Home is Where the Heart is: GS Alumni Making a Difference in New York

New York City is a huge part of what makes Columbia GS the premiere educational destination for nontraditional students. Many GSers hail from New York, and many more are drawn from across the country and the world to the city’s bustling energy and endless opportunities. GS students and alumni plant their roots deep in New York, engaging in community advocacy that often extends long after their graduation from Columbia. We’re highlighting seven alumni giving back to the city that both they—and GS—are proud to call home.

Peter H. Kostmayer ‘71GS

Peter H. Kostmayer has dedicated his life to public service. After serving seven terms as a United States Congressman for Pennsylvania, Kostmayer shifted his focus to advocacy and philanthropy. He returned to New York, the city of his birth, in 2005 as CEO of Citizens Committee for New York City, a position he held for 15 years before retiring. Citizens Committee provides direct grants to community initiatives and small businesses in New York City with a focus on empowering low-income communities and entrepreneurs from historically marginalized populations. During his time as CEO, Kostmayer extended Citizen Committee’s programming to specifically include LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities, and increased the resources and reach of the organization. 

Recognized alongside his husband Doug Hirn ‘14LAW by Citizens Committee at their 2022 ‘New Yorkers for New York’ gala, Kostmayer sat down with fellow honoree Yin Kong for an interview. “I think that’s really the history of Citizens Committee for New York City, that we have really tried to empower neighborhoods and immigrant groups,” he said, adding that the goal has always been to ensure that individuals and communities feel they “have a voice.”

Gale A. Brewer ‘97GS

Gale A. Brewer is a beloved fixture of the New York political scene stretching back to the Lindsay administration, most notably serving as Manhattan Borough Chief (2014-2021) and on the City Council representing the 6th District (2002-2013, 2022-present). Across roles, Brewer is a fierce advocate for her constituents. She has successfully championed legislation requiring paid sick leave for the majority of hourly workers, striking criminal history queries from initial employment applications, and ensuring caregivers are covered under anti-discrimination protections. Brewer has also led the way on numerous important investments in neighborhoods, schools, organizations, and parks across Manhattan, and advocated for increased municipal participation by appointing and training thousands of New Yorkers to city board positions. 

Like so many nontraditional students, Brewer worked full-time while earning her BA in urban studies at GS. As an alumna, she’s maintained close ties, returning to campus as an instructor at Columbia and Barnard and delivering the Keynote Address at GS’s 2014 Class Day ceremony. “Columbia’s commitment to returning and nontraditional students is unparalleled,” said Brewer of GS’s unique impact. “Increasingly, older, wiser, and more experienced students are entering higher education—demonstrating that learning truly is a lifelong process. I cherished my time at Columbia all the more with perspective from the wider world and with a clear sense of what I wanted to accomplish.”

Evelin Collado ‘10GS

Longtime New Yorker and Inwood resident Evelin Collado is passionate about immigrants’ rights and supporting New York City’s underserved communities. As Director of Budget & Legislation for former City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, Collado helped shepherd the Municipal Voting Rights Bill into law, which gives all permanent New York City residents the right to vote in local elections regardless of immigration status. Collado has also advocated for taxi driver’s rights, helped obtain dedicated resources for ethnic media, and was part of the successful movement to unionize Council Member Aides (CMAs) at the New York City Council. She currently serves as Manhattan Borough Director for the Office of the City Comptroller.

Collado’s GS pride is strong. “The GS population is one of the best assets that Columbia has,” she said as an alumna panelist during spring 2022 new student orientation. “We bring so much life experience to the table, and the classrooms I participated in were so much richer because of the GS students who were there.” In turn, she noted how a GS education provides long-lasting benefits: “My job gives me so many opportunities to put into practice a lot of things I learned in the classroom at Columbia. Part of what I got at GS was an understanding of the philosophical and political thinking that informs policy and prescribes how society runs. Having this practical knowledge makes you a valuable asset wherever you are.”

Sara Ziff ‘11GS

Sara Ziff came to GS as a renowned fashion model, having appeared as the face of Stella McCartney, GAP, Kenneth Cole, and Tommy Hilfiger, among others. At Columbia, where Ziff majored in political science, she became interested in labor organizing and applying this interest to the modeling field. Still a student, she co-directed the award-winning documentary Picture Me, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at the modeling industry, and began to lay the groundwork for a model-focused trade organization which would officially launch as the Model Alliance in 2012. “Without the breadth and flexibility of a Columbia GS education and the support of key Columbia faculty members,” said Ziff, “I would not have developed my intellectual curiosity in this emerging legal field.”

As founder and executive director of the Model Alliance, Ziff has been a powerful advocate for fair labor practices in the fashion industry, most recently championing the Fashion Workers Act, which would close legal loopholes in New York that leave fashion workers vulnerable to exploitation. Ziff and the Model Alliance have also played a pivotal role in the #MeToo movement. The organization lobbied for the Adult Survivors Act (ASA), a law which creates a one-year window (November 23, 2022 to November 23, 2023) for New Yorkers who were sexually abused as adults to sue abusers and negligent institutions, regardless of statutes of limitations.

Since the law’s passage, the Model Alliance has been at the forefront of raising awareness of the ASA so that anyone eligible and interested in filing suit has the knowledge to do so. Ziff is among those seeking justice under the ASA, the first time she has publicly addressed her own experience despite being a stalwart #MeToo advocate for fellow models. Said Ziff of abusers who have escaped censure in the past, “I’ve always been frustrated by the fact that those people seem to escape any kind of accountability.” Reflecting on the experience of helping pass the ASA, and standing alongside other survivors as it was signed into law, she said “it felt like here was a real sense of the possibility that perhaps we could do something about what happened.”

Kirsty Jardine '15GS, '16PH

A native of South Africa, Kirsty Jardine brought her passion for public health from Johannesburg, where she was an EMT and emergency services volunteer with the City of Johannesburg Emergency Services, straight to her new home of New York City. At GS, Jardine was the first student accepted into GS’s dual degree program with Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, graduating from GS with her bachelor’s degree in 2015 and earning her master’s degree from Mailman in 2016. Subsequently, Jardine has worked for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and currently is the Director of IT Strategy and Partnerships for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). 

Jardine has also had a big impact within GS, serving as the Co-Chair of the General Studies Alumni Association (GSAA). “One of the best pieces of advice my GS advisor ever gave me was to say 'whenever you walk into a room, never be afraid to sit at the table,’” Jardine said of GS’s impact on her, and what keeps her so invested in fostering alumni community and supporting current students. “GS really did give me the courage to realize that I can do anything.”

Daudi Justin ‘18GS

Returning citizen Daudi Justin is a champion for equality within the legal system, both as a New York City public defender and as co-plaintiff in a groundbreaking lawsuit seeking to expand jury accessibility filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). Justin served nearly two years in prison after taking a felony plea deal on a drug-related charge, and following his release, attended Borough of Manhattan Community College before transferring to GS. He has since graduated from CUNY School of Law and is now a practicing attorney with Neighborhood Defender Service, a Harlem-based public defender practice which focuses on community engagement and a holistic approach to legal services. 

Justin may be working in New York courtrooms daily, but under current New York State law, he is barred from serving on a jury because of his felony conviction. The NYCLU suit challenges this exclusion by arguing that it disproportionately disenfranchises Black New Yorkers: the suit claims that 25% of eligible Black citizens are prohibited from serving on Manhattan juries due to the felony stipulation, in comparison to 3% of non-Black residents. "Jury service matters because everyone has a right to participate in a democracy,” said Justin of why he, as someone with deep experiential and professional knowledge of the law and its effects, is pushing so strongly for change. “I think every defendant has a right to have the members of his peers in the jury system."

Jarrell Daniels ‘22GS

A native of the Bronx, Jarrell Daniels has dedicated himself to a multipronged approach to institutional reform that seeks to simultaneously address inequalities that can push youth into dangerous situations, harmful biases within the criminal justice system, and challenges faced by returning citizens. His advocacy is built on a deeply personal foundation: Daniels came to GS as a returning citizen himself. His connection to Columbia actually began even before his release, as he was part of Inside Criminal Justice, a seminar run by Columbia’s Center for Justice and the Queensboro Correctional Facility that brought together incarcerated students and prosecutors. The experience awakened a hunger for education in Daniels, and post-incarceration he enrolled in the Borough of Manhattan Community College before transferring to GS.

At Columbia, Daniels deepened his relationship with the Center for Justice as a Justice-in-Education scholar, the founder of the Justice Ambassadors Youth Council program (which connects disadvantaged youth with local government officials to co-author transformative policy proposals), and the founder of the Community Justice Alliance (which facilitates connections between communities, local and state officials, and higher education institutions to tackle key issues like food insecurity, police violence, and policy change). Post-graduation, Daniels has continued with the Center for Justice as Project Director & Community Management Liaison.

These are only some examples of Daniels’ intersectional reform work, such as giving a TED talk on his personal experiences and collaborating with Columbia University School of Social Work Professor Desmond Patton on a virtual reality project addressing the use of social media to prejudicially profile inner-city young people. Daniels is also the recipient of numerous fellowships, including being named a Soros Justice Fellow in 2019 and a Truman scholar in 2021. “My story is not unique,” said Daniels, “it is one that belongs to generations of Black men in America. My only hope is to change the narrative about people like me. We are more than our worst mistakes. We are human. We deserve to live without the threat of death and we, too, want to contribute to making society more just and fair.”