MEDIA ADVISORY 14th Annual Dr. Betty Shabazz Awards CeremonyWOMEN IN ISLAM, INC. to present Dr. Adelaide Sanford, Educational Visionary, Leading National Advocate for the Education of Students of African Ancestory with the Fourteenth Annual Dr. Betty Shabazz Awards.

WHAT 14th Annual Dr. Betty Shabazz Awards Ceremony

WHEN Sunday, May 3, 2015, 3:00pm-6:00pm

WHERE The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture 515 Malcolm X Boulevard at 135th Street, Harlem New York, May 3, 2015 — Held in honor of Dr. Betty Shabazz, the wife of Hajj Malik Shabazz (Malcolm X) this event highlights the contributions of women to social justice. It upholds Dr. Shabazz to our communities, as a Muslim woman committed to her family and to helping humanity.

Each year, this ceremony recognizes women from all faith backgrounds who have continued her legacy and dedicate their lives to uplifting those around them. Ilyasah Shabazz (daughter of Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz) will present this year’s Dr. Betty Shabazz award.

This year’s event will also recognize two additional dynamic women leaders who embody a passionate commitment to justice, community, and social transformation. Compass Awards will be presented to Lucia GomezFrontline Advocate for Immigrant and Worker Rights and Linda SarsourRacial Justice and Civil Rights Advocate, and a Leading Voice Countering Islamophobia.

Highlights of the ceremony include special live art performances by visual artist and architect Nadia J, and Sudanese born singer, songwriter and ethnomusicologist Alsarah. Our Master of Ceremonies will be Cheryl Wills, acclaimed anchorwoman of New York One News.

Women In Islam, Inc, is an organization of professional and social activist Muslim women who are dedicated to the empowerment of women through knowledge and practice of Islam. Our mission is to advance the spiritual and intellectual development of women to empower them as dynamic participants in civil society and as advocates for human rights and social justice.

For additional information, visit our website: www.womeninislam.org

FOCUSED ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Post Office Box 814 / Lincolnton Station / New York NY 10037-0814212. 576.8875 / www.womeninislam.org / info@womeninislam.org

Let there arise out of youA band of people inviting to all that is good.Enjoining what is right,And forbidding what is wrong:These are those who are successful. — Al-Qur’an III:104

CONTACTSarah Sayeed 917 414 8453 ssayeed@womeninislam.org

Women In Islam, Inc. 2014-2015 programs are in part funded by Council Member Inez Dickens, the 9th Council District, Council Member Mark Levine, 7th Council District, and the New York City Council. The 14th Annual Dr. Betty Shabazz Awards Ceremony is being held in partnership with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

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The 14th Annual Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial Lecture & Award CeremonyCelebrating Women's Dynamic Leadership to Advance Justice

Sunday, May 3rd, 20153pm-6pm

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture515 Malcolm X Blvd. / New York, NY 10037

General Admission: $25Students: $10

After April 25th

General Admission: $40Students: $20

The 2015 Dr. Betty Shabazz Honoree

Dr. Adelaide L. SanfordEducational Visionary, Leading National Advocate for the Education of Students of African Ancestry

The 2015 Compass Award Recipients

Lucia GomezFrontline Advocate for Immigrant and Worker Rights

Linda SarsourRacial Justice and Civil Rights Activist, Leading Voice Countering Islamophobia

With Artistic Performances By

Nadia J ArtVisual Artist

AlsarahSinger & ethnomusicologist

and Master of Ceremony

Cheryl WillsAnchor, New York One News

For more information & to purchase tickets online, visit www.womeninislam.org

Women In Islam, Inc. 2014-2015 programs are in part funded by Council Member Inez Dickens, the 9th Council District, Council Member Mark Levine, the 7th District, and the New York City Council. The 14th Annual Dr. Betty Shabazz Awards Ceremony is also held in partnership with the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

FOCUSED ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Post Office Box 814 / Lincolnton Station / New York NY 10037-0814 212. 576.8875 / www.womeninislam.org /info@womeninislam.org 2

Dr. Adelaide Sanford

Dr. Adelaide Sanford’s professional career has spanned the elementary through college and graduate school levels. She has been a classroom teacher, teacher of guidance, assistant principal, and principal in the New York City School system. During her nineteen-year tenure as principal, Public School 21, the Crispus Attucks School in Brooklyn, earned a reputation as an outstanding inner-city school and received city-wide recognition. She has taught education courses at Baruch College, Fordham University and Harvard University.

Beginning in 1986, she was elected to and served for 19 years on the Board of Regents of the State of New York and held the position of Vice Chancellor of the Board of Regents, among many titles. Dr. Sanford is a leading national advocate for the education of students of African Ancestry. She developed the concept of a Board of Education of People of African Ancestry and was instrumental in its founding, development, and growth.   

Among the hundreds of awards presented to her, Dr. Sanford has received The Humanitarian Award from the Congressional Black Caucus, The Distinguished Alumna Award from Brooklyn College and was presented The First Distinguished Black Alumna Award by the African Studies Department of Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She holds honorary doctorates from Mercy College, The Bank Street College of Education, Five Towns College, and most recently, St. John’s University.

14th Annual Dr. Betty Shabazz Awards Ceremony Meet Our 2015 Dr. Betty Shabazz Awardee

FOCUSED ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Post Office Box 814 / Lincolnton Station / New York NY 10037-0814 212. 576.8875 / www.womeninislam.org /info@womeninislam.org 3

Lucia Gomez

Lucia Gomez is the Executive Director of La Fuente, a Tri-State Worker and Community Fund that empowers immigrants and their communities to take action through grassroots organizing, leadership development and civic engagement. She has overseen the enhancement of the membership program at La Fuente, as well as the Leadership Development Institute. Additionally, La Fuente has become a vanguard actor in coordinating actions around economic justice, educational justice, access to services, immigration reform and civic engagement under her direction. La Fuente has been a dedicated participant in the Coalition for Eid Holidays.

Ms. Gómez has a history of thorough and impassioned involvement in community issues. Ms. Gomez has served on the transition team and, later, as Community Affairs advisor for New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera. Her time as the Assistant for Community Affairs to Governor David A. Paterson saw her spearhead Latino and Immigrant relations for the administration.

Ms. Gomez spent time as the Director of the New Jersey Regional Office of the Cuban American National Council (CNC). She served as the Administrator of Elections for the City of Providence, Rhode Island and worked as the Civic Participation Program Director for Latino Justice PRLDEF and the National Institute for Latino Policy, overseeing programs in eight states, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands in political redistricting and mobilizing Latino communities for the 2000 Census.

Ms. Gomez is a graduate of the 2011 class of the Coro Immigrant Civic Leadership Program and a Policy Fellow for the National Institute for Latino Policy (NILP).

14th Annual Dr. Betty Shabazz Awards Ceremony Meet Our 2015 Compass Awardee

FOCUSED ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Post Office Box 814 / Lincolnton Station / New York NY 10037-0814 212. 576.8875 / www.womeninislam.org /info@womeninislam.org 4

Linda Sarsour

Linda Sarsour is a working woman, racial justice and civil rights activist, every Islamophobe’s worst nightmare, and mother of three. Ambitious, outspoken and independent, Linda shatters stereotypes of Muslim women while also treasuring her religious and ethnic heritage. She is a Palestinian Muslim American and a self-proclaimed “pure New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn!” She is the Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York and Senior Strategist for Take on Hate, a recently launched campaign which aims to change perceptions of Arab and Muslim Americans including refugees.  In 2013, Linda co-founded the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, the first of its kind in NYC. In wake of the police murder of Mike Brown, she co-founded Muslims for Ferguson to build solidarity amongst American Muslim communities and encourage work against police brutality. She is a member of the Justice League NYC, a leading NYC force of activists, formerly incarcerated individuals, and artists working to reform the New York Police Department and the criminal justice system. 

Linda has received numerous awards and honors including “Champion of Change” by the White House, the New York City Council’s Shirley Chisholm Women of Distinction Award and received the inaugural American Muslim of the Year honor from the Council on Americans Islamic Relations. She has written for and has been featured in local, national, and international media discussing impact of domestic policies that target Arab and Muslim American communities, criminal justice issues and Middle East affairs.

14th Annual Dr. Betty Shabazz Awards Ceremony Meet Our 2015 Compass Awardee