00:00The stars are out to celebrate those who are so very passionate about children and mentorship.
00:20How does it feel to be honored here this evening?
00:23Well, this is a really great honor.
00:24You know, Steve Harvey is just a towering figure in the African American community, and the
00:31fact that he has decided he's going to honor our work at the Harlem Children's Zone to me
00:35is very, very exciting.
00:37We've really decided we're going to work in a 97-block area with all of the children.
00:42There are 8,000 children we're working with right now, and our mission is to make sure
00:46all of our children go to college, get a good education.
00:50Well, there are a lot of people who are doing a lot of great things in this country.
00:53Denzel, Amistad Canada is another one, and, you know, lots of other people.
00:57Steve and Marjorie have their foundation, and they are trying really, really hard to help
01:02children, boys and girls, underprivileged particularly.
01:06It's part of your responsibility as being a human being is to give information, to pass
01:11on experience, to share wisdom, to open doors.
01:15I mean, you and I are standing here right now because somebody opened a door for us.
01:19We're friends, we're friends, and we support Steve, and he's a great man, and if he wants
01:26us to stand beside him and to help him, we'll do that any day of the week.
01:30He's important to us.
01:31I have a group of six girls that I mentor in Harlem, and they're my girls.
01:37It's very important.
01:38I think everybody needs someone that they can talk to that's not a parent or a teacher,
01:42someone outside of that environment.
01:43You know, it's very important, in all sincerity, what he is doing, what Steve is doing to bring
01:49attention to young men, especially young black men, who are in need of that strong male role
01:55model that, unfortunately, some are not getting at home.
01:58You know what?
01:59Steve has known me since I've been doing stand-up comedy, way back in the early days.
02:03We go way back.
02:04I've hosted twice, two years in a row, his Dreamers Academy for the kids, and he's always
02:10had a lot of integrity.
02:11He's always believed in children and the future, and when he said that he was doing
02:15this, and he was honoring people that I myself admire.
02:18You know, this is the occasion not to be missed.
02:21This is the occasion with purpose, and while it is wonderful that we can come and have a
02:26grand time and see the faces that we love and that we don't get to see that often because
02:31the Creator has us doing the most amazing things at this time in our history, it is not
02:35to be missed because it really supports an important cause.
02:40And Steve has the power to call us together, Steve and Marjorie, and say, this is important
02:45to me.
02:46It's important to him.
02:47It's important to us.
02:48So it's not to be missed.
02:49And you know, not for nothing, the elders really told us to not only seize the future from
02:54a personal purpose, but you know, they gave, they lifted as they climbed, and we have to
02:58do the same.
02:59Well, first of all, Jeffrey Canada, when I sat and met with him and learned all of what
03:04he was doing up at the Harlem Children's Zone, it was amazing.
03:09I mean, he inspired me.
03:11He is so dedicated, so fired up.
03:14He does not care that you are a celebrity or none of that.
03:17If you are not saying the right thing to those kids at that school, you're not coming in
03:21there to talk.
03:22So there you have it.
03:23You've heard it a million times before, it takes a village to raise a child.
03:26Thank you so much, Steve Harvey, for all your work in the community and for making this
03:30night possible.
03:31I'm Danielle Brown with Essence TV on Essence.com.
03:34Bye!
