues for President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Born to movie star parents and raised in a family of fourteen adopted siblings from around the world, Farrow graduated Bard College at 15, was admitted to Yale Law School at 16, and was one of the youngest State Department appointees on record at age 21. At 23, he was awarded the renowned Rhodes scholarship.
Farrow’s writings have appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the L.A. Times, among others. He has been named New York Magazine’s “New Activist of the Year”, Harper’s “up-and-coming politician of the year”, and one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” most influential people. In 2014, Farrow will debut his own daily news show on MSNBC and in 2015 Penguin will publish his new book Pandora’s Box: How American Military Aid Creates America’s Enemies.
Agnes Gund The Eleanor Roosevelt Award Agnes Gund is President Emerita of the Museum of Modern Art, Chair of its International Council, and Chair of MoMA PS1. She is also the founder and a board member of Studio in a School, a non-profit organization she established in 1977 in response to budget cuts that virtually eliminated arts classes from New York City public schools. Studio in a School has served 800,000 New York City school children, 90 percent of whom are from low-income families.
Ms. Gund is Chair of the Mayor’s Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission of New York City, and currently serves on the boards of Chess in the Schools, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Socrates Sculpture Park, and the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, among others. She was appointed to the New York State Council on the Arts in January 2012 and in 1997, received the National Medal of the Arts from President Clinton.
Abigail Disney The Vanguard Award Abigail Disney is a filmmaker, philanthropist and activist. She is co-Founder of the Daphne Foundation, a progressive, social change foundation that has provided over $6.8 million in grants to programs that confront the causes and consequences of poverty in New York City and West Africa, with a particular interest in grassroots and emerging organizations.
As a filmmaker, Ms. Disney produced the documentary, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which told the story of the women of Liberia working to bring peace after decades of civil war. She also produced the five-part PBS series, Women, War & Peace, and is now working on a new film, Awakening, highlighting women in the Arab Spring. She serves on the boards of the Global Fund for Women, The Fund for the City of New York, Shining Hope for Communities, The Roy Disney Family Foundation, and founded Peace is Loud and co-founded the Gbowee Peace Foundation, USA.
Child Welfare Organizing Project
The Samuel Peabody Award The Child Welfare Organizing Project (CWOP) is a parent / professional partnership dedicated to improving the lives of New York City children through parent-led public child welfare reform. Most of CWOP’s staff and Board are parents who have had children placed in foster care, have succeeded in reuniting their own families, and use their experience to help other families facing similar challenges and function as a collective force for system change. CWOP’s peer-designed and led Parent Leadership Curriculum is intended both to orient parents to their rights and responsibilities within the system, and prepare them for meaningful employment as peer advocates. This has yielded hundreds of graduates and over 50% have secured jobs with a variety of foster care, preventive, and legal service agencies.
CWOP is broadly acknowledged as a respected, ubiquitous voice of parents in the system, and as an agent of progressive system change. CWOP’s work has contributed to tangible results, including marked decreases in involuntary separation of families and increased city investment in preventive/family support services. Parent Organizers impact the system in ways that benefit all children, while transforming their own lives and achieving economic self-sufficiency through community service.
Juju Chang
Master of Ceremonies Juju Chang is an Emmy Award-winning special correspondent and fill-in anchor for ABC News “Nightline.” She also reports regularly for “Good Morning America” and “20/20.” She has covered global events and issues like the earthquake in Haiti and maternal and infant mortality in Mozambique. She received an Emmy Award for team coverage of the California wildfires and won one of her two Gracies for a 20/20 story on gender equality in the sciences.
Born in Seoul, South Korea and raised in California, Chang graduated with honors from Stanford University with a BA in political science and communication. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a founding board member of the Korean American Community Foundation.
Pacesetting Supporters at the Leader Level and Above
CCC gratefully acknowledges the following individuals and corporations for their generous pacesetting support of our Celebration Breakfast.
CORPORATE CHAMPION
Lily Auchincloss Foundation
CORPORATE PATRONS
Bloomberg L.P.
Kaplan, Inc.
BENEFACTOR
Agnes Gund
CHAMPIONS
Alexandra A. Herzan
Chris Stern Hyman
Elizabeth & Robert Sheehan
PATRONS
Anonymous
Jessica & Todd Aaron
Hyatt Bass
Joan S. Davidson
Abigail Disney
Diana & Frederick Elghanayan
Judith A. Garson & Steven N. Rappaport
Nancy & Alan N. Locker
LEADERS
Anonymous
Jody & John Arnhold
Jody & Brian Berger
Constance Christensen
Veronica Dillon
DLA Piper
Kathleen M. Doyle
Susan & Ed Falk
Carol J. Feinberg
Linda Genereux & Timur Galen
Bonnie Greaves
Geoffrey Gund
Jennifer Hand & Thomas Tierney
Ricki Tigert Helfer & Michael Helfer
Helen Hintz
Elaine & Mark Kessel
Jo Carole & Ronald S. Lauder
Dorothy Lichtenstein
Lee & Fritz Link
Marilyn & Jay Lubell
Reuben Mark
Kathy & Joe Mele
Susan & Donald Newhouse
Mahsa Pelosky
Sheri Cyd Sandler
Nancy & David Solomon
Heidi Stamas
Christine Wasserstein & Dan Rattiner
Join us on October 30th for our celebration of advocacy and be inspired and encouraged to make New York City a better place for children.
Event Location
The Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Grand Ballroom (301 Park Avenue at 50th Street)
Agnes Gund 
Abigail Disney
Child Welfare Organizing Project
