On October 29 at Tribeca Rooftoop, United Neighborhood Houses (UNH) of New York held their annual 2008 New Yorkers Who Make a Difference benefit in honor of M. Bryna Sanger, the former dean and current professor at Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy.

UNH honored Professor Sanger for her “dedication to social justice and community based programs in New York City and her ongoing technical assistance to UNH’s nonprofit member agencies (that) have been invaluable resources for the organization.”

Professor Sanger has been a member of UNH’s Board of Directors since 2002 and has done research for the organization prior to joining the board. A membership organization rooted in the history and values of the settlement house movement, UNH works to support its members through policy development, advocacy, and capacity-building activities.

A former academic dean and chair of the program in Urban Policy Analysis and Management, Professor Sanger has worked in a wide range of policy and management areas including city service delivery, welfare reform, leadership, innovation, and performance management. Most recently, she has been studying and evaluating performance-management systems in cities. As a senior fellow (nonresident) at the Brookings Institution, she examined the changes in service delivery and management systems induced by welfare reform in states and localities around the country. She also consults to city and state government on both public policy and public management, most recently for the New York City Department of Finance in their effort to design a state of the art performance-management system.