NEW YORK,NY(SMI-PHILANTHROPY,06.17.19)-The Women's Forum of New York, known for helping women over 35 to with educations grants, held its 9th annual Elly Awards Luncheon today, honoring three oustanding women leaders;Katie Couric, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Muriel Fox, on celebration of its 32nd anniversary benefiting The Education Fund of the Women’s Forum at the renowned " The Plaza Hotel " in the Big Apple.

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The Education Fund is the educational and charitable arm of The Women’s Forum of New York, that has provided financial awards to women 35 and over who have demonstrated high potential and faced extreme adversity which has disrupted their education and derailed their futures.

 

" These oustanding women leaders are honored today for their efforts to lay a ground work for almost 50 years of achievement by women.Many of the things that we take for granted today, getting a college education and entering the job orbit and having  a real opportunity to rise to the top of the institutions that change the way we live and even having the door open to seat on the board of corporate America, that all happened because the work of Muriel Fox, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Elinor Guggenheimer and Muriel Siebert" Said Linda A. Willett, President of the Women’s Forum of New York on her opening statement at the luncheon.

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"It's a honor to be here and congratulations to all the Elly awards recipients , this is all about you today. The women's forum views, I'm such a fan and I love  the whole concept  that really run on the issue believing women helping women never gets tired and I love that philosophy and I totally agreed."said Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC Co-Host of Morning Joe and founder of “Know Your Value," on her opening keynote remarks at the event.

 

Daryl Roth and Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney were the Co-Chairs of the 2019 Elly Awards.  Both women were past honorees of the Elly Award.

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The 2019 Elly Award Recipients were:

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Eleanor Holmes Norton, Congresswoman for the District of Columbia and former Professor of Law at Georgetown University.

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Muriel Fox,                   Board Chair of Veteran Feminists of America and former Executive Vice-President of Carl Byoir & Associates.

 

Katie Couric,                  an award winning journalist, producer, New York Times bestselling author, cancer advocate, podcast host, documentary filmmaker, and former co-anchor of the Today Show on NBC.

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Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, now in her fifteenth term as the Congresswoman for the District of Columbia, is the Chair of the House Subcommittee on Highways and Transit. She serves on two committees:  The Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

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Before her congressional service, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to serve as the first woman to chair the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She came to Congress as a national figure who had been a civil rights and feminist leader, tenured professor of law, and board member at three Fortune 500 companies. Congresswoman Norton has been named one of the 100 most important American women in one survey and one of the most powerful women in Washington in another. The Congresswoman's work for full congressional voting representation and for full democracy for the people of the District of Columbia continues her lifelong struggle for universal human and civil rights.

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Congresswoman Norton's accomplishments in breaking barriers for her disempowered district are matched by her success in bringing home unique economic benefits to her constituents. Among them are senatorial courtesy to recommend federal judges, the U.S. Attorney, and other significant federal law enforcement positions for the District; up to $10,000 per year for all D.C. high school graduates to attend any public U.S. college or university and up to $2,500 per year to many private colleges and universities; a unique $5,000 D.C. homebuyer tax credit, which has sharply increased home ownership in the District and was a major factor in stabilizing the city's population; and D.C. business tax incentives, including a significant wage credit for employing D.C. residents, which has maintained businesses and residents in the District.

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Congresswoman Norton also has brought significant economic development to the District of Columbia throughout her service in Congress, creating and preserving jobs in D.C. The most significant are her work in bringing to D.C. the U.S. Department of Homeland Security headquarters compound, now under construction, and the largest federal construction project in the country; her bill that is developing the 55 acre Southeast Federal Center, the first private development on federal land; her work that resulted in the relocation of 6,000 jobs to the Washington Navy Yard; and her successful efforts to bring to the District the new headquarters for the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, along with an additional Metro station at New York Avenue, which has resulted in the development of the NOMA neighborhood.

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Congresswoman Norton helped end the city's most serious financial crisis in a century, in the 1990s, by achieving a historic package that for the first time restructured the financial relationship between Congress and the District, by transferring $5 billion in unfunded pension liabilities and billions more in state costs to the federal government.

The Congresswoman, who taught law full time before being elected, is a tenured professor of law at Georgetown University, teaching an upper-class seminar there every year. After receiving her bachelor's degree from Antioch College in Ohio, she simultaneously earned her law degree and a master's degree in American Studies from Yale University. Yale Law School has awarded her the Citation of Merit for outstanding alumni, and Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences has awarded her the Wilbur Cross Medal for outstanding alumni, the highest awards conferred by each on alumni. She is the recipient of more than 50 honorary degrees.

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About The Women’s Forum of New York:

The Women’s Forum of New York is an invitation-only organization of more than 500 women representing the highest levels of achievement across all professional sectors and spheres of influence in our city. Women's Forum members are recognized among New York’s thought leaders, influencers, trailblazers, policymakers, change agents, power brokers, innovators, icons, creators, and business builders.

Funding is provided by member donation and an annual fundraising event, The Elly Awards Luncheon, which honors outstanding women leaders. To date, the Education Fund of the Women’s Forum has raised over $1.8 million, enabling us to assist more than 260 women in relaunching their lives and becoming role models for their families. 

 

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