This year’s honorees represent a range of city agencies, both large and small, with individual careers spanning from 11 to 32 years of service

NEW YORK CITY, NY (TIP):  The  Fund for the City of New York (Fund) proudly announced on November 19, the winners of the 2024 Sloan Public Service Awards. Known colloquially as the “Nobel Prize for New York City public servants” the awards celebrate the extraordinary contributions of the city’s dedicated government employees. For over 50 years, the Fund has honored the unsung heroes who exemplify the strength, ingenuity, and resilience of New York’s public workforce.

The 2024 Sloan winners were selected by an esteemed panel of civic leaders chaired by Georgia Boothe, Executive Vice President of Child Welfare & Family Services at Children’s Aid. This year’s honorees represent previously unrecognized agencies— including the Conflicts of Interest Board, the Department of Design and Construction, the Fire Department, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the Department of Transportation. After an extensive vetting process, the winners emerged from a pool of more than 300,000 eligible city employees from both mayoral and non-mayoral agencies.

“By celebrating these dedicated civil servants, we honor their personal achievements and those of their agencies, while inspiring future generations to consider a career in public service,” said Adam F. Falk, President of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “The Sloan Public Service Awards highlight careers that truly make a difference in the lives of New Yorkers.”

The 2024 Sloan winners are: Vimi Bhatia; Deputy Chief Elder Abuse Unit, Special Victims Division, New York County District Attorney’s Office, James Reichman; Captain the Fire Department of the City of New York, Celestina Leon; District Manager, Brooklyn Community Board 4, Margaret Forgionne; First Deputy Commissioner, NYC Department of Transportation, Jade Bailey; Director, Design-Build Unit, NYC Department of Design and Construction and Alexander Kipp; Director of Education and Engagement, New York City Conflicts of Interest Board.

The winners will be honored on November 21, 2024, at their respective offices by the Fund’s executive team and members of the Sloan Selection Panel. The day-long, cross-borough bus trip—a time-honored tradition—allows the recipients to be celebrated in the presence of their colleagues where their accomplishments have taken place. Each winner receives a prize package that includes $10,000, a portrait, a video retrospective, and a commemorative plaque and brochure.

“Public service is the lifeblood of our democracy, and civil servants are the unsung heroes who keep our communities thriving. The Fund for the City of New York’s Public Service Awards Program has honored outstanding civil servants making a profound impact on our city since 1973,” said Lisette Nieves, President of the Fund for the City of New York. “The Sloan Awards provide an opportunity to share their achievements with the citizens of New York City, who benefit from their work every day.”

“The Sloan winners—extraordinary civil servants whose efforts benefit New Yorkers every day, exemplify the remarkable talent within New York City’s 300,000 government workers. Despite facing significant challenges, these individuals serve the city with expertise and integrity,” said Aldrin Rafael Bonilla, Executive Vice President of the Fund for the City of New York. “The six awardees represent diverse fields including the Conflicts of Interest Board, the DOT and the Department of Design and Construction. Their integral yet often overlooked contributions are essential to New York City’s vitality. The Sloan Public Service Awards are a heartfelt expression of gratitude for their exceptional service to the community we cherish.”

The Fund for the City of New York was established by the Ford Foundation in 1968 with the mandate to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers. For over five decades, in partnership with government agencies, nonprofits and foundations, the Fund has developed and helped to implement innovation in policy, programs, practices and technology to advance the functioning of government and nonprofit organizations in New York City and beyond. The Fund seeks out, adapts, applies and assesses was to enable government and nonprofit agencies to develop leadership talent, achieve programmatic excellence and optimal service-delivery performance through its core programs-Cash Flow Loan Program, Partner Project Program, Sloan Public Service Awards, Sloan Awards for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics, Community Planning Fellowship Program, Center for Youth and the Future of Work, and related strategic initiatives.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a not for profit, mission driven grantmaking institution dedicated to improving the welfare of all through the advancement of scientific knowledge. Founded in 1934 by industrialist Alfred P. Sloan Jr., the Foundation disbursed approximately $80 million in grand each year in four broad areas: direct support of research in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and workforce; projects to deepen or leverage technology to empower research; and efforts to enhance and deepen public engagement with science and scientists. Sloan Foundation grantmaking helped create some of the country’s most influential and enduring scientific institutions, including Memorial Sloan bettering Cancer Center, the MIT Sloan School of Management, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Sloan support has also played a critical role in the early development of many scientific fields, including cognitive science, behavioral economics and indoor microbial ecology. The Foundation strives to be guided in all its actions by the values of the scientific enterprise: impartiality, empiricism, curiosity, rigor and the conviction that a reasoned, systematic understanding of the forces of nature and society, when applied inventively and wisely, can lead to a better world for all.