Several years ago, Bettijean Miller was invited to attend the 98th Renaissance New Year at Hilton Head, an exclusive social gathering that would include President Bill Clinton as one of the guests. It was during that time Clinton was going through the possibility of impeachment and Bettijean had been genuinely concerned about his well-being. She believed that meeting the president face to face during this time would be no accident and that she must seize the opportunity. Unlike many others, she did not promote the accomplishments of her community organization or boast about the many successful endeavors she had achieved during her lifetime. She would not tell him that she had helped on his campaign or even how she was instrumental in changing the name of the Department of Welfare to the Department of Human Resources to diminish the negative overtone that accompanied the title. During the meet and greet, Bettijean simply shook President Clinton’s hand and said, “As I clocked in the day and asked God for a renewed spirit, I thought about you.” She then handed him a hand written letter, which she had authored earlier that week. Her encouraging note was spiritual and expressed the many trials that life can bring but assured that he would come out stronger on the other side of the adversity. It also advised that he read the 18th Chapter of Acts. Toward the end of lunch, Bettijean made her way toward the president’s table where she quietly asked if he had read her letter. He responded, “Ms. Miller, I’ve read it over twice already, and I’m going to read it over again.” Later that week she received a personal note from President Clinton that hangs on her wall today. 

That encounter and every other occasion in the life of Bettijean Miller ensue around compassionate, selfless acts of kindness. Even more compelling is the stirring account of how she became the family care provider for three mentally and physically disabled men, who have been in her care for twenty-two years. In a world where self-centeredness has become the norm, there are not many people who would accept needy strangers into their homes. More emphatically, make a sacrificial commitment to take on the care of another, outside their family circle, who is unable to care for their own basic needs. On the contrary, a quintessential Bettijean moment turned a media feature into a personal pursuit. 

While watching an expose with Geraldo Rivera about Willowbrook, a program facility that assisted orphaned mentally disabled men and women, Bettijean troubled by their condition, found her thoughts consumed by this story. The following day she contacted program administrators to find out how she could help. Shortly thereafter, she accepted the responsibility, in her home, of caring for one of the young men portrayed during the television program. A year later Bettijean received a phone call with the news of two brothers, both mentally disabled, who had lost their mother. The caller thought that perhaps Bettijean might consider taking one of the brothers. However, characteristic of Bettijean, so as to not separate brothers, she consented to take them both. Today, Roy, Richard and Melvin, at the ages of 45, 57 and 58 have outlived their expected life spans and possess the ability to maintain good hygiene and perform various household chores. The New York Sate Department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities chose Bettijean and her extended family unit as the “poster family” in their recruitment campaign for family-care providers. 

At 80, this Little Rock, Arkansas born dynamo is one of Harlem’s most dedicated activists. Her energy is unfaltering with a passion for living that has never been jaded by life experiences. She is determined to do what she can with what she has. Subscribing to the theory, “What’s In Your Hands,” introduced in a famous speech given by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Bettijean has parlayed this idea into the framework of her service as an essential principle. The message simply suggests that we use the gifts we personally possess to make a difference regardless of the level.

 Bettijean Miller moved to New York during the 1940’s. She remembers her first couple of weeks in Harlem, “I was walking on 116th Street with a friend of mine, there was a sign in the window of a Chinese restaurant ‘We Serve Colored Greens’, and I found that amusing – they just didn’t know.” She has many stories like that one, a story within a story, each as captivating and as fascinating as the storyteller. Her account in befriending Eleanor Roosevelt is so vividly described that the recipient is able to revisit historical moments through her eyes with an enchanted intimacy. “I was recreation supervisor and a counselor for Wilkins School for Emotionally Disturbed Children, it was there that I met Eleanor Roosevelt. She would come on campus in a house dress and read to the children,” she explains as she postures herself to imitate Mrs. Roosevelt. “She would start out by saying, ‘children, would you like to hear the story of how the elephant got his trunk or ‘Ricky Ticky Tacky’ and the kids would scream.” 

Throughout her years, Bettijean has been a political activist and community advocate. President of Harlem Gateway Committee and a board member for a variety of credible civic organizations, she has worked diligently to enhance the quality of life in the city. When she moved to her home on Central Park North in the 1970’s the neighborhood had been a prime area but was beginning to spiral downward. By the 80’s, there was graffiti on buildings and blight along the 110th St corridor. Bettijean phoned Lou Messinger who was Manhattan borough president at that time, and inquired about starting a clean up campaign in the neighborhood. When the borough president’s office finally responded they advised that Ms. Miller ask the landlords in her area for their permission and assistance. In her words, “I said nay nay go away, because if they didn’t care enough to maintain their properties in the first place, they weren’t going to concern themselves at that point.” So I just took up a small collection, bought some paint and started painting over the graffiti.” From that effort the Harlem Gateway Committee was born. Bettijean garnered the help of friends and neighbors to assist with the neighborhood improvements and later recruited men from the Lincoln Correctional Facility. 

The Harlem Gateway Committee is now a revered force in their target area. Influential through vigilance and diligence, the group has grown in number and economic power. The terror and blight in their neighborhood that once plagued the area is gone. The building owners and absentee landlords have honored new tenant expectations and modified their unacceptable practices. Where there was once drug trafficking, prostitution and loitering there are now new reputable business enterprises and tidy sidewalks. Recently, the residential building at 45 Central Park North, where Bettijean resides, officially became tenant-owned through the HPD/TIL program. However, these positive changes did not happen overnight. 

This kind of transformation took tremendous effort on the part of the Gateway Committee. There had to be associations formed, many letters written to the appropriate agencies of concern and plenty of manual labor. Bettijean launched three rent strikes and took it upon herself to place tenants in need of affordable housing into unoccupied spaces. She formed alliances with police officers from the 28th precinct, local political leaders, and rallied neighborhood entrepreneurs. She kept tenants organized through four owners before initiating the process for tenant ownership. All to restore pride, beauty and safety for her neighbors. 

Although Bettijean asks for nothing in return for her efforts, other than perhaps black garbage bags, they have not gone unnoticed. The Harlem Gateway Committee has received funding from C. Virginia Fields - office of the borough president, the city’s parks department and most recently, Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone. Bettijean has received various community service awards, including the Kuumba awarded by the Abyssinian Baptist Church, which represents outstanding citizenship. 

Bettijean begins the day early to plant tulips on the streetscape, or to clear the streets and sidewalks of the garbage left behind during the nighttime activity. When she looks back over time at the accomplishments she is grateful, but realizes there is still more work ahead. Her God-power within helps her stretch the limits beyond the visible circumstances to idyllic conditions with the hope of leaving a worthy inheritance for future generations.