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Citizens for NYC, Honored by New York Magazine 30 Years Ago, Honors the Magazine at Its New Yorker for New York Awards Benefit

Liz Smith to Emcee; Broadway Salute to Bobby Short

The nonprofit Citizens for NYC will honor New York Magazine at its Valentine's Day New Yorker for New York Awards benefit dinner, Monday, February 14, 2004, 6:30 p.m., at the Waldorf=Astoria. This year's honorees also include Alexandra and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Carmen de Lavallade, Geoffrey Holder and Bobby Short.

"It is not a total coincidence that we are honoring New York Magazine on our 30th Anniversary," says Osborn Elliott, Citizens for NYC's Founding Chairman and former Newsweek Editor-in-Chief. In 1975, New York Magazine splashed a photo of Elliott and the other founders of Citizens for NYC (then Citizens Committee for New York City) on its cover under the headline We've Got to Help Ourselves. "That," says Elliott, "is what we've been doing ever since."

"We've been helping New York City's neighborhood volunteers since 1975," says Citizens for NYC Chairman Henry Cornell. "Through grants and hands-on training, we've helped reduce crime, feed the hungry; clean up waterways and vacant lots, beautify streets and parks, provide after-school programs, prepare neighborhoods for emergencies and offer new immigrants a chance to participate in the civic life of the city."

The City was in dire financial straits in 1975 when then-Senator Jacob Javits, Osborn Elliott and a host of other civic and business leaders made a plea to New Yorkers in a New York Times ad: "We need 10,000 greedy, heartless New Yorkers to work for 5 years. For free." The response was impressive. Thousands of New Yorkers came forward and volunteered to do the jobs of displaced city workers; they worked in city offices, cleaned up streets, picked up garbage, and filled many of the posts that were eliminated in an era of draconian lay-offs.

That first group of community leaders created the Citizens Committee for New York City, which in 2003 shortened its name to Citizens for NYC. New York Magazine recognized the importance of "self-help," and put the group's founders and some of the volunteers on its cover. "We've had 30 years of progress," says Elliott of the organization's legacy, "and the city is better for all the effort."

In addition to New York Magazine, the Valentine's Night benefit honors Bobby Short with a musical salute featuring Christine Andreas, Barbara Carroll, Carmen de Lavallade, Mary Cleere Haran, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Dina Merrill, Lee Roy Reams, Chita Rivera, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Elaine Stritch and Karen Ziemba.

Honorary Co-Chairs Lauren Bacall, Kitty Carlisle Hart and Lena Horne join Co-Chairs Alexander Hitz, Susan Fales-Hill and Casey Ribicoff to support the benefit. Liz Smith, syndicated gossip columnist, will be Master of Ceremonies. Terry Hodge Taylor is producing the stage salute.

Tickets range from $600 to $2,500. Call 212-675-9474 for more information.

The New Yorker for New York Awards benefit, held annually since 1977, raises funds each year for Citizens for NYC. Citizens for NYC mobilizes New Yorkers to improve their neighborhoods in the areas of Urban Environment, Beautification, Safety, Poverty, Youth Service and Entrepreneurship, and Neighborhood Diversity, providing small grants, workshops, information and assistance to more than 12,000 grassroots volunteer groups throughout the city's five boroughs. Citizens for NYC is your partner for better neighborhoods.

Distributed by Market Wire