Manhattan, NY – On December 8th, Khan Foundation hosted its Annual Leadership Awards & Fundraiser at Haveli Bhanjara in the Lower East Side. The fundraiser honored the Emmy nominated documentary maker, writer, and activist, Byron Hurt. Hurt has made several award winning films including Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes & Soul Food Junkies.
“At KF we strive to be deeply invested in the community. Aside from our direct service work, we feel honoring leaders whose work positively affects the youth that we serve is vital in increasing awareness about expanded opportunity and representation in the communities that are most in need. Youth educational advancement and leadership development resonate with all of us because it inspires us to believe in the power of the next generation. Therefore, this event is based on meaningful community-building because if we build the community we want, we make it better for our youth,” Melissa Johnson, Khan Foundation Program Director.
Several special guests attended the annual event including:
Stuyvesant High School Principal Eric Contreras
Stuyvesant High School Student Union President Matthew So & Vice President Tahseen Chowdhury
Stuyvesant High School Parent Association Leader, Wai Wah Chin
Stuyvesant High School Alumni Association Executive Director Lisa Tepperberg & President Soo H. Kim
Coalition.Edu Leader, Stanley Ng
NYU Black Law Association
Representatives from the Offices of Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman & Assemblyman Luis Sepulveda
The fundraiser supports KF’s free programs which provide college access and guidance for low-income and undocumented students. Since its start two years ago, Khan Foundation’s CAP program has helped its two cohorts of 67 students obtain over $105,000 in scholarships and financial aid during the 8 month long program. Additionally, KF scholars have gained admission into prestigious colleges such as NYU, Cornell, Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, UNC Chapel Hill, Syracuse University, Macaulay Honors at Cuny, among many more.
“Many of our scholars at Khan Foundation are the first in their families to go to college. For them, they’ve had to lead from a very young age. We’ve seen that Khan Foundation’s community partners are a network of leaders in education, film, empowerment, medicine, & law. I encourage our partners to all to find common goals and collaborate to uplift our community,” said Dr. Ivan Khan, Executive Director and Founder of Khan Foundation.
Khan Foundation NYC is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization that strives to enrich the lives of low-income and undocumented high school students and rising professionals through college and career readiness as well as youth leadership development. Khan Foundation works to achieve social equality for low-income communities through education, increased awareness of leadership opportunities and community empowerment.