The Brown Center at the Maryland Institute College of Art is often used for special events, but it was a particularly appropriate locale for the Center for Urban Families to hold this year's Urban Visionary Awards. Local philanthropists Eddie and Sylvia Brown, for whom the center was named, were among those honored.
"We're honoring people who do so much and give so much of themselves," said Anne Emery, board chair of Bluford Drew Jemison Academy.
But for the Browns, as well as many of the party's attendees, it was the organization itself that deserved praise.
"This is an organization that is making a difference," said Scott Rifkin. Rifkin signed on to the event committee with wife Krissy Rifkin, joining folks like Bill and Brenda Jews, Larry and Jan Rivitz, Richard McCoy and Diane Bell-McKoy, Jimmy and Robin Wood, and George and Betsy Sherman.
"It does such important work in the city of Baltimore," added Sam Polakoff, Cormony Development managing director.
"Just what this organization stands for is phenomenal," said Dennis Pullin, Harbor Hospital president, there with his wife, Angela Pullin, a community volunteer.
Downstairs, at a VIP reception, R&B/pop singer and Baltimore native Mario chatted with some fans on one side of room, while guests lined up to have their photos taken with the evening's other honoree, Geoffrey Canada, president/CEO of Harlem Children's Zone Inc., and Joe Jones, the Center for Urban Families' founder/executive director.
Mikala Johnson, 9, beamed after her photo session with both men.
"It was cool meeting Geoffrey Canada," she said.
"She did her homework and researched Eddie and Sylvia Brown, and Geoffrey Canada. She told me, 'I thought people like this were dead, like Martin Luther King Jr.,' " said Mikala's mom, Cassandra Codes-Johnson, CFUF's chief operating officer.
"Joe has been the speaker several times at the Drug Court, and he has been so inspiring to many of the offenders," noted Ellen Heller, former administrative judge for the Circuit Court of Baltimore City.
But Jones found his own inspiration in the evening's turnout.
"It's not about me. It's about taking the energy of this room and galvanizing it to help children in our community feel they have an angel on their side," he said.
"This is somebody I'm excited about," he said as he introduced 27-year-old La-Roy Alston."He's a graduate of our program and now working on a bachelor's degree, getting straight A's."
"Wow," said Alston, looking around the room. "This is amazing for me to be invited to something like this. I didn't know this many people cared about urban communities."