On Dec. 16, Cornell University Cooperative Extension – New York City held their annual holiday gathering to celebrate the organization’s 2022 accomplishments. As part of the event, CUCE-NYC’s Executive Director, Jennifer Tiffany, presented Reverend Patrick O’Connor with the inaugural Enduring Partnership Award in recognition of his vision, leadership, and engagement with CUCE-NYC and the communities we serve.
Rev. O’Connor is the lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica and chairs the First Jamaica Community and Urban Development Corporation (FJCUDC). He has partnered with CUCE-NYC and other community organizations for decades. His work has strengthened the Jamaica, Queens community through multiple initiatives that prioritize housing, food security, and access to health services.
As chair of FJCUDC, Rev. O’Connor played a key role in the development of the Tree of Life Center, a new, energy-smart apartment building that offers affordable housing units and resources to the Queens community. Rev. O’Connor sparked and sustained the TOLC partnership connecting the First Presbyterian Church, the FJCUDC, the Community Health Network, the Queens Public Library and CUCE-NYC. A ribbon-cutting for the TOLC was held on Dec. 9.
Rev. O’Connor is Co-Chair of Queens Power, Vice Chair of the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation leadership team, which works to build and rehabilitate affordable housing in NYC, and a member of Weill Cornell Medicine’s Clinical Translational Science Center’s External Advisory Board.
As both a pastor and community leader, Rev. O’Connor commits himself to empowering the communities around him. He has dedicated 30 years of service to the FPCJ congregation and to Jamaica, Queens.
“Rev. O’Connor has helped CUCE-NYC to foster its Queens programs throughout his time in Jamaica. He is a close, enduring, and visionary partner in work to serve the community. It is our honor to recognize him with the inaugural CUCE-NYC Enduring Partnership Award,” says Jennifer Tiffany.
