Thanks for "Making Dreams Come True"
and partying with us at the Gala!

We had a ball and hope you did too! Take a look at some photos from the event below - and please share yours with us! Thank you to all of our supporters, friends and family. If you were not able to attend this year but would still like to make a donation to support our mission – you can do so at this link!

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens, Ralph McDaniels is a pioneering Hip-Hop music video director, DJ and VJ. McDaniels co-created and co-hosts the music video program Video Music Box. Ralph is now a consultant/visual producer for the Queens Library system, programming to over 65 branches and continues to speak to and inspire young creators around the world.

Executive Producer

McDaniels approached a local TV station with an idea to host a music-video show in 1982. The station was not enthusiastic about McDaniels idea at first, because the concept didn’t exist. After about a year, McDaniels founded a show he called Video Music Box (VMB). It was not long before VMB’s 6-day, 60-minute public television viewership began to grow. The show was #2 in it’s time slot, second to Oprah. In 1985, McDaniels became the first to broadcast a hip-hop concert called Fresh Fest, on VMB. It featured many of today’s hip-hop icons such as Run D.M.C., LL Cool J, Whodini, and many others. In 1995, Billboard magazine recognized the show and awarded VMB as the Best Local R&B/Hip-hop Regional Show. Additionally, the show was also notably voted as the Top-10 Greatest Hip Hop TV Moments by VH1 in 2003. By 2005, over 192,000 households per week were regularly viewing VMB. McDaniels had shined a light on an under tapped urban audience and literally answered its outcries against mainstream media’s disregard of its favorite artists with VMB.

Film and Production

Video Music Box started to and so did McDaniels.He believed he could do a better job of producing videos for some of these emerging artists, McDaniels partnered with childhood friend Lionel C. Martin (The Vid Kid) and co-founded Classic Concepts Productions, a film- and video-production company that produced over 300 music videos, commercials, films, and documentaries between 1987 and 1997. Most notably, Classic Concepts was instrumental in producing videos for such greats as Public Enemy, the Notorious B.I.G, Big Daddy Kane, Nas, SWV and Wu-Tang Clan. Maxwell Melvin an inmate from Rahway State Prison wrote McDaniels about a government-sponsored hip-hop music program at the prison and McDaniels immediately took an interest in the story and went to the prison to film a documentary about the program called The Lifers Group at Rahway State Prison, which aired on VMB, and was nominated for an Emmy in 1990. McDaniels has interviewed former President Bill Clinton, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Legendary Salsa Singer Celia Cruz and reported from The National Democratic Convention, just to name a few. McDaniels hip-hop street credibility later led him to be approached by producers of the groundbreaking film Juice, starring Tupac Shakur, where he was asked to serve as a consultant to the film and was given the job of associate producer in 1992. When film production began for Who's the Man? starring Ed Lover and Doctor Dré, McDaniels was again called upon—this time to work in front of the camera, playing himself in the supporting cast.

Hip-Hop Tastemaker

In 1996, McDaniels would go on to add fashion to his repertoire with the creation of a New York Urban Fashion show called “The Phat Fashion”, which would feature the urban clothing lines of designers such as FUBU,Sean John, Adidas and Karl Kani . Soon after, McDaniels opened his place within the urban fashion space with the launch of Uncle Ralph’s Urban Gear, a Brooklyn-based clothing store. By 1997, McDaniels was hired as an on-air personality to host a hip-hop radio show on New York’s Hot 97 that reached over 6 million listeners within the Tri-State area.

Multimedia Technology

Recognizing a need to keep up with today’s technology and sense a of responsibility to his audience, McDaniels developed the Video Music Box archives and offered CNN, MTV, BET, TV One and VH1 access to feature music programming from his vast library of over 20,000 hours of video. In 2016, McDaniels continued to consult on documentaries from Nas, Tribe Called Quest, Wu-tang Clan and his content is seen on all social networks around the world. McDaniels is producer alongside Mimi Valdez and Executive producer Pharell for the 2018 feature film release Roxanne,Roxanne currently on Netflix. In 2016 he was requested to put his archives in The Smithsonian African-American Museum of History. In 2021 Showtime Network presented the feature documentary “You’re Watching Video Music Box “, Directed by Hip Hop Icon Nas.

Wani was born in Brooklyn, NY on April 13, 2007. At 11 months, he was diagnosed with septo optic nerve dysplasia, he was deemed legally blind and wonderfully made! He attended The NY Institute for Special Education through his elementary school years. His family relocated to upstate NY where Wani was mainstreamed to Washingtonville HS and is currently a Senior and an Honor Roll Student. A solo singer since the age of 6 performing in school shows, party events, and he's currently a member in his school choir. Inspired by him, his mother founded a company called Braille Code Inc. Wani is an advocate under the company bringing awareness to one sighted school at a time speaking about the history of braille, his children's book, white cane use, and his life as a visually impaired person. He has been featured on ABC's Here and Now, News12, NBC 3rd Hour and the Tamron Hall Show. Wani's dream is to have a vocal coach and become a recording artist!

Gracie was born in Brooklyn, NY. She is an Afro-Latina married mother of 3 kids. A single mother to her first born son Wani who was born visually impaired. Seeing the lack of pride and independence for the blind and visually impaired community she decided to become an entrepreneur and founded her company Braille Code Inc. Gracie is an author of a children's book called "What's Cool About Braille Code School?" She is also an inventor with a patent of print/braille pairing labels that can distinguish left from right for footwear to assist with the independence for special needs, blind and visually impaired communities. She loves to encourage parents who are struggling with navigating through their children’s special needs by giving them hope and resources. Gracie and Wani have become a unique duo attending sighted schools to promote braille awareness through their children's book, teaching them the history about braille and white cane use. They have been featured on media platforms like News12, ABC's Here and Now, NBC's 3rd Hour and many others. She also promotes Wani's singing talents by having him featured on tv shows and events. Gracie's dream is to get a publishing deal with a reputable publishing company and have her patent partnered with major footwear brands.

Cheers to our past Dream Award honorees -

who are all making dreams come true!

 Ralph McDaniels • Wani Benedith  • Gracie Benedith-Cane • Emily Perl Kingsley  • Jason Kingsley • Tomoaki Kato, MD • Joseph Sciame • Stephen E. Dolgin, MD • Deacon Bill Shea • Brittany Schiavone • Chef Bruno Serato • The Scott & Sandagato Family • The Calla Family • The Mulroy Family • Art McFarland • Steven Lobritto, MD • Mercedes Martinez, MD • Jennifer M. Vittorio, MD • Ana Padron & Diego Blanco • Rev. Thomas Brosnan, MDIV, MFA • Joann Ferrara, RPT • Dolly Coleman • Lois Christie • Allison Schlanger • Alison Qualter Berna

2017 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020 • 2021 • 2022 • 2023