School Safety Agents Jacqueline Dowd and Thomas Mitchell were among the ten outstanding civil servants honored at the annual Public Service Awards of the Hundred Year Association on Dec. 21. Each SSA received a $1,000 cash award.

School Safety Agents Thomas Mitchell, left, and Jacqueline Dowd, right, recipients of the Isaac Liberman Public Service Award, flank Grand Prize Winner New York Police Officer Dawn Townsend.

“The civil servants we honor today bring prestige to the city by going beyond their job descriptions to give New Yorkers world-class service every single day,” said Department of Citywide Administrative Services Commissioner Edna Wells Handy, who joined representatives of the association along with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Caswell Holloway at One Police Plaza in Lower Manhattan for the ceremony.

Honorees received a total $17,500 in cash prizes, with another $27,000 in academic scholarships going to the children of civil servants.

Jacqueline Dowd
Dowd, a school safety agent since 2000, works at P.S. 369K in Brooklyn, a school for students with special needs. In addition to her safety responsibilities, Dowd helps with school celebrations by creating props and artwork, such as a mural based on the theme, “Literacy Through the Five Boroughs,” which hangs in the school. Dowd is currently dedicated to raising funds for SSAs with cancer, by helping to establish a Brooklyn North Sunshine Club.

She earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology at Medgar Evers College, where she created and edited the newsletter, “Women’s Perspective Written for Womyn by Womyn,” featuring writings by students. She also helped produce a play entitled “Stolen Waters Are Sweet,” which raised funds for Aids and domestic violence awareness and prevention.

The Center for Women’s Development at Medgar Evers College awarded Dowd the designation of “Woman of Distinction.” Her Public Service Award was sponsored by Hagedorn & Company.

Thomas Mitchell
Mitchell, a school safety agent for the past 19 years, is assigned to ManhattanNorth Command’sMobile Taskforce. On his own time, Mitchell organizes programs and events that allow community youths to express their talents through the art of dance. Trained in dance at the Elliot Feld School, the Joffrey Ballet School, and the Dance Theater of Harlem, he has performedwith the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and the LaRocque Bey School of Professional Dance Theater, where he teaches choreography.

On Saturdays, he conducts the Monjazbalet Dance Program, which showcases his own style of dance, a fusion of modern, jazz, and ballet. He also organizes an annual Talent and Fashion Show Fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House and the Manhattan North Sunshine Committee. His Public Service Award was sponsored by General Tools & Instruments.