Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani hosted a Mayoral Service Recognition Ceremony at Gracie Mansion on April 21, 2026, honoring nine New Yorkers for outstanding community service. The honorees were selected through a public vote and each received a $1,000 Service Impact Award to continue their work across New York City.
Key facts
Event: Mayoral Service Recognition Ceremony
Date: April 21, 2026
Location: Gracie Mansion, New York City
Host: Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani
Awards presented: Service Impact Awards
Award amount: $1,000 for each honoree
Selection method: Public vote
Focus: Community service and civic impact across New York City
Honorees: Eric Ragone
Honorees: Brittany Leavitt
Honorees: Angria Messam
Honorees: Abby Pochiraju
Honorees: Iman Mergen
Honorees: Mutashma Shaaf
Honorees: Aalia Rehman
Honorees: Nafisa Qadri
Honorees: Huda Ali
Examples of service: Meal support for people with long-term illness
Examples of service: Rock-climbing club for brown and Black girls
Examples of service: Community gardens in food-insecure neighborhoods
Q&A
Question: What did Mayor Mamdani announce at the ceremony?
Answer: He honored nine New Yorkers with Service Impact Awards for outstanding community service across the five boroughs.
Question: Where was the Mayoral Service Recognition Ceremony held?
Answer: The ceremony was held at Gracie Mansion in New York City.
Question: How were the Service Impact Award winners selected?
Answer: The honorees were chosen through a public vote.
Question: What did each award recipient receive?
Answer: Each recipient received recognition from the city and a $1,000 gift to support continued community work.
Question: What kinds of work were recognized?
Answer: The city recognized efforts such as delivering nutritious meals, creating youth programs, and building community gardens in neighborhoods affected by food insecurity.
Question: Why did Mayor Mamdani say the honorees matter?
Answer: He said they represent a rare kind of sustained kindness by dedicating their daily lives to helping fellow New Yorkers.
NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani honored nine New Yorkers at a Mayoral Service Recognition Ceremony held at Gracie Mansion, celebrating individuals whose work is making a measurable impact across the city.
The event focused on recognizing residents who go beyond occasional acts of kindness, dedicating their daily lives to helping others and improving their neighborhoods.
In his remarks, Mamdani emphasized the unique character of New York City — a place often known for its fast pace and toughness, but equally defined by compassion and solidarity. He referenced an essay by Zadie Smith to illustrate how New Yorkers instinctively come together in moments of need.
However, the mayor stressed that the honorees represent something deeper: a sustained commitment to service. Unlike spontaneous acts of kindness, these individuals have built ongoing initiatives that address real community challenges.
Their work spans a wide range of issues, including food insecurity, youth empowerment, and support for individuals facing long-term health conditions. From organizing meal programs to launching youth clubs and community gardens, each recipient has contributed to strengthening the social fabric of the city.
The 2026 Service Impact Award recipients are:
Eric Ragone, Brittany Leavitt, Angria Messam, Abby Pochiraju, Iman Mergen, Mutashma Shaaf, Aalia Rehman, Nafisa Qadri, and Huda Ali.
Each honoree received a $1,000 grant in addition to public recognition, providing resources to continue their work and expand their initiatives.
City officials, including Deputy Mayor Helen Arteaga and Chief Service Officer Laura Rog, also attended the ceremony, highlighting the administration’s support for civic engagement and volunteerism.
The ceremony underscores a broader message from City Hall: while policies and programs are essential, the strength of New York ultimately depends on the people who actively invest in their communities.
As the city continues to navigate economic and social challenges, grassroots leaders like these award recipients play a critical role in addressing local needs and building resilience at the neighborhood level.
Transcript: Mayor Mamdani Hosts Mayoral Service Recognition Ceremony
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good evening, everyone. Welcome to Gracie Mansion. It is truly a pleasure to join you this evening as we honor a group of New Yorkers who embody the community and compassion that exists across every corner of our city. And I am delighted to be joined here by a number of leaders across our administration. I see we have our deputy mayor, Helen Arteaga, who is here with us. We have our chief service commissioner, Laura Rog, who is here with us. We have so many other distinguished leaders across City government, whether commissioners, whether executive directors. And I also know that City Council Member Yusef Salaam is someone who is part of this event, part of this evening.
As we think about what makes tonight so special, what comes to mind for me is an essay by Zadie Smith, titled “Under the Banner of New York.” She describes watching a group of New Yorkers help a young woman whose stroller wheel fell off as she was crossing the street with her baby. She writes of those who sprang into action, saying, “We were white, Black, Asian, tall, short, male, female, young, very young, and old. Three held the stroller up; one ran after the wheel; two got on their knees and examined the mechanism.” They reassembled the stroller and continued with their busy days. The whole experience lasted all of three minutes.
That sort of matter-of-fact kindness is common here in our city — yeah, it’s worth clapping for. New Yorkers, we sometimes get a bad rep, as having a reputation of being tough or no-nonsense. And the truth is that yes, that’s the case, and also, one of my favorite things about living in this city, about being of this city, is you cannot live here all that long without already experiencing that kind of kindness. That quick, on-the-go — you don’t even know their name, and they’re there to help you out, and they’re gone before you know it.
And what is rarer, frankly though, in this city, is the kinds of people that we are here to celebrate this evening. Those who dedicate the entirety of their daily lives to help their fellow New Yorkers. These few make a life of that kind of kindness. They volunteer for their little pocket of New York, they identify community-specific problems that need solving, and they get to work on doing just that. It is that spirit of daily, continued service that we are here to celebrate tonight with the recipients of the Service Impact Awards.
We honor these exemplary New Yorkers with both recognition and a $1000 gift so that they may continue their good works, knowing they are both appreciated and supported by the city that they love. These winners were chosen through a public vote. We recognize them this evening because their work made a difference in the lives of New Yorkers across all five boroughs. Now, the New Yorkers that we are here to celebrate, they serve different parts of our city, they meet different needs in our city, but each of tonight’s honorees have helped to shape this city in very real ways. They have done everything from [helping] to provide nutritious meals for those suffering from long-term illness, to starting a rock-climbing club for brown and Black girls, to launching community gardens in neighborhoods affected by food insecurity.
Now my co-presenter, Chief Service Officer Laura Rog, will get into the details of the incredible work each of these honorees have done. Before she does that, I do want to just take a moment to recognize each of them by name. Eric Ragone — we can have a round of applause for each of these. Brittany Leavitt, Angria Messam, Abby Pochiraju, Iman Mergen, Mutashma Shaaf, Aalia Rehman, Nafisa Qadri, and last but not least, Huda Ali.
Now, on behalf of New York City, I want to say thank you to each and every one of you. Thank you for taking your love of this city and making it into something that is truly tangible, material, heartfelt. Because that is what we are truly celebrating this evening. A love of this place that we all know as our home, a commitment to ensure that everyone else who lives here can lead a life of dignity. And the ambition and excellence that you have shown every and every day, it’s an inspiration to every single New Yorker, including those of us at City Hall. And I cannot thank you enough. Now, before we end this evening, we have to ensure that we actually give them their awards. So, I will pass it to Laura, who will present the five awards of this evening.
[Laura Rog presents awards.]
April 21, 2026 New York
Source: nyc.gov
