Each fall, the Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign sponsors the Annual Health Care Justice Leadership Gala.  The event salutes leadership in the fields of public service, trade unionism, and community advocacy, and features a special keynote speaker who frames the current moment in the struggle for health care justice in New York and America.

This year, the following groups and individuals will be recognized:

Assemblymember Annette Robinson, who has represented the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn since 2002.  She chairs the Banking Committee, and serves on the Aging, Children and Families, Housing, Small Business, Oversight, Analysis and Investigation, and Real Property Taxation Committees.  Previously, she served in the New York City Council.  In recent years, she has provided key leadership in bringing public officials in Brooklyn together to preserve Interfaith Medical Center, one of our city’s foremost community safety net hospitals, and to develop a creative solution for the Center’s future.

The Healthcare Education Project, a joint program of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and the Greater New York Hospital Association.  Its mission is to protect and expand  access to quality, affordable healthcare for all New Yorkers through community education, advocacy, and coalition building.  Launched in the late 1990s, the Project works in partnership with individuals, healthcare providers, and civic and religious leaders in local neighborhoods across New York.  In recent years, they spearheaded Regional Enrollment Summits across New York State, in collaboration with Health Care for All New York, and undertook door-to-door canvasses in low-income communities to identify uninsured New Yorkers and direct them to in-person enrollers.

The Coalition to Transform Interfaith, a community-labor-faith collaboration to protect and expand health care in Bedford-Stuyvesant, one of our city’s low-income communities with many uninsured.  To date, they have successfully kept Interfaith Medical Center in operation, and are now spearheading an innovative effort to re-establish the Center’s viability into the future.  They are striving to reorganize Interfaith as a “co-operative” jointly operated by the staff, patients, and community leaders.

This year’s Gala will be held on Monday evening, November 17 at District Council 1707 of AFSCME, 420 West 45^th Street (bet. 9^th & 10^th Aves.) in Manhattan.  An informal reception will begin at 6 p.m., followed by the presentation of the awards.  The keynote speaker will be James Knickman, President and CEO of the New York State Health Foundation.

 The Gala is a fundraiser for the Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign.  The suggested contribution for individuals is $75, although all are welcome whatever they can donate.

Organizations and unions can support the Gala by joining the Host Committee, placing an announcement in the Commemorative Journal, or reserving groups of tickets.  Contact us directly for more information on these options.  The deadline for commitments for the Host Committee and placing journal announcements is Friday, November 7.