(New York, NY)-At what has become the "in" place for fundraising events, N Boutique, on 116th Street in Harlem, hosted a fundraiser " Groove, Give and Get" on June 11 for the Chuck Allen Scholarship Fund to benefit the St. Philips Episcopal Church and the Democracy Preparatory Charter School.

As a memorial to his untiring work, not only in the New Haven communities where he was an alderman and special assistant to the mayor, but in the Harlem area where he lived, Chuck Allen, III was honored and remembered at the fundraiser.

Paying homage to his partner for nine years, Tod Roulette, said that it was interesting that with Allen's death in February 2008 a lot of the work that he [Allen] had committed himself to is now coming to fruition.

"When I walk pass on 137th Street and I see the building he was instrumental in raising funds for, the people moving in and the school moving in July and will begin to formerly occupy the space with the beginning of the new school year in September, I feel close to tears as I remember how devoted he was to seeing it all completed," said Roulette.

Hosting the fundraiser was actor, writer, songwriter and educator Cornelius Jones, Jr., who for six years was a member of the cast of the on stage performance of the Lion King on Broadway, and who performed two selections from his upcoming performance "Flag Boy," which he said is autobiographical solo play that was written and is done by him.

"I'm just helping to bring more diversity to the work that Chuck was involved in," said Jones. "I'm not a politician, but I do a lot of work on humanitarian issues and I'm an advocate for gay issues."

When the time had arrived for Jones to perform selections from his upcoming show, he turned to the crowd of guests and suggested that because of the R-rated material in his performance and the age of the students, they were asked to go to the lower level until it was over. In his performance, Jones recounted in a dramatization a snippet of his first gay experience with his close friend, Danny, who had stayed over at his house and with whom he shared a bed.

Democracy Preparatory Charter School, one of the recipient groups of the Scholarship whose mission is to help with nurturing the political and public service careers in young people, was founded two years ago by Seth Andrew, who said that through the work of Allen the school was able to form a relationship and a partnership to obtain and transform an abandoned building into a state of the art school. Pointing to the tangible achievements since the school started, Andrew said that most of the children who came to the school were testing at least two grade levels below their standard. Now, he said, more than 80 percent of the students in the seventh grade score in state tests on or above their particular grade level, and another 90 percent are heading to college. Currently, the school caters to close to 200 children and shortly expects to expand their enrollment to 600 students between grades six to 12.

"We're grateful to Chuck," said Andrew, "because he connected us to St. Philips, which allowed us to partner and build out their space. We're in a $4.5million expansion."

Andrew said that Allen was a neighbor and that when they met they began talking about the school.

"Chuck introduced me to the people at St. Philips to get us started. He was really excited about the mission of the school, which he saw as not only preparing the students academically, but becoming good citizens. Even when he was ill, Chuck still was active in helping us in our relationship with St. Philips," Andrew said.

At the fundraiser, students representing Democracy Prep, dressed in grey slacks and white polo shirts with their school's badge on their chests, assisted with serving Caribbean flavored canapés to the guests, provided by Andell's Catering, and drinks by Pour Moi Cognac and Christiania Vodka.

Andrew said that although the building where the school is to be located appears small from the exterior, it is in fact a well proportioned space, boasting two lower levels containing a theater and a gym; both of which have been restored.

"The next challenge for us, as a school, is to get them into college. We have a temporary space in another school, but thanks to Chuck, we were also able to scholarships for those qualifying students," said Andrew.

He said that while the academic success of the school centers around students achieving a cumulative 3.5 grade point average or a 90 percentile, there is also a civil success component where by undertaking community service, giving back, the senior students are designing and doing their own projects. Admission to the school, Andrew said, is lottery based, where in the last registration period there were 800 applicants for 100 slots. Even though the school receives state and city support, as a charter school, he said, it is allowed a lot more autonomy.

According to one of four the partners of N Boutique, Len Shebar, said the he knew Roulette, Allen's partner, for a number of years and when he was approached to host the event at the store, knowing it was for a good cause, he felt he could contribute.

"The fact that it is also about St. Philips church and about the kids, is all I needed to hear. We're donating 10 percent of our sales from the boutique to the scholarship fund," said Shebar.

Larry Ortiz, another of the partners of the upscale men and women clothing boutique said that they are excited to open the store for the church and the Allen fundraiser.

"To us, this is a labor of love," he said.

One of the scholarship board members, Willette Carlton, who is retired from New York City Board of Education and is now an adjunct professor teaching education at Turo College, said that her recollection of Allen was that when he beckoned to become involved in a project she participated.

"Because Chuck was civic minded, he was very interested in public service and devoted to children. He gave of himself to many causes involving children," she recalled.

Carlton said her acquaintanceship with Allen began about nine years ago when he and Roulette became members of St. Philips and recalled that Allen was on the committee that developed relations for housing development between Shiloh Baptist Church and St. Philips.

"To me, Chuck and Tod became a very special couple," she said.
Allen's story is scheduled for broadcast, nationally, in the fall on PBS.