Cordelia D. Roosevelt

Founding Board Member

Cordelia was born and raised in New York City. In her senior year at Harvard University she won the John Brookings Imrie Memorial Award. Bestowed annually, this honor is conferred by a review committee comprised of both faculty and students. Prior to co-founding Urban Arts, Cordelia served as a board member and director of the children's art program for A Window Between Worlds, an LA-based arts organization.

In response to September 11th, 2001, Cordelia co-founded and co-managed a donation-driven warehouse during the nine-month Rescue and Recovery mission at the World Trade Center. For her work, The President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, in conjunction with The White House, honored her with the President’s Volunteer Service Award. Cordelia also received three individual FDNY commendations in addition to an American flag that had flown over the site.

In October 2005, in association with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Cordelia is sponsoring a group of anthropologists, aid workers, and journalists traveling to the Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya. In Africa, she will oversee "Project Kakuma," the return of handwritten biographies compiled nearly 20 years ago by Sweden Save the Children. The restoration of these papers to their rightful owners will help Sudanese refugees obtain passports and other legal documents when they return next year to Sudan.

Cordelia currently volunteers in the New York University Hospital emergency department. She is a member of the Harvard Club and the National Arts Club, as well as a trustee of the Theodore Roosevelt Association.