Kittitian Dr. Ismay Taylor will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award during Caribbean Heritage Month in New York City this June.

The Award will be presented by the Neighborhood Technical Assistance Clinic (NTAC) whose goal, among others, is ‘to strengthen the work of nonprofits in New York City and to recognize individual people who help to make our work possible.” In naming Dr. Taylor for the award, NTAC cited the impressive accomplishments of Dr. Taylor who had migrated to the USA in 1967.

The citation as described by NTAC: “The Diabetes epidemic in St. Kitts and Nevis had caught the attention of the Caines Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2007. The foundation was the Brainchild of Dr. Ismay Taylor, a daughter of the soil of St. Kitts. Dr. Taylor along with three other charter donors—Troy Taylor, son, Richard Caines, brother and Dr. Stanley Everton Caines, nephew—founded the Foundation with a mission to improve and enhance education initiatives, strengthen economic development and promote healthy families in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. Since its inception, the Caines Family Foundation has aided the St. Kitts and Nevis Ministry of Education by providing training designed to increase the capacity of school educators and leaders. The training, facilitated by the Neighborhood Technical Assistance Clinic, was presented around the same time when Dr. Ismay Taylor accepted the invitation to Chair and serve on the country’s Education Advisory Board.” [. . .]

Dr. Ismay Taylor is a retired professor of the City University of New York and a past Academic Dean at the Bronx Community College. Dr. Taylor combines the skills of a teacher with a talent for administration and she instills in her students a healthy and vigilant skepticism. [. . .] She earned a B.A. in Spanish at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico and moved to Spain to do post graduate studies at the Universidad de Madrid. Later it was on to New York University and to Columbia University where she completed her doctoral studies. [. . .] She is bilingual in English/Spanish, and writes French and Italian. With an impressive list of guest lectures, grants and awards, her record speaks of a polished professionalism. She is an expert in process; trained in verbal & nonverbal communication, group dynamics, working with resistance, working through conflicts, arbitration and decision making. She is a skilled diplomat and offers a high level of competence in protocol, and people to people skills.

In New York, Dr. Taylor received numerous awards and citations for service to include, several from the Student Government of Bronx Community College of CUNY, The Mount Vernon Cooperative College of SUNY, Bilingual Volunteers of America: New York Chapter, The Assembly of the State of New York, and also the Kittitian-American Benevolent Association (KABA) which she co-founded in 1982.

In 1997 she retired from CUNY and returned to St. Kitts. Here she does voluntary work with community and church based youth programs, as well as with the ministry of Education, facilitating workshops and seminars for teachers and school principals. For 2004-2008 she served as Chairperson of the Education Advisory Board in the Ministry of Education. In 2005 she received the Ministry of Education Medal of Appreciation for service to education, and in 2006 the St. Kitts and Nevis Independence Anniversary Community Service Award for invaluable contribution to her country.

For full article, see http://www.sknvibes.com/news/newsdetails.cfm/57304