25th Annual Resourceful Women's Gala

The 25th Annual Resourceful Women’s Gala will be held at Albany Capital Center on Friday, September 19th at 6:00 PM.

The Resourceful Women’s Awards were established in 2000 to honor women whose community and professional pursuits advance the empowerment of women, a core element of our mission to eliminate racism, empower women and promote peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.

Our 2025 Resourceful Woman of the Year is Dr. Jennifer J. Thompson Burns, a Lecturer in the Department of Africana, Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies, at the University at Albany. She earned her bachelors degree in Africana Studies and her masters and doctoral degrees in American History from the History Department at UAlbany. Her field of expertise is nineteenth-century African American History and Atlantic History with a specialization in local Black history, politics, and community studies. Dr. Burns has contributed to several historical database projects, such as the Civil War Slave Database Project, and is currently building the UAlbany “Africana Studies Lab,” an online Digital Humanities project funded by a $100,000 Mellon Foundation Affirming Multivocal Humanities grant. She has contributed to and appeared in several documentaries including PBS’s documentary Slavery by Another Name (2012), Paul Miller’s documentary, Searching for Timbuctoo (2021), WMHT’s Reframing an Empire: Discovering the Legacy of Thomas Cole (2023) and North to New York: The Great Migration in NY’s Capital Region (2025), a companion piece to Henry Louis Gates Jr’s PBS original documentary “The Great Migration and Black Americans”. Dr. Burns is an active participant in a wide variety of organizations in the Capital Region and regularly presents at community events and formal academic conferences. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the ALANA Women of Empowerment Award, the UAlbany Initiatives for Women Award, and the University at Albany 2019 Distinguished Dissertation Award for her doctoral dissertation, Black Trojans: The Grassroots Abolition Campaign of the Free Black Community in Troy, New York before 1861. Dr. Burns has served on the Executive Board of the Hart Cluett Museum in Troy and the Underground Railroad Education Center in Albany and is a frequent panelist on WAMC’s The RoundTable Program.

Please unite with us in supporting Dr. Thompson Burns and YWCA-GCR through sponsorship or as an honorary committee member. Our 2025 Resourceful Women’s Awards fundraising goal is $75,000. All proceeds help to sustain, enhance, and expand the unique services and programs YWCA-GCR provides. YWCA-GCR is one of the area’s largest providers of supportive housing to both single women and women with children who would otherwise be homeless or living in substandard housing. In addition to our economic empowerment, homelessness prevention, food security services and supportive programs, every day, YWCA- GCR houses 104 women and over 50 children.

Please consider becoming a corporate or community sponsor and/or joining the honorary committee for our 25th anniversary of this empowering event. Your support will change lives and we appreciate you!

2025 Resourceful Woman of the Year

• Dr. Jennifer J. Thompson Burns, Lecturer at University at Albany, SUNY

Woman of Inspiration

• Elizabeth Briggs, YWCA-GCR Resident

YWCA-GCR Staff Choice Award

• Linda Martino, Co-Creator of Rennselaer County Recovery Helpline

Persimmon Service Award

• Bonnie Benson, YWCA-GCR Chief Housing Officer
• Ellen Randolph, YWCA-GCR Administrative Support

Mission Partners

• Collar City Pride
• Excelsior University

2025 Honorary Co-Chairs

• Dr. Denise Fernandez-Pallozzi
• Phyllis Conroy

Presenting Sponsor

• Groff NetWorks

Persimmon Sponsor

• Regeneron

Empowerment Sponsor

• Key Bank
• University at Albany Foundation

Community Sponsor

• Ayco Goldman Sachs
• Fagan Associates

Host or Publisher YWCA of the Greater Capital Region