Neighbors from both sides of Morningside Park gathered together in the Rotunda of Columbia's hallmark building, Low Library, on Friday evening, Dec. 3 to celebrate luminaries of the Harlem Community. The Harlem Business Alliance's (HBA) Annual Recognizing Excellence Awards Dinner, hosted by Columbia University for the first time and chaired by Columbia Assistant Vice President for Community Affairs Larry Dais, paid tribute to members of Harlem who have shown sacrifice, purpose and service to the people of African American descent and to the Harlem community.

This year, five Harlemites received honors.

Richard D. Gidron Sr., owner of Gidron Oldsmobile, Cadillac and Deborah Sanders, President/CEO of a business consulting firm, the Harlem Venture Group, two successful entrepreneurs, were recognized for their contributions to the economic rigor of the community.

Rudy Washington, deputy mayor for community development and business services received recognition for his role in organizing and bringing about legislation that has resulted in a safer Harlem.

Rodney J. Reynolds, the enterprising publisher of American Legacy magazine LLC, received the Percy E. Sutton Award for "giving voice" to Black history and culture through the creation of the ground-breaking magazine Spectrum, the first such publication dedicated to an African American male audience and his encouragement of other such publications for African Americans.

And, seventy-six year-old author, Freddie Mae Baxter, who has lived in Harlem since the age of 19, was honored for her recent publication, The Seventh Child: A Lucky Life, a series of short stories that capture the essence of Harlem through her eyes.

This year's recipients join other visionaries including Maya Angelou, Earl Graves, Andrew Cuomo, John L. Procope, C. Virginia Fields, Deborah Wright and Congressman Charles Rangel, all honored by the HBA in years past.

In his keynote address, Columbia George Rupp noted that visitors to both Columbia and Harlem see "much richness and much similarity in the communities we share."

"I believe that we at Columbia must embrace this city more than we have," said Dr. Rupp. "So my colleagues and I have tried, with the help of many of you, to make certain that Columbia become a better and more engaged neighbor."

Since Dr. Rupp's arrival in 1993, Columbia has done much to build bridges between Harlem and the University, by opening the campus to the community for events and services, informing community leaders of ongoing construction projects through the Framework for Planning, and "focusing economic leverage" to buy more goods and services and hire more employees locally so that Harlem and the University can "grow and prosper together."

Dr. Rupp cited new projects benefiting the Harlem community, including the Columbia Housing Assistance Program, offering funds for employees interested in purchasing a home in the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone; the Job Connections program administered through Morningside Area Alliance, which to date has linked 25 local residents with jobs at the University; the overwhelming success in hiring minority, local, and women workers on major construction projects; a recently-launched on-line local vendor directory that serves as a database of local vendors offering Columbia employees ease in searching for goods and services thus encouraging local purchasing; and the Columbia Procurement Card, a new pilot program to begin in March that will enable University staff to make purchases with a "credit card." For those employees who carry the card, purchases will be practically "paperless," decreasing paperwork for University-related purchases and making purchasing locally easier. Local vendors who recognize the "Pro Card" will also benefit from a quick turn-around in payment by the University.

Noting that the University remains committed to its original goals, Dr. Rupp cited the words of former Columbia President Seth Low, who over 100-years ago said, "The university cannot be indifferent to what is going on in the great city of which it is a part, and neither can the city forget, as it looks towards this Hill, that there is in its midst, in this university, a life the great watchword of which is truth."