2012 Hall of Fame Inductees
Majora Carter
Eco-entrepreneur, pioneer of one of the nation’s first urban green-collar job training and placement programs and founder of Sustainable South Bronx, Majora Carter has forged new paths in urban sustainability. Dubbed “The Prophet of Local,” Carter serves on the boards of the US Green Building Council and the Wilderness Society. A MacArthur “genius” fellow, Carter has received numerous awards, fellowships, and an honorary doctorate from Mercy College for her work.
Majora grew up in the South Bronx. She earned her BA degree from Wesleyan University and returned to New York to earn her MA from New York University. While back in New York, she worked as Associate Director for The Point Community Development Corporation, advocating for the development of Hunt’s Point Riverside Park. During this time she took her dog for a walk in the neighborhood, and quite literally stumbled into a large, weedy lot at the end of Lafayette Avenue, which was being used as one of many illegal dumping sites in the city. At the end of this lot she found herself standing on the banks of the Bronx River. When she realized her community had riverfront access that wasn’t occupied by factories and waste facilities, Carter made it her mission to green the area. She helped secure a $10,000 grant from a USDA Forest Service program to provide seed money for river access restoration projects. With the help of other organizations, activists, and the Parks Department, Carter eventually grew that seed money into millions, creating a greenway movement for the entire area.
Dr Makari-Judson is Associate Professor of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and a practicing medical oncologist at the D’Amour Center for Cancer Care in Springfield, Massachusetts. After graduating from Harvard University then Cornell University Medical College, Grace Makari-Judson completed her specialty training at the New York Hospital and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
In 1988, she came to Baystate Medical Center and in 1994 was named Medical Director of the Comprehensive Breast Center promoting the goals of providing coordinated care to women with breast cancer. In 2011, she was named Co-Director of the Rays of Hope Center for Breast Cancer Research and subsequently created a lay Advocacy Group to accelerate and focus research in the Pioneer Valley. “The money is raised in this community; the research is done in this community. The Advocacy Group links the investigators to the community to come full circle.” She is co- author of the book, “Coping with Chemotherapy and Radiation”, a frequently invited speaker on diseases of the breast, and has been repeatedly named to “Best Doctors in America”.
