Harborview Terrace Resident Wins First Carey Gabay Award

Rumon Miah, 21, of Harborview Terrace, was recently recognized for his academic achievement and commitment to community when he was awarded the first Carey Gabay Excellence Award by the Municipal Forum of New York (MFNY).

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Rumon Miah, 21, is the youngest of seven children and will be the first in his family to graduate from college. The Harborview Terrace resident was recently recognized for his academic achievement and commitment to community when he was awarded the first Carey Gabay Excellence Award by the Municipal Forum of New York (MFNY).

The award was created by MFNY to honor the memory of Carey Gabay, a dedicated public servant who was killed in 2015 by random gunshots at the J’ouvert Festival. Gabay grew up at Boston Secor Houses in the Bronx, graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School, and led a career in public service, including as assistant counsel for Governor Cuomo and first deputy counsel for the Empire State Development Corporation. At the Forum’s annual awards dinner on May 10, his widow, Trenelle Gabay, presented the award to Mr. Miah.

“I view it as an honor to be able to live up to someone like him—he grew up in public housing and went to such prestigious universities and made such an impact,” Mr. Miah said.

The $2,500 award is given to an Urban Leadership Fellows (ULF) alumnus who is a junior or senior in college with at least a 3.0 GPA. ULF is an internship program run by MFNY that introduces high school seniors with an interest in finance to the municipal securities industry through paid summer internships. 

At the awards dinner, MFNY and NYCHA also announced a partnership to recruit more young NYCHA residents to the ULF internship program. 

Mr. Miah completed his ULF internship at investment bank Stifel Financial, working in the public finance division. He is a senior at Baruch College, where he studies finance and information technology. During his sophomore year in college he worked as a part-time teller at TD Bank, juggling a full course load. He also became a finance tutor for an introductory course to help his fellow students, because “not many students realize how great of an opportunity they have to be attending college. I wanted to let them know how fortunate they are and that they shouldn’t take it for granted, they should do everything they can to pursue that higher education.” 

To learn more about the ULF program, contact Futures and Options at 212-601-0002 or by email at info@futuresandoptions.org or visit http://themunicipalforumofnewyork.org/ULFProgram.aspx.