News

Manhattanville College’s Connie Hogarth Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

12.10.09

PURCHASE, NY – On December 10, 2009, Ms. Connie Hogarth, Director of the Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action at Manhattanville College, received the Westchester Human Rights Commission’s Ossie Davis Human Rights Lifetime Achievement Award. The award ceremony took place at the Crown Plaza Hotel in White Plain, NY and was hosted by Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano. The Breakfast is held each year in celebration and acknowledgement of International Human Rights Day.
     The Westchester County Human Rights Commission was given permission by Ruby Dee and the Davis family to rename its Lifetime Achievement Award in honor of the late Ossie Davis, well-known activist, author and actor. .
     “Not only is this a great honor but I am so deeply humbled because Ossie Davis was for me, not only a friend and political and spiritual comrade, but a man for all seasons, who represented the very best of what a human being could and should be,” said Ms. Hogarth in her acceptance speech. “For this honor, I will keep on holding on in the spirit of Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee and the many nonviolent activists who preceded us.”
     As co-founder and executive director of Westchester People’s Action Coalition (WESPAC) for over 20 years, Ms Hogarth is a lifetime peace, justice, anti-nuclear and environmental activist. She has actively organized for the shut-down of Indian Point nuclear power plants. She is a current member of the Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition (IPSEC), and continues to work for the shut-down of Indian Point.
     In 1998, Manhattanville College established the Connie Hogarth Center for Social Action, which is dedicated to training students to move from academics to social activism. She is a founding member and serves on the steering committee of the Climate Crisis Coalition in Lenox, MA. She has been active in the local NAACP, the Mid-Hudson Progressive Alliance, Lower Hudson Valley Civil Liberties Union and the Beacon Sloop Club. She serves as a committee person on the Fishkill Democratic Committee and is a member of the Dutchess County Democratic Committee.