honoring ‘Urban health heroes’

Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab and Illumination Fund Founder and President Laurie Tisch announced this year’s recipients of the eighth annual Joan H. Tisch Community Health Prize. These awards honor individuals and nonprofit organizations in the New York metropolitan area for distinguished accomplishment in urban public health.

The 2018 recipients are Claudia Aristy (Hunter College ’07), who serves as Director of Children of Bellevue’s Reach Out and Read (ROR) Program as well as the Health Education and Literacy for Parents (HELP) Project; and the Service Program for Older People, Inc. (SPOP), one of the first agencies in the U.S. to focus on meeting the mental health needs of senior citizens aging in place in their communities. Both recipients were honored at a ceremony and reception on Tuesday, November 13 at The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College.

“We are proud indeed to recognize these urban health heroes,” said President Raab. “They are perfect examples of the Tisch Family’s extraordinary effort to identify and acknowledge people and organizations that make a major impact on their communities.”

Said Laurie M. Tisch: “The Service Program for Older People, Inc. and Claudia Aristy have both exhibited their unwavering commitment to serving those in need in our communities.”

Made possible by support from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, the Prize is part of the Joan H. Tisch Legacy Project, which is based at Hunter College, and is a tribute to Joan H. Tisch in recognition of her humanitarian activism in health care and social services.