Final brochure3 11 04

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2004 Sloan Public Service Awards

121 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10013-1590

Telephone [phone]    Facsimile 212.925.5675    www.fcny.org

F U N D F O R T H E C I T Y O F N E W Y O R K

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Credits:

Kathryn Weinstein, Design

JoJo Whilden, Photography

Darbert Offset Corporation, Printing

2004 Sloan Public Service Award

W I N N E R S

Neil Berman

Larry Gould

Rolanda Pyle

Myriam Sarachik 

Patrick Too

Ellie Weiss and Tabari Z. Bomani

F U N D F O R T H E C I T Y O F N E W Y O R K

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For 31 years the Fund for the City of New York’s Public Service Awards Program has honored 

outstanding civil servants whose work performance and commitment to the public transcend not merely 

the ordinary but the extraordinary — day after day and year after year. In honoring these winners, we also 

acknowledge the contributions of the many thousands of dedicated public servants who, with integrity and 

devotion, perform the work that keeps this complex city running.

This year’s winners, and the 194 winners from previous years,

were selected from among more than

250,000 eligible workers in the mayoral agencies, the Transit and Housing Authorities, the Health and Hospitals

Corporation,The City University of New York, district attorneys’ offices and the public libraries.

Winners come from all levels and ranks of New York City’s government.

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Sloan Public Service Award Winners demonstrate some or all of the following: extraordinary service

delivered with ingenuity, energy and compassion – an 

expression of commitment

far beyond the call of duty;

responsiveness to public needs

by cutting through red tape or developing 

more effective methods of service

delivery; outstanding and reliable performance

both under the pressures of daily routine and in times of 

crisis;

willingness to take risks,

if that is what is needed, to improve services or correct abuses or inequities;

the 

ability to adapt to change

and provide a continued high standard of service to the public; and 

upholding

the public interest

amidst competing interests, pressures and demands.

The Fund for the City of New York is grateful to the

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for its support of this program for the past 19 years.

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2004 Sloan Public Service Award Winners

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“Neil Berman’s contract

management system is 

better than anything 

we saw in our national 

search. It is being applied 

to all the City’s human 

services programs.”

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Neil Berman’s agency serves youth and adults, families and

communities. Its programs range from helping improve literacy,

gaining citizenship and obtaining summer employment to

administering after-school and out-of-school time programs.

These services are delivered by community-based organizations

that have 1,900 contracts with DYCD costing $169.3 million.

Thanks to Mr. Berman’s efforts, the City is able to keep track

of and manage every step of every DYCD human service 

contract: announcement of the Request for Proposals, the

award, service delivery milestones, payments due and issued,

and completion. His contract management system saves 

countless hours of duplicate data entry and ensures uniform

information for all projects. It contains rigorous quality 

controls and supports accountability by identifying parties

responsible at each point of data entry. The system replaced an

uncoordinated amalgam of manual and electronic procedures

that were originally housed in two different agencies.

This model large-scale technology innovation is one of many

solutions Mr. Berman has introduced during his 19 years 

of government service in four agencies. He has improved

information about and control and quality of foster care,

homeless services and other programs. Self-taught, he has built

a reputation as a problem solver and successful manager of

complex, difficult, urgent and high profile projects, including

disaster recovery plans. He seeks challenges in finding new and

better ways to help the City get its work done.

NEIL BERMAN

Assistant Commissioner, Information Technology, Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD)

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“He puts the needs of the

riding public at the top of

his list, aiming to make 

subway and bus service 

in New York the best in 

the world”

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Since Larry Gould came to the TA 23 years ago, when a 

major multi-year capital program was launched to overcome

deterioration of the mass transit system resulting from years of

deferred maintenance, he has been part of the turnaround of

the largest city transportation system in the world.

He and his staff — some of whom he recruits from TA 

field positions and then trains to be analysts — develop and

implement strategies to ensure that $3 billion a year in capital

funding is used effectively. Their work involves developing

route diversions while construction projects are in progress

and assuring the best possible service all year long by 

anticipating and responding to labor disputes, blackouts,

terrorist attacks and planning for special events. Permission for

access to subway tracks (5,000 a year) for capital improvement,

maintenance and emergencies is issued in his office. He 

attends community meetings to listen to the public’s concerns.

He works with public information staff to produce announce-

ments and maps about service changes. He is at the Subway

Control Center for every emergency and is the TA’s liaison to

the City’s emergency operations.

Mr. Gould has uncanny knowledge of New York City’s entire

transportation network and the ability to address the complex

issues and competing interests involved in running and

improving the City’s buses and subways. A master of technical

and technological issues, budgetary and personnel nuances,

capital financing, public and community relations, project

management, inter- and intra- agency collaboration and dis-

pute resolution, he is involved in virtually every solution and

new initiative to improve TA performance and operations.

LARRY GOULD

Senior Director, Operations Analysis, New York City Transit (TA)

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