Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Chief Service Officer Laura Rog introduced the honors as a part of NYC Service’s annual Mayoral Service Recognition Program Tuesday evening at Gracie Mansion, which drew a report 171 nominations this yr and greater than 3,500 public votes.
The Bronx was well-represented among the many winners, scoring two awards — Partnership Impression Award and the Americorps Alum Award — out of 5 awards.
“Tonight’s awardees remind us what’s possible when we act with purpose and solidarity,” Mayor Mamdani mentioned.
A part of the Answer (POTS) and Fordham Preparatory College earned the 2026 Partnership Impression Award by becoming a member of forces to ship meals and hygiene kits to Bronx households in want.
Fordham Prep college students mobilized their group to lift $142,000 in meals and donations for POTS, and assembled greater than 600 hygiene kits for Bronx households by POTS’ Dignity & Wellness Program, which offers free showers, haircuts and entry to medical and dental companies.
“Last year, when we had the SNAP crisis, Fordham Prep stepped up,” mentioned Angria Messam, Head of Volunteer and Partnerships at POTS, referring to a interval when many Bronx residents struggled to entry their meals stamp advantages. “We had more clients coming to us for food because they weren’t able to access their SNAP benefits. Fordham Prep’s response through the Ignatian Challenge really helped during that time.”
The Nice Ignatian Problem, a meals drive during which Fordham Prep competes towards different Jesuit colleges nationally, grew to become the engine for the fundraising effort. Abby MacLean Pochiraju, Fordham Prep’s Director of Christian Service and Sustainability, mentioned the varsity’s senior college students led the cost, pushed by extra than simply competitiveness.
Neighborhood leaders gathered on the reception forward of the Awards ceremony at Gracie Mansion. Photograph by Carol Chen
“We’re a Catholic Jesuit school, so loving thy neighbor and serving others is a huge part of our mission,” she defined. “Our service program has existed for over 30 years. It culminates in a 70-hour senior service project, where students volunteer at a designated organization, oftentimes POTS and take a class alongside it to reflect on why civic engagement matters.”
For Messam, the award felt like a validation of what cross-sector partnership can accomplish. “Nonprofits can’t do it alone. There is more need than there are nonprofits addressing that need. By working together with community partners, we can have a much further reach.”
Pochiraju admitted she didn’t even notice they’d received till she bought a name asking if she was free to return to Gracie Mansion. “It took me a minute. I was dumbfounded and shocked,” she laughed. “But really, it’s just a testament to our community and how we come together.”
A Fordham Preparatory Alumnus, Eric Ragone, who credited the varsity’s service program with shaping his profession, was additionally honored on the ceremony. He acquired the AmeriCorps Alum Impression Award for his work increasing medically tailor-made meal supply at “God’s Love We Deliver.”
“Fordham Prep is all about service,” Ragone mentioned. “It ingrained something important about character and giving back.” Watching his former faculty obtain an award on the identical stage, he mentioned, was an honor.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Chief Program Officer and Laura Rog, the Chief Service Officer ag NYC Companies awarding Eric Ragone the AmeriCorps Alum Impression Award. Photograph by Carol Chen
Additionally representing the Bronx was the Bronx Defenders, acknowledged as a grantee of NYC Service’s Civic Impression Fund. Aleciah Anthony, Director of Neighborhood Engagement, defined {that a} $5,000 grant helped the general public protection group formalize its volunteer program — transferring from casual engagement to a structured pipeline that recruited over 30 younger individuals on school-to-prison pipeline advocacy work, and greater than 100 volunteers for group occasions together with a neighborhood dinner and block get together.
“It takes all of us to really build the Bronx,” Anthony mentioned. “NYC Service has found ways to engage organizations who might not normally do service projects to really get in there and engage community.”
In an interview on the finish of the night, Chief Service Officer Rog congratulated the Bronx organizations for his or her present of solidarity and motion. “It’s the power of when people come together to say, we just want to get something done. And they figure it out step by step, bit by bit, until they’re able to make these really large, long standing contributions.”
