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DECEMBER 26, 2024 - JANUARY 1, 2025
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HERALD PERSON oF THE YEAR Pearl JacobS
'She knows how to get things done' Pearl Jacobs has led efforts to improve life in Uniondale for over two decades By Kelsie Radziski
Pearl Jacobs has spent over 20 years working to improve the quality of life for the people of Uniondale. In recognition of her tireless service and her dedication to her community, the Herald is proud to name Jacobs its 2024 Person of the Year. Jacobs is known for her unrelenting advocacy and her leadership in addressing longstanding issues in Uniondale. She moved here 30 years ago, and her community service journey began just over a decade later, when she met the late Melvin Harris Jr., the former president of the Nostrand Gardens Civic Association. Harris was a “strong community advocate,” Jacobs recalled, and encouraged her to get involved. Though she was initially hesitant because of her demanding career as an veryone operations manager for Verizon, Jacobs was moved by Harris’s message of comshould munity empowerment and equality. get a fair “I started going to meetings,” she recounted, “and his message really reso- shake. That's nated regarding the disparities within what really the Town of Hempstead and Nassau led me into County, and how we have to fight for everything that we get.” being a strong Jacobs eventually joined the board community of the civic association, and became its advocate. president in 2014. Now in her 60s and retired from Verizon, she has remained the head of the organization and been PEARl JACoBS an outspoken advocate for Uniondale, President, striving to address the challenges the Nostrand Gardens community continues to face. Civic Association A primary concern for Jacobs has always been equality, and ensuring that working-class communities like Uniondale, which she says are often overlooked, receive the same services and attention as their more affluent neighbors. She named sanitation and cleanliness as big needs for the hamlet in order to improve the overall quality of life. “The major challenges are just services,” she said. “We do get our garbage picked up, but other than that, there’s no oversight when it comes to sanitation issues. A lot of the time our roads are unsightly with the sanitation.” One of the biggest local initiatives that Jacobs started, along with Nostrand Gardens Civic Association Vice President Heidi Sanft, was aimed at beautifying the neighborhood. They created a Beautification Committee around 10 years ago. According to Jacobs, Uniondale Avenue was “dark, barren, with no
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lights,” which motivated her to approach then Nassau County Legislator Kevan Abrahams about making changes. Sanft said they prioritized adding planters and lamps to make the streets look more attractive, and she and Jacobs “lobbied for many years” for them, she said. “Pearl is an action person,” Sanft said. “She sees something that needs attention and she takes action — and also she doesn’t give up.” Now, every spring, the association organizes a community cleanup, planting flowers in the planters throughout the neighborhoods along Uniondale Avenue, Front Street and Jerusalem Avenue. Though it was initially funded only by Jacobs and members of the committee, the initiative has since gained support from local businesses and residents. “Everyone has come together with that beautification initiative, and they feel a part of it, which is great,” Jacobs said. Sanft, who has worked alongside Jacobs for over 10 years, describes her as an “incredible person.” “She knows how to get things done, and she truly cares about the community, about Continued on page 2 Lyle Mark Bulado/Herald
Pearl Jacobs, president of the Nostrand Gardens Civic Association, has been focused on the quality of services for Uniondale residents for two decades.