Jackie Davis-Manigaulte ’72 serves as the Family and Youth Development Program Leader and Director of Community Relations for Cornell University Cooperative Extension’s NYC Programs (CUCE-NYC). She earned her B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies (CHE ’72), her M.S. in Home Economics with a Nutrition Education focus (NYU, ’83), and her Ed.D. in Adult Education (Columbia University Teacher’s College ’08). Jackie’s aim in coming to Cornell in 1968 was to become “the best teacher in NYC” and her career in Extension education began in 1973 with her work developing CUCE-NYC’s 4-H program, long recognized as a standard bearer for innovative urban 4-H programs. Today, core programming for the Family & Youth Development program area includes Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM); Healthy Lifestyles; Community Engagement/Positive Youth Development; and Parenting Education – all key factors in the development of healthy and productive youth, families, and communities.

Jackie’s varied expertise has allowed her to create partnerships and dynamic programs that address a broad array of needs for urban youth that help them build skills and confidence and broaden their perspectives. Collaborating with agencies and organizations throughout New York City, as well as Cornell University staff and faculty, has been essential to her ability to create positive impacts for youth and families and influence the field of positive youth development.

Some of the initiatives she has launched and provided leadership for include the New York City CYFAR Community Improvement through Youth (CITY) community engagement project; the College Achievement though Urban Science Exploration (CAUSE) project;  “Parenting the Second Time Around” (PASTA) in New York City -  a Hatch research and outreach initiative; Taking Root: Strengthening STEM in Afterschool” –  a youth worker capacity-building project funded by the Pinkerton Foundation in collaboration with the Partnership for Afterschool Education; The National 4-H Youth Mentoring Program, funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention through National 4-H Council; and the NYC Choose Health Action Teens (CHAT) project which engages Cornell and City University of New York students as mentors for teens who teach youth about healthy eating and active living . 

Jackie’s activism while an undergraduate contributed to the founding of Cornell’s Africana Studies and Research Center and is recognized in the 2016 documentary “Agents of Change.” Jackie has received numerous awards over her career – Cornell’s 2019 NYS Hometown Alumni Award, the 2017 National Urban Extension Leadership Award in recognition of exceptional contributions to urban extension programming, and the 2008 4-H Families Count: Family Strengthening Award sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, to name a few. Her colleagues recognize Jackie as “an inspiring role model when it comes to demonstrating what service in the public interest look likes in action,” noting her generosity of spirit and her commitment to excellence and deep engagement with partners, program participants, colleagues, family, and friends. Jackie’s son, Khalil Manigaulte, is a CHE graduate, class of ’96!

Rarely does Jackie miss an opportunity to build bridges and serve as a connector between the people, places, and programs she actively engages with both personally and professionally. Throughout her career, Jackie has served as an ambassador for CUCE-NYC, the College, Cornell, and Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE). Jackie is a member of CCE’s statewide Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Core Leadership Team and the founder of CHE’s Culturally Inclusive Parenting Education Taskforce. In addition to her extensive professional contributions, Jackie holds her family and friends dear, and is an active member of the MoJazz Dance Group, bringing the gift of dance to settings ranging from NYC Senior Centers to the United Nations.