2024 Dignity, Community, and Power Award Gala Honorees
Deb is the Senior Vice President of Community and Worker Power at the JPB Foundation. As Co-Executive Director of Make the Road New York, Deb always brought her brilliance, deep care, grit and perseverance to achieve justice for our communities and build the resilience and reputation of MRNY. She took on some of our movement’s most monumental challenges, determined to win fights previously considered “unwinnable”. By bringing together powerful coalitions, developing incisive and effective strategy, and working tirelessly, Deb has been key to our movement’s unprecedented victories: from securing the Wage Theft Protection Act in New York State, to stopping Amazon HQ 2 from taking over Queens, to winning one of the country’s most significant worker benefits for immigrants in our history: the $2.1 billion Excluded Workers Fund.Deb’s leadership has impacted the lives of an immeasurable number of workers and their families.
Javier now serves as the Director of Civic Engagement and Government at the Ford Foundation. As Co-Executive Director of Make the Road New York, Javier always led with keen political vision, wisdom in crisis, and care and attention to the health of the organization and its people. Like Deb, Javier has always believed deeply in the power of organizing and that vibrant civic participation is core to thriving democracies. His contributions to the lives of immigrants and youth of color through effective organizing have been immeasurable. Javier helped lead and win life-changing policy fights, including: helping our people secure the protections provided by DACA helping families reach financial security and freedom of movement through in-state tuition and drivers licenses for the undocumented, and the repeal of the Walking While Trans ban.
Deb and Javier also made an incredible impact on the infrastructure and power of our organization and the Make the Road family. Under their leadership, we expanded our geographies within New York, grew our membership, expanded our services, developed new leadership from our base, and built nationwide power by founding sister organizations in Connecticut, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. This year, we will open our new community center in Queens – realizing Deb and Javier’s vision for our own permanent home from which to organize and serve immigrant and working class New Yorkers for generations to come.
Kal Penn has played leading roles in some of the world’s most-watched television shows, including How I Met Your Mother, 24, Designated Survivor, House, and more. He currently stars on the Disney Junior animated series Mira, Royal Detective. He was also the co-creator and star of the NBC/Universal comedy Sunnyside. On the big screen, Kal has starred in critically acclaimed blockbuster films including the Harold and Kumar franchise, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, Superman Returns and The Namesake. Kal has worked at the very highest levels of politics, as an Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, where he was President Obama’s Liaison to Young Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and the Arts communities in America. He recently published a book of stories about his life titled, You Can’t Be Serious.
Through his diverse professional experiences, Kal has remained committed to broadening representation of people of color on screen and uplifting immigrant, Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities. He has been a committed advocate for the rights of immigrants, and our role in a healthy democracy, and has been a public voice on so many of the issues that Make the Road NY’s communities fight for. He has taken countless opportunities to uplift our work nationally and mobilize political and financial support for our fights, including shouting out Make the Road as the host of the Daily Show! We are thrilled to celebrate his contributions to our movement, as he has done for us on so many occasions!