Eric Smalls
Sloan Public Service Awards
Chief Technology Officer, NYC Emergency Management
About the Sloan Public Service Awards
Since 1973, the Fund for the City of New York has honored outstanding civil servants with the “Nobel Prize of Public Service”–the Sloan Public Service Awards.
The Awards, generously supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for over two decades, honor six civil servants each year who exhibit an extraordinary level of commitment to the public. They routinely step beyond the bounds of their job responsibilities to ensure that New Yorkers’ needs are met. You can find them providing compassionate, high-quality care in hospitals, fighting for families’ rights in the courts, and showing children the treasures found in libraries. They also work behind the scenes to ensure that water runs through our pipes, traffic flows through our streets–and so much more.
Award winners are carefully selected by a distinguished panel, and thanked for their exemplary work through an award ceremony, a $10,000 prize, and a commemorative video, portrait, and brochure. Their achievements are also highlighted by news outlets and on social media. The Awards not only recognize the six honorees, they symbolize our deep appreciation for the hundreds of thousands of people who keep this complex city—the largest in the United States—running.
The 325,000 employees who work for mayoral and non-mayoral agencies, the Transit and Housing Authorities, the Health and Hospitals Corporation, the City University of New York, Department of Education, district attorneys offices, public libraries, and more are eligible.
Nominate
Eligibility & Criteria
Requirements
Eligible employees may work in all ranks for NYC agencies, such as:
- Mayoral agencies
- Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA)
- New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)
- The Health and Hospitals Corporation
- Department of Education
- District attorneys offices
- Public libraries
- Parks and Recreation
- City University of New York
- Community Boards
Nominees embody the following qualities:
- Extraordinary service delivered with ingenuity, energy, and compassion
- Commitment beyond the call of duty
- Responsiveness to public needs, developing more effective methods of service delivery
- Outstanding and reliable performance, both under the pressures of daily routine and in times of crisis
- Willingness to take risks, if that is what is needed to improve services or correct abuses or inequities
- Ability to adapt to change and provide a continued high standard of service to the public
- Dedication to upholding public interest amidst competing interests, pressures, and demands
To nominate a person, provide a description of the candidate, including significant career information, the particular achievements that occasion the nomination and the qualities the nominee embodies. Names go into a reserve pool, and each nominee is reviewed in due course. Recommendations, once made, need not be renewed.
The names of City employees who emerge with the strongest recommendations are submitted to the Selection Panel, an independent group of distinguished leaders serving on the basis of their experience with and knowledge of government. In deliberating and choosing the winners, panel members are guided by extensive profiles of each nominee, descriptions of the contributions made and panelists’ own insights and evaluations.
NominateFAQ
Public Service Award nominations are ongoing.
Since 1985, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has generously supported this program, allowing for each honoree to receive a $10,000 prize at an awards ceremony. They also receive a highlight video and a commemorative brochure and portrait. Their achievements are celebrated by media outlets and on social media. Promotions include special full-page New York Daily News printed ad.
No. Only City employees are eligible for the award.
A New York City civil servant is someone who works for City government. The City employs more than 325,000 people who work in more than 75 different departments, agencies, authorities, commissions, boards and offices.
There are thousands of position titles for a myriad of functions that are required to keep this city running: highly specialized jobs such as pathologists, geologists, chemists and engineers; jobs that involve high risks such as police officers, firefighters and correction officers; jobs that require special skills and abilities such as teachers, social workers, mental health workers and librarians; jobs that provide frontline services or involve managing huge and complex organizations or that support the city’s programs by providing back office and administrative functions; and jobs that promote public health such as EMTs, nurses, senior care providers, and other essential workers.
No, civil servants at all ranks are eligible for the award.
Six winners are selected annually, and those who are not selected are entered into a reserve pool. They may be considered for an award at a later date.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Sloan Public Service Awards, call or email Aldrin Bonilla at 212-925-6675 or abonilla@fcny.org, or reach out to Jennifer Panicali at 212-590-9455.