Pillar Spotlight: Valerie Jo Bradley
The League is thrilled to recognize Valerie Jo Bradley as a Pillar of New York.
Valerie Jo Bradley accepting her Pillar Award with New York State Senator Cordell Cleare, League President Jay DiLorenzo, and League Board Chair Frank Sanchis.
Valerie Jo Bradley is co-founder and President of Save Harlem Now! – an award-winning nonprofit advocacy organization formed to preserve historic buildings and landscapes reflecting important African American history from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was featured in the 2016 New York Times article “Much to Save in Harlem, but Historic Preservation Lags, a Critic Says,” about Save Harlem Now’s founding.
A staunch community activist, she is President and co-founder of the Marcus Garvey Park Alliance (MGPA). Along with other stakeholders, MGPA worked to restore the landmark Harlem Fire Watchtower — the only surviving cast iron post-and-lintel tower that was used to spot fires in New York City in the mid 1800s. That restoration project received an Excellence in Historic Preservation Award from the League in 2020.
The October 26, 2019, ribbon cutting ceremony at Marcus Garvey Park celebrated the restoration of the Harlem Fire Watchtower. Valerie Jo Bradley is pictured at the far left of the group holding the green ribbon. Photo courtesy of Thornton Tomasetti.
Valerie operated The Bradley Group, a public relations and event planning firm for 28 years before she closed it in 2022. She earned a B.A. degree at Indiana University and completed graduate studies at the University of California Berkeley School of Journalism. In 1977, she moved from San Francisco to New York to serve as Deputy Counselor for Press and Public Affairs at the United States Mission to the United Nations, where she was a spokesperson for Ambassadors Andrew Young and Donald McHenry. Valerie also held positions in the State Division of Housing & Community Renewal and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development before launching her business.
Her interest in Harlem began in 1980, when she purchased and restored an 1898 brownstone townhouse. What began as a real estate venture quickly evolved into her assuming an activist role in promoting and campaigning for the preservation of Harlem’s architectural treasures, cultural history, and economic growth. As she said in a 2021 Veranda magazine article, “We realized we’ve got to be organized and proactive to deal with the fact that only 3.7 percent of Harlem’s buildings are landmarked compared to 66 percent of Greenwich Village and 50 percent of the Upper West and Upper East sides.”
Book cover of the Harlem Travel Guide by Carolyn D. Johnson and Valerie Jo Bradley
She is co-author of Harlem Travel Guide, the first tour book to focus exclusively on Harlem. Having once operated a community-based tour company, she created a course at City College's School of Continuing Education to help Harlem residents conduct tours in their neighborhoods and become licensed tour guides.
Valerie uses her time and talents to highlight, preserve, and promote her beloved Harlem. She has worked for more than 50 years as a journalist and publicist. A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, she calls Harlem home. Her commitment to protecting Harlem’s architectural and cultural heritage makes her a true Pillar of New York.