PathMakers To Peace 2013

Oct 21, 2013. Hundreds gathered at the Brooklyn Historical Society’s beautiful meeting hall for a Brooklyn For Peace reception: PathMakers To Peace. The event, which honored five outstanding Brooklyn residents who have demonstrated a continued effort to support the peace and justice movement both in and outside the community, was attended by a diverse community of people from all over Brooklyn and beyond.

Lynn Nottage  —Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright (“Ruined”) and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. Her newest play, By The Way, Meet Vera Stark enjoyed an extended run Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre (Lily Award, Drama Desk Nomination) and most recently at the Geffen Playhouse. It can be seen this upcoming season at Lyric Stage in Boston and The Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined premiered at Manhattan Theatre Club and Goodman Theatre (OBIE, Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics’ Circle, Audelco, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play). It subsequently toured widely throughout US regional theatres and premiered internationally at the Almeida Theatre in London. The play has since been produced throughout the world, including Cambodia, Chad, The Caribbean, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Germany. Her other plays include Intimate Apparel (American Theatre Critics and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Play); Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine (OBIE Award); Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por’knockers and POOF!.

Nottage is the recipient of the 2010 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, the Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award, the inaugural Horton Foote Prize for Outstanding New American Play (Ruined), Helen Hayes Award (Ruined), the Lee Reynolds Award, and the Jewish World Watch iWitness Award. Her other honors include the 2007 MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant,” the National Black Theatre Festival’s August Wilson Playwriting Award, the 2005 Guggenheim Grant for Playwriting, the 2004 PEN/Laura Pels Award for Drama, as well as fellowships from the Lucille Lortel Foundation, Manhattan Theatre Club, New Dramatists and New York Foundation for the Arts. She is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, where she is currently a visiting lecturer. She is a co-founder and producer at Market Road Films LLC, a film production company. Nottage is a board member for Theatre Communications Group, BRIC Arts Media Bklyn, Donor Direct Action, The New Black Fest, Voice and Vision, and the Dramatists Guild.

Nancy Romer — Chair of the Governance Board of the Brooklyn Food Coalition, a grassroots food justice organization working for healthy food access for all, sustainable food systems and justice for food workers. She co-founded BFC in 2009 and has served for four years as its General Coordinator, helping to launch the organization into its present form. Nancy Romer, Chair of the Governance Board of the Brooklyn Food Coalition, a grassroots food justice organization working for healthy food access for all, sustainable food systems and justice for food workers. She co-founded BFC in 2009 and has served for four years as its General Coordinator, helping to launch the organization into its present form. Nancy has worked closely with all committees of the BFC and is our primary grant writer and development leader. She was a core organizer of the rank and file upsurge that brought a new progressive leadership to the Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York, an American Federation of Teachers local representing the 20,000 faculty and professional staff. She served on their executive board for nine years. In that capacity she was chair of the union’s Peace and Justice Committee and represented them at US Labor Against the War, starting at its founding convention. She also served as USLAW’s rep to United for Peace and Justice through the war in Iraq. Nancy is Professor of Psychology at Brooklyn College and Executive Director of its Community Partnership, serving over 1500 Brooklyn teens each year. She has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology and has written extensively on issues of political participation and human development, including covering social movements in NYC, Mexico and Bolivia. An organizer and activist for over 40 years, she lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Lew Friedman, where they raised their now-adult two sons.

Rabbi Ellen Lippmann — is the founder and rabbi of Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, a 21-year-old progressive Jewish community in Brooklyn, N.Y. Rabbi Lippmann is the former East Coast Director of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, and former director of the Jewish Women’s Program at the 14th Street Y in Manhattan. Rabbi Lippmann was co-chair of and continues to serve on the board of T’ruah: the Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, formerly known as Rabbis for Human Rights-North America. She is also on the rabbinic councils of J-Street and Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ), and served as the first social justice chair for the Women’s Rabbinic Network. She is the founder of the Soup Kitchen at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, and co-founder of the 10-year-old Children of Abraham Peace Walk: Jews, Christians and Muslims Walking Together in Brooklyn in Peace. Rabbi Lippmann was ordained in 1991 by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and also received there the degree of Master of Hebrew Letters. She holds a BA in English Language and Literature from Boston University and an MS in Library Science from Simmons College. She is spiritually and legally married to Kathryn Conroy and they have lived together happily in Brooklyn for nearly 30 years.

Dr. Ahmad Jaber — has been a Bay Ridge community member for over thirty years. He currently sits on the board of Beit Al Maqdis Islamic Center, the Arab Muslim American Federation and the Islamic Mission of America, and was a past president of the National Arab American Medi-cal Association-New York Chapter. He is the Board President and one of the original founders of the Arab American Association of New York. He is the president of the Brooklyn Heights Clergy Association, and he is a board member of Brooklyn Congregations United and St. Nicholas Home. Dr. Jaber is a retired obstetrician and gynecologist.

FUREE — Families United for Racial and Economic Equality — A Brooklyn-based, multi-generational, member-led organization, made up mostly of women of color. FUREE organizes low-income communities to build power to change the system. FUREE states “We fight for a world without poverty, where everyone’s work is valued and all of us have the right to self-determination. We achieve the changes our members seek by using direct action, leadership development, community organizing, voter engagement and political education.” The reception also attracted local elected officials including City Council members Brand Lander and Letitia James. James, who recently won a runoff primary election and is expected to be the city’s next Public Advocate, presented plaques to each of the honorees as well. This was a memorable evening that brought together friends and allies of Brooklyn For Peace and demonstrated the growing unity in Brooklyn of diverse organizations seeking progressive change for our city, state and country.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][/vc_section][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

View photos of the event
View the recording of the 2013 Gala on our YouTube channel
View the full PathMakers To Peace Program