Charitable and Public Activities
Mr. Cohn and his wife Lisa Pevaroff Cohn are founding board members of the New York University Child Study Center. The couple funded the Pevaroff Cohn Professorship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine in 1999. He has also financed the Gary D. Cohn Endowed Research Professorship in Finance at American University, his alma mater, where he graduated with a Bachelors of Science in finance.
In 2009 the Hillel building at Kent State University was named the Cohn Jewish Student Center in recognition of a gift from Cohn and his wife. Cohn stated: “In making this gift, I was thinking about three things: How to celebrate the milestone birthdays of both my mother and my father who were turning 75; how I could give back to Northeast Ohio where I have my roots; and what organization would be meaningful to my family both now and in the future.” It is the first Hillel building built directly on the campus of a state university.
Cohn also leads Goldman Sachs contributions to the community. In 2011 He led a $20 million gift, given to the Promise Academy Charter School and new community center, built at St. Nicholas Houses, a public housing project in harlem, New York City The gift from Goldman Sachs was made in partnership with a $60 million grant from the New York City Department of Education’s Charter Facilities Matching Grant Program, and a $6 million gift from Google. This gift is constant with Cohn himself being a trustee of the Harlem Children's Zone, a Nonprofit organization for poverty-stricken children and families living in Harlem.
Another Goldman Sachs project led by Cohn is the 10,000 Small Businesses initiative. It is a philanthropic initiative launched by Goldman Sachs in November 2009 that pledges $500 million in various aid to small businesses. The initiative aims to provide 10,000 small businesses with assistance — ranging from business and management education and mentoring, to lending and philanthropic support. Critics have stated that the program was launched as a response to mounting criticism over Goldman Sachs' large bonus payouts after repaying (with interest) $10 billion in TARP funds it received from the U.S. Treasury. According to the company, the small business initiative had been in development a year before the initial launch, and is modeled after its earlier project, the 10,000 Women Initiative, which helps educate female entrepreneurs in 18 countries.
Cohn is active as a trustee of his Alma Mater, American University, and of his school, Gilmour Academy.
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