PRESS RELEASES

Release Date: January 14, 2004
CONTACT: Lacey Siegel, CSSNY, 212/614-5495

From Mississippi To Brooklyn: Prejudice Reduction Marches On

Community Service Society's RSVP Prejudice Reduction Volunteer Carries Dr. King's Message to Students in Brooklyn

New York, NY, January 14, 2004 – Martin Luther King's message did not elude the New York born, Jay Katz, a 70 year old, long-term civil rights advocate and instructor in the Community Service Society's Prejudice Reduction Program (PRP). Katz brings what he experienced through marching and speaking with Dr. Martin Luther King himself to hundreds of school children in Brooklyn.

Katz's first foray into the civil rights movement began in 1963. He was one among many that flocked to Washington, DC to hear Dr. Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. After learning Southern black students were organizing a protest against segregated seating at lunch counters, Mr. Katz showed his support by joining a sympathy picket line at Woolworth's on 125th street in New York City.

His dedication to the issue was again illustrated in 1965 when he risked his job at the NY State Labor Department by taking a leave of absence to join hundreds of northern blacks and whites to complete the walk across Mississippi that James Meredith was unable to complete. Meredith, a black student, was denied admission to the University of Mississippi Law. In protest Meredith vowed he would walk the length of the state. He was shot before he could complete his mission. It was during this weeklong march across Mississippi that Katz experienced what many only dreamed about doing. Katz spoke with Dr. Martin Luther King, Roy Wilkins, Executive Director of the NAACP and even ate grits cooked by Floyd McKissick, the first black to study at North Carolina Law School and national director of the Congress of Racial Equity (CORE).

Years passed but Katz's passion didn't wane. After retiring from his caseworker position at the HRA in 1998, an advertisement for the PRP in the District Council 37 Retiree Association Newsletter caught his eye. Katz was drawn to the program because it encompassed all of his beliefs about eliminating discrimination and promoted these values to a young and impressionable audience.

PRP is an award winning intergenerational project that deploys trained senior volunteers into New York City elementary school classrooms present a curriculum designed to encourage respect related to race, ethnicity, age, gender and disabilities in an effort to reduce prejudice and to build an understanding and respect for human differences.

PRP was created on Staten Island in 1990 to help alleviate the racial tensions that were being witnessed in the community. RSVP reaches children in grades Kindergarten thorough fifth grade and operates in all five boroughs.

As a PRP volunteer Katz continues his lifelong dedication to breaking down the stereotypes of race, age, gender, ethnicity, physical appearance and disabilities in his own Brooklyn neighborhood. He has delivered PRP's mission to elementary school children at PS 261 and 262 and the Community School 21 in Bedford Stuyvesant.

Katz even displays the program's motto; it's what's on the inside of a person that counts in the privacy of his own home. He and his wife are the adoptive parents to Nehemiah, a 14-year-old Dominican boy and Hannah, a 10-year-old African American girl. Both children attend Yeshiva schools. These schools aim to strengthen and increase Jewish identity and commitment to the Jewish people. Katz wants his children to be raised with a strong identity but be able to accept and respect others no matter their creed or color. His children are living proof that different races and religions can coexist peacefully. He hopes that their experience in this environment will enable them to live and breath the messages he spreads.

With his passion for equality and connections to Dr. Martin Luther King and his mission, Mr. Katz seemed to be the obvious choice to serve as the PRP program representative at the Mayor's annual Martin Luther King Day celebration on January 19th. He will discuss his encounter with Dr. Martin Luther King and his involvement with the PRP program.

Established 37 years ago, Retired & Senior Volunteer Program's 9,000 volunteers contribute more than two million hours of service annually to 600 organizations in New York City. RSVP is part of the Community Service Society of New York, a nonprofit organization which advocates on behalf of the poor in the areas of education, affordable housing, health care and income maintenance. RSVP receives funding from CSS, the Corporation for National and Community Service, other government agencies, foundations, individuals and the Friends of RSVP, Inc. If you are interested in becoming a PRP volunteer or other volunteer opportunities available, please contact Tami DiCostanzo, Project Director, Prejudice Program, at (212) 614-5536 or tdicostanzo@cssny.org.

[Back to Press Releases List]