A sampling of Columbians active in the Washington Heights Community A few of the many Columbia College and GSAS graduates have lived in Washington Heights and have been and are active in the community. Judge Rolando Acosta Luis Belliard Ivelisse Fairchild Elbert Garcia Guillermo Linares Jacqueline Martinez Marianela Núñez Julissa Reynoso Danilo Rodriguez Sugeni Perez Omaira Soriano Judge Rolando Acosta Columbia College 1978, Law 1988 One of the highest-ranking Latino judges in New York State, the New York State Supreme Court justice was a star pitcher with the Columbia Lions in his student days. Currently an Inwood resident, Acosta has been active in the Washington Heights and Inwood community. Luis Belliard Architecture, Preservation, and Planning 1988 The late planner and community activist was a founding member of the Association for Progressive Dominicans, a social-service agency in Washington Heights. Ivelisse Fairchild Teachers College 1995, Public Health 2001 Ivelisse Fairchild, who grew up in Washington Heights, is director of external affairs for the Primary Care Development Corporation, an organization working to improve clinic-based care in Washington Heights to improve care. Fairchild is a former associate vice president of government and community affairs for Columbia University Health Sciences. In 1994, while at Columbia, she founded an organization called the Uptown Women in Neighborhood Sports (Uptown WINS) to encourage minority girls to get into sports and aspire to Ivy League education. It currently serves about 300 young women a year. Elbert Garcia Columbia College 1997 Elbert Garcia, who attended Columbia with a Dyckman fellowship for academically achieving residents of Washington Heights and Inwood, is now a journalist. He writes for the New York Post "Tempo" section, aimed at New York's Latin-American readers, and for Manhattan Times, a northern Manhattan neighborhood newspaper. He covers education and immigration as his primary beats. In 2002–03, Garcia spent a year working in Congressman Charles Rangel's Washington office as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. Guillermo Linares Teachers College Guillermo Linares is currently writing his thesis for an EdD degree from Teachers College. In 1991, he became the first Dominican-American to hold public office in the United States when he was elected city councilman from Washington Heights. In 2004, he was appointed as commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs of New York City. Jacqueline Martinez Mailman School of Public Health 2000 Jacqueline Martinez is the director of Northern Manhattan Community Voices Collaborative (NMCVC) at Columbia University's Center for Community Health Partnerships. The collaborative, spearheaded by Columbia University's School of Dental and Oral Surgery, is a network of over 35 community-based organizations and institutions in Central Harlem and Washington Heights. The mission of NMCVC, one of 13 sites funded by the Kellogg Foundation, is to improve health-care services to the uninsured and underinsured in northern Manhattan. Marianela Núñez Social Work 1993 Marianela made her mark in community-based services in Washington Heights where she has served as an advocate, administrator, and direct-service provider. She has lobbied for increased services for youth, children, and families at the State Assembly in Albany and participated in President Clinton's "At the Table Discussion." At present, Marianela is working on her Ph.D. in social welfare at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Julissa Reynoso Law 2001 Julissa Reynoso is a general litigator for the firm Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett and has lived in Washington Heights for the past seven years. She was a founding member of a legal-services clinic run out of The North Manhattan Coalition for Immigrant Rights, an agency of Alianza Dominicana subsidized by Columbia University. She helped to found Dominicans 2000, which offers tutoring and after-school programs run out of City College, and is on the board of the Alianza Dominicana, the Dominican Women's Caucus, La Fuente: the New York Civic Participation Project, and Project Enterprise. Danilo Rodriguez Columbia College 1996, Engineering 1997, Business 2003 Danilo Rodriguez worked at Lehman brothers, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, Comedy Central, VH1, and now is at Cinetic Media, a financing and acquisitions company for independent film. He is also an aspiring screenwriter/producer. He has lived in Washington Heights for the last five years. He cofounded the Dominican student group at Columbia, Grupo Quisqueyano, with Elbert Garcia in 1995. Sugeni Perez Barnard College 2001 Sugeni Perez is a native of Morningside Heights. After graduation she worked at Alianza Dominicana, as supervisor for the program Teens Against Tobacco Use (TATU), and as a substance-abuse counselor. She is currently a graduate student at Princeton University in Public Affairs and Urban and Regional Planning. Omaira Soriano Barnard College 2001 Omaira Soriano is a fraud auditor at Ernst and Young. For a number of years, she has worked on a regular basis for Alianza Dominicana, offering support during special drives, including flood relief and political campaigns. She also offers ongoing advice on education and career goals, unofficially, and at Alianza. This list represents only a few of the members of the Columbia community who have lived and worked in Washington Heights. If you would like to add to the list, please email c250web@columbia.edu.