2025 Red Carpet Salute – Queens, NY

The Dr. Gerald W. Deas Achievement Foundation (DDAF) is proud to host the 23rd Annual

Red Carpet Salute Gala on Saturday, March 8, 2025. This highly anticipated event was

started by The Queens Achievement Foundation to recognize community leaders who’ve

made an impact within their professions. It has since grown into a noteworthy gala saluting

deserving honorees while raising awareness of the foundation’s honorable community service

efforts and initiatives.

Our signature event, The Red Carpet Salute, attracts 400 accomplished professionals and

leaders from diverse backgrounds throughout the Southeast Queens community and beyond

for a night of elegance and achievement. Our foundation was renamed two years ago in

honor of Dr. Gerald W. Deas, a 1953 initiate of Kappa Alpha Psi. Heralded as a physician,

political activist, poet, playwright, and media personality, Dr. Deas served as the first black

medical columnist for the New York Daily News and was the chief medical correspondent for

Fox television’s Emmy-winning “McCreary Report” for 10 years. He has also mentored

countless doctors through the years.

The core components of our mission are:

1. To develop, promote, increase, and cultivate a positive self-image through cultural and

recreational activities

2. To teach and develop the art and skills of leadership

3. To encourage good community relations

Our service priorities include scholarships, youth mentoring initiatives, small community

grants, and our Adopt-A-School Initiative.

Over the past two decades, we have provided nearly $50,000 in scholarships to deserving

high school seniors pursuing their secondary education, with continued mentorship while

they fulfill their academic pursuits.

The DDAF’s services and programs are facilitated and coordinated by the Board of Directors,

which includes volunteer members of the Queens (NY) Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi

Fraternity, Inc. These volunteers represent a broad range of professional backgrounds,

exposing our young people to a mentoring pool that would be challenging for them to access on

their own.