These renowned and talented professionals are dedicated to advancing the vision and mission of City Year.
John Albright, senior vice president and executive director for City Year Denver, is a mission-driven leader with 20 years of experience in public education with a focus on relationship management, organizational and team strategy, partnership cultivation and development, fundraising, communications, policy and board management and development. Prior to joining City Year Denver, he served with DPS since 2012. Prior, he spent 11 years with Adams 14 in Commerce City, serving in various public relations and strategy roles.
As Student Engagement Director, John led the secondary education division’s policy and strategy work on graduation requirements, college and career readiness, student voice and leadership, dropout prevention and intervention and online acceleration and credit recovery. He frequently engaged with civic and business leadership on matters that have an impact on the district’s success in achieving its mission to provide all students the opportunity to achieve the knowledge and skills necessary to become contributing citizens in our society. John was also the project director for the College Ready On Track Network for School Improvement, a Gates Foundation funded effort, which convenes 22 high schools to improve math equity for Black and Latinx students.
In his free time, John thrives on family fun with his two high school teenagers. He enjoys fly fishing, snowboarding, playing drums and experiencing live music, reading and enjoying the beauty of Colorado with friends and family.
Macey Amissah-McKinney serves as the senior vice president and executive director of City Year Sacramento. Macey was first introduced to national service in college while serving as a tutor for high school youth in South Central Los Angeles as an AmeriCorps member with the Children, Youth and Family Collaborative. After graduating from the University of Southern California, she relocated to Sacramento, CA, to join City Year Sacramento as a founding corps member in 2012. After serving two years in the corps, Macey transitioned to the staff team as an impact manager, coaching and developing a team of 19 AmeriCorps members to deliver targeted intervention support and whole school initiatives focused on student engagement.
Since then, Macey has taken on several roles including learning & development manager, AmeriCorps compliance manager, impact director and, most recently, managing director of impact. A natural strategist and leader, Macey has led the site's efforts in building an aligned and recursive experience for students, corps members and staff leading to increased engagement, retention and impact. Macey has also been instrumental in supporting other local nonprofits interested in becoming AmeriCorps programs, resulting in more AmeriCorps members being deployed throughout the Greater Sacramento area.
Macey is an extraordinary team builder and leader. Her ability to see her team and create conditions that give them the opportunity to serve in this work from a position of strength has had an extraordinary impact on the success of corps members at the site and our relationships with stakeholders.
In her new role, Macey will assume the responsibility of a $4.6 million budget and lead a team of 13 staff members and 86 AmeriCorps members serving six in schools in partnership with Sacramento Unified School District.
Allishia Bauman is passionate about people and is experienced in building strong teams, culture, deep collaboration, inclusivity and equity at every level; she has held many positions professionally and as a volunteer where she has deeply contributed to these aspects of work. A SHRM Certified Professional through the Society for Human Resource Management, Allishia most recently served as the managing director of people, operations and strategy at City Year Jacksonville, where she worked for almost eight years. She has been on the Executive Leadership Team where she led Human Potential efforts, leader of the Operations Department and leader of Strategic Planning and Goal Setting. She has also sustained an effective support structure for the director-level leadership team. She leads internal communications, all of which puts people first and results in the advancement of City Year Jacksonville's mission to put students first.
A proud Jacksonville native and product of Duval County Public Schools, Allishia earned her associate's degree from Florida State College of Jacksonville and later earned her Bachelor of Arts in leadership and organizational studies from the American Women's College at Bay Path University. In the past, she has been an engaged community steward supporting organizations and groups such as the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, TEDxJackosnville and the Women's Giving Alliance.
Prior to joining City Year, Jared was a program director in the Education Division of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center). Prior to joining the NGA Center, Jared was a senior policy advisor to Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. In this capacity, he advised the governor, senior executive staff and cabinet secretaries on the development and implementation of a wide range of policy issues. His policy portfolio included higher education, workforce development, early childhood development and K-12 education.
Jared was also the executive director of Teach Plus Mid-Atlantic; a high school psychology, government and history teacher; an academic advisor at Florida State University; and worked in Khayelitsha, South Africa and Siteki, Swaziland designing curriculum, building schools and training teachers.
Kevin Bradshaw is a lifelong team player, teacher and coach. He is a passionate educational leader, dedicated to improving communities like the one he grew up in.
Kevin spent the early years of his career playing basketball for the NCAA and professionally in Israel as both player and coach. As a player he set many records, including once scoring 101 points in a single game as a pro and 72 points in a single NCAA game – which makes him the current #16 on the all-time NCAA career scoring list.
After 16 years in Israel, Kevin briefly coached college basketball in San Diego, CA. Then, leveraging his strengths as coach and his desire to give back to systemically under-resourced communities, he decided to dedicate his career to the education sector. At King Chavez High School in San Diego, his roles ranged from teacher to dean of students and five years as principal, affording him the opportunity to partner with students of similar backgrounds and help develop their life and career goals. Most recently, Kevin served as executive director of Bridge Academy International School in San Diego.
Kevin was born and raised in Gainesville, Florida. He attended Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, and in 1992 graduated from United States International University in San Diego, CA. He is a veteran of the United States Navy. His personal lived experience and understanding of the realities of living with poverty has sparked a deep passion for working with young people and empowering them with academic and social-emotional skills, so they can achieve their highest potential. Kevin lives in San José, CA, with his wife of 25 years and teenage son.
For Darryl Bundrige, service is a lifestyle. After graduating from Penn State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and a minor in business, it was service that brought this Pittsburgh native to the City of Brother Love and Sisterly Affection. During the 1997 school year, Darryl enthusiastically served as a National School and Community corps member where he tutored and mentored elementary school students.
Darryl’s work in education later advanced to roles such as dean of students for Belmont Charter School and managing director of City Year Philadelphia’s Impact Department.
Since becoming Executive Director, Darryl has enlarged the education nonprofit’s public and private funding, expanded the staff from 35 to 50 employees and reached an operating budget of $10 million, up from $8 million. Daily, he inspires, challenges and supports staff along with more than 200 AmeriCorps members who serve in schools across Philadelphia.
Sherisse M. Butler, City Year Detroit’s senior vice president and executive director, is a dynamic, collaborative people leader with a deep commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, while possessing a strategic vision that innovates and engages resources to deepen the organization’s impact on the students of Detroit.
Prior to joining City Year Detroit, Sherisse served as the senior director of government and community affairs with Detroit Public Schools Community District. In that role, she developed and executed the district’s legislative priorities and provided strategic direction, representation and messaging in consultation with Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti.
Prior to joining Detroit Public Schools, she made outstanding contributions to support young people and their families, establishing herself as a dedicated advocate in the communities we support and serve. After earning her Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the Barnard College at Columbia University, Sherisse went on to work with the Bank Street School for Children in New York as lead afterschool teacher, concurrently working as a graduate assistant at Barnard College with a focus in diversity, equity and inclusion. Sherisse would later be awarded her Master's of Science, health and behavior studies.
Upon her return to Detroit, she managed middle school initiatives and youth program evaluation for Teen HYPE Youth Development. Today, she continues to support Teen HYPE as vice-chair board of directors, leading their governance, finance and policy committee. If these accomplishments weren’t impressive enough, she was named a Top 40 Under 40 honoree by the Michigan Chronicle this past May and named one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Michigan for 2022 by The Women We Admire.
Dr. Sandra Cano is intimately familiar with the communities served by City Year LA, having been raised in some of the same neighborhoods where our students currently live. She has worked in the field of education for over two decades, starting her career as a kindergarten teacher on an emergency credential with her urgent need to provide for her daughter as a young mother.
Dr. Cano went on to attend the Teacher Education Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she received her teaching credential and master’s in education. As an educator, she served as a teacher, staff development specialist, coordinator and principal for 10 years. She received her doctorate in education at the University of California, Los Angeles, where her dissertation focused on culturally and linguistically responsive practices for long term English learners.
Dr. Cano most recently comes to us from the Los Angeles Unified School District, where she serves as a field coordinator for Beyond the Bell, LAUSD’s before and after school program. In this role, she oversees programming in 72 high schools serving 10,000 students. She works with 12 nonprofit organizations that provide the programming and manages $15 million in private, federal and state grants that fund the programs. Dr. Cano also oversees several special projects for the department, such as a partnership with the Air Force Association’s Cyber Patriot National Youth Cyber Education Program and the Take Action Campaign, which provides community service and leadership opportunities to social justice-minded high school students. She partners with the William Morris talent agency to provide internships for students and helped develop a COVID-era E-Sports program with the A.C. Green Youth Foundation.
Jennifer Cobb is an authentic, energetic, data-driven leader with more than 20 years of diverse experience in healthcare and nonprofit communications, fundraising and marketing. A storyteller at heart, Jennifer most recently served as the executive director of donor relations for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). There, she led a multi-faceted team focused on providing individualized, inspiring and intentional donor communications and experiences.
Prior to joining UAMS, Jennifer served as director of content marketing for Arkansas Children’s, leading storytelling efforts for the pediatric health system. She served for five years as director of communications and planning for the Arkansas Children’s Foundation, building capacity for investment-level philanthropy through strategic content development and storytelling.
Jennifer also held leadership roles at Arkansas Business Publishing Group in Little Rock and at various nonprofits in Montgomery, Alabama, including the A+ Education Foundation, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to educational equity in K-12 schools.
Jennifer graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English from Rhodes College in Memphis. Jennifer is married to Chris Travis, a partner at Gill Ragon Owen LLC. Between them, they are the proud but exhausted parents of five young adults–one in high school and four in college.
A native Clevelander, Toi serves as the primary leader of City Year Cleveland as its senior vice president and executive director. Toi comes to City Year with more than 15 years of diverse experience in resource development and community relations, strategic planning, management and communications. She began her career at City Year Cleveland in 2011 as its development director where she led its fundraising team and efforts to build structures to support the site’s scaled impact growth plan. Eventually, Toi was promoted to managing director of development for the site. During Toi’s tenure, she more than tripled the size of the development team as the site’s revenue continued to increase annually.
Prior to coming to City Year Cleveland, she served as the development director for Eliza Bryant Village, a nonprofit that provides services and outreach programs to seniors. Thereafter she spent several years serving as the resource development manager of the United Way of Greater Cleveland.
Paul is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in fundraising, board and people development and operations. He was attracted to City Year because if its local and national scale, well-researched model and ability to drive impact in education in the Tulsa community.
In his role at City Year, Paul sees the impact that decisions made at the policy and school leadership levels have on students in the schools on a day-to-day basis. He works closely with leadership in the public school system to better understand their vision and collaborate on how decisions impact students at the school level. Because of his work, Paul has key areas of expertise in systems change and public policy as they impact complex ingrained systems and the people they serve, such as building coalitions of support for school reform.
Prior to joining City Year Tulsa, Paul spent nine years in progressively senior roles with the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma (MHAOK), a $30M organization with over 190 employees.
Tanika Epps has served as a youth advocate for more than 15 years. She began her career serving youth in her community as an AmeriCorps member with City Year Columbia. The experience gained at City Year completely changed her mind set and career path. Her passion for educating children and youth grew even stronger, and she was determined to make a difference in the lives of youth in her community. After completing her service year with City Year, Tanika went on to work at John P. Thomas Elementary School as a computer lab manager overseeing the Success Maker Program. She later went on to work at Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands in dual roles as an area director and director of curriculum development.
In 2018, Tanika joined Communities In Schools of the Midlands, serving as the program director and later as the CEO. Faced with many unprecedented events in her first year as CEO, she continued to preserve, showing her true strength and resilience, notably strengthening partnerships with school districts, state agencies and local municipalities during the pandemic. She later served as the Midlands regional vice president for Communities In Schools of South Carolina, where she continued to advocate and be a voice for children and families in the Midlands.
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Growing up in the small community of Lake City, SC, Tanika is no stranger to adversity as she experienced her own personal struggles during her adolescent years. However, her determination from an early age led her to accomplish significant milestones, including graduating early from Lake City High School. This was a huge feat in of itself, as many believed she would never make it to graduation. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Columbia College, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix – Columbia Campus, and is currently a Doctoral Candidate for Business Administration at Johnson & Wales University. In uncertain times, she remembers her parents' words, the late Pastor James, Sr., and Karen Epps, encouraging her never to give up or let anyone stop her from achieving her goals. Because of the values instilled in her as a child, she developed the mindset that when someone told her no, she was determined to turn it into a YES. This model still follows her today.
Robyn Ford was born in Columbia, South Carolina, but made Memphis home in 2016. She started her City Year journey as an impact manager with City Year Columbia in 2014 and joined the City Year Memphis startup team in 2016. Robyn is the longest-standing staff member in Memphis, and she served as the operations manager, development manager, development director, and interim executive director.
She has her Bachelor of Arts in English from Spelman College and Master of Arts in public relations and advertising from DePaul University. Prior to City Year, Robyn served as a substitute teacher while running her social media consulting business—Warm Soles Consulting.
Quamid serves as the executive director of City Year New York. In this role, Quamid maintains strategic relationships with the New York City Department of Education, City Year New York’s Board, corporate and philanthropic partners and the wider New York City community. In addition, Quamid leads the staff and 210 AmeriCorps members who serve full time in 17 of the New York City’s schools, reaching over 7,000 students each day. City Year AmeriCorps members partner with teachers and schools to cultivate learning environments where all students can build on their strengths, fully engage in their learning and experience success—helping them progress on their journey towards bright futures.
A native of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Quamid joins City Year New York with extensive public service experience and a deep understanding of how New York City's civic and business landscape shapes communities. Quamid is deeply passionate about leading work at the intersection of education and workforce development to support communities where solutions to seemingly intractable problems caused by systemic injustices appear elusive.
Most recently, Quamid served as deputy commissioner, chief of staff, and chief diversity officer at the New York City Department of Veterans' Services (DVS). He oversaw agency-wide programs, operations, strategic partnerships and legislative affairs in that role. During his tenure at DVS, the city housed over 1,000 formerly unhoused veterans in less than five years as an agency; established a Care Coordination Unit to provide access to quality mental health clinicians, housing and legal support services, access to affordable housing and education benefits; and developed a new online employment tool, designed to help veterans and their families find employment.
Quamid also served on New York City's COVID-19 Taskforce and the Taskforce for Racial Inclusion and Equity (TRIE). On the COVID-19 Taskforce, Quamid served on the hotel management and food distribution subcommittees, connecting tens of thousands of New Yorkers to safe quarantine sites and access to fresh hot meals daily. While on the TRIE, Quamid helped to ensure historically underserved and heavily impacted communities from the COVID-19 pandemic gain access to broadband to, in part, mitigate the disruption to students' learning and development while remotely learning. Before joining the DVS Team, Quamid served as executive policy officer for the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services, Office of the Commissioner. In this position, he managed multimillion-dollar real estate projects by developing a project management tool to capture financial variance throughout the lifecycle of projects. He also held research and policy positions at the New York City Council and the New York State Senate. Quamid is a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and spent eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a financial auditor and contracts payment certifying official. He also deployed on various naval vessels as part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit, conducting diplomatic engagements across the Asia-Pacific region. Quamid is a 2018 Social Sector Leadership Diversity Fellow, a 2021 Council of Urban Professionals Fellow, and is currently on the City's Bid Committee to bring the 2025 Invictus Games to New York City. He holds an Master of Public Administration in international policy and management from New York University and a Bachelor of Science in public affairs and management from Baruch College. He also earned a "Leading with Finance" certificate from Harvard Business School. For his extensive work with youth and youth enrichment programs at various organizations, such as the Ronald McDonald House, Quamid was awarded the Presidential Award for Community Volunteer work by President Obama. In Quamid’s free time, he enjoys traveling, especially to East Asia. He also enjoys reading books about history and organizational psychology, volunteering at youth enrichment programs, writing, running and hiking. Learn more about New York's leadership
Lindsay Haldeman has experience with strategic planning, board management, business development, fundraising, coaching and team management. She has worked in education for the last 18 years in a variety of settings; most recently she facilitated a COVID recovery working group of principals in Rochester and Buffalo; led strategic planning for schools and a talent organization; and completed grantmaking strategies for local and national foundations around teacher pipelines and opportunities for accelerated learning for students. Lindsay spent 9 years at the Achievement Network, a national education non-profit focused on strengthening teaching and learning in pursuit of educational equity. As Regional Vice President, she worked with district and charter leaders across 12 systems and 150 schools in NY, CT, RI, and MA to scope proposals to match their needs. She has managed and led teams of instructional leadership coaches. As Chief of Staff she supported the CEO and COO as ANet grew from 30 to 150 people in 3 years.
Lindsay enjoyed her time working with principals and leaders in Boston Public Schools in the Office of Human Resources and later as a non profit partner. She gained a deep appreciation for social justice while working at the Ford Foundation and continues to learn and unlearn as she strives to connect across lines of difference and be a part of diverse teams. She is a proud board member of Veritas Prep Charter School, founding member of 100 Women Who Care Rochester and mom to 3 boys. Lindsay loves ideas, supporting entrepreneurs and connecting with other parents and educators who are navigating their part in nurturing curious, engaged, compassionate, and determined children who will impact their broader community in positive ways. She graduated from Bowdoin College and Harvard Business School.
Myetie Hamilton brings over 20 years of experience leading innovative change in K-12 education. She served most recently as executive director of EPIC Academy, a public charter high school on the far southeast side of Chicago where she led organizational strategy and vision, fundraising and external relations and board engagement. Prior to taking on the role with EPIC, Hamilton served as deputy chief of schools for Network 9 with Chicago Public Schools (CPS), managing transformation efforts for 28 schools in Chicago’s Woodlawn, Bronzeville and Hyde Park communities. She also held positions in CPS as deputy chief of staff in the CEO's office and chief of school support services for the district.
Hamilton received an undergraduate degree in business management from Alabama A&M University, a master’s degree in public administration from the Illinois Institute of Technology and is a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow (Class of 2016).
Heather is an experienced educator with over a decade of service to the students of the Dallas Independent School District, currently serving as the proud senior vice president and executive director of City Year Dallas. Since joining CY Dallas, Heather has worked with the team to bring Dallas' staff culture to an all time high and has built strong relationships with Dallas ISD leaders and principals to ensure strong outcomes for students.
Prior to beginning her work at City Year, she successfully led two different campuses in Dallas ISD serving as a principal for five years. During that time, Heather significantly changed the culture of her school and took her schools climate from the bottom five to the top five in Dallas ISD, created a 23% increase in teacher retention, and positively impacted student academic achievement.
Heather is a proud Dallas native and graduate of Dallas ISD, making our work with the over 6,000 students daily truly come full circle.
Abigale James Van Haselen is passionate about making a more equitable world for future generations. Most recently she served as the director of development for City Year San Antonio. Under her leadership, City Year San Antonio was awarded the High Impact Education Grant by Impact San Antonio. Abigale is passionate about partnerships and works to ensure City Year San Antonio has meaningful relationships with all City Year champions, partners and stakeholders.
Prior to joining City Year San Antonio, Abigale worked overseas in Thailand as the business operations director for an international anti-trafficking NGO. During her time there, she worked closely with Thai law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and nonprofits to create an intelligence network that shares data that helps government officials understand the trends of the trafficking in the region.
Before entering the nonprofit world, she worked in the business sector where she served as the director of Southern California for Bisnow, the largest commercial real estate media firm, for Groupon in the travel sector and she worked internationally in Istanbul, Turkey as an investment banker that helped international companies, such as Pfizer, acquire or merge with Turkish firms. Her diverse background gives her the ability to understand the for-profit and nonprofit sectors and how they can work together to create a better world. Abigale believes change occurs when great people with common values work together.
Nirva R. LaFortune has nearly 20 years of experience in education, government relations, public policy and community engagement and service. Her relationship with City Year began almost 30 years ago when she participated in City Year Providence’s Young Heroes Program while a student in Providence Public Schools. Her experience was transformative and set the foundation for her passion for service and equity.
Elected to Providence City Council in 2017, Nirva was the first Haitian American to hold elective office in the state of Rhode Island. She served as the vice chair of the Special Committee on Education and introduced legislation to create the City of Providence COVID-19 Recovery and Resiliency Task Force. Nirva championed social-emotional support and resources in schools, affordable housing, mental health issues and initiatives that address inequity and racial disparity and promote equity and access.
Nirva is an educator and has worked in various capacities in higher education at Temple University, Drexel University and Brown University, where she received a master’s in urban education policy. Her most recent role was as the assistant director of the Curricular Resource Center for Peer Advising and the inaugural assistant director of Scholars Programs and Diversity Initiatives at Brown University.
Nirva was named one of 21 Who Made a Difference in 2021 by GoLocalProv and a 40 Under 40 honoree by Providence Business News in 2019. She is a parent, an avid runner and a lover of all things related to art and music.
Stephanie Maney-Hartlaub, PhD, currently serves as senior vice president and executive director for City Year Milwaukee and is equipped with more than 20 years’ experience as an educational leader. Stephanie views the executive director role as an opportunity to impact the academic outcomes of students through the strategic, organized support and mentorship that corps members provide. The executive director role activates her belief system, knowledge base and commitment to educational equity. Stephanie believes that education is a necessary component in driving communities forward and describes the work of the corps members as enthusiastic, motivating and trustworthy.
As a leader, Stephanie values communication, innovation, transparency and humility. She combines these values with culture building and storytelling to foster successful teams. Integrity, authenticity and trust are key for Stephanie's relationship development style. Stephanie seeks to actively build a culture in which staff feel connected, able to show up as themselves, comfortable to take risks and operate in their fullest potential. Stephanie sees communication as a tool of talent development and works to inform her staff as a means of understanding their own role in organizational vision. Stephanie believes that strong organizational culture and climate are critical components of goal attainment.
Shephanie served as director of school turnaround with Milwaukee Public Schools. Her prior roles included teaching elementary and middle school children, 10 years as assistant principal at the Milwaukee Sign Language School and School of Languages and four years as principal at Jeremiah Curtin Leadership Academy. Stephanie earned her Bachelor of Science in education from the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater and a Master of Arts in educational leadership from Cardinal Stritch University. Also, Stephanie holds a Ph.D. in leadership, learning, service and research from Cardinal Stritch University.
Arielle is an experienced nonprofit executive who most recently served as the vice president of education and youth development for the Urban League of Louisiana. In this role, she managed programming, advocacy, policy and fund development in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, including the agency’s Parent Information Center, Project Ready program and the Clarence L. Barney Head Start Center. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Loyola University and a J.D. from Loyola University School of Law. Her experiences in both sectors inspired her passion for serving students and families holistically.
"I am joining a talented team of professionals dedicated to advancing equitable outcomes for the youth in my hometown,” she said. “City Year is poised to expand our work in New Orleans, and I look forward to partnering with our community and school district, so together we can support more students on their path to graduation.”
Tarra Mitchell has worked in public education in Washington State since 2009, and for the last six years she has served in Seattle Public Schools (SPS). She served for four years as a principal in a City Year partner school and most recently as the director of special education. In her current role, she supports all school based special education services and supports for the largest school district in Washington State. This work includes the oversight of special education support for students, families and school teams, family and community engagement, partnership relationship management, remote and in-person learning during pandemic closures and coordination with the state educational governing body.
While serving as the principal at Totem Middle School, Tarra and her team created a strong partnership with City Year in service of students, adults and the larger community. Her school saw positive outcomes for students and corps members, and her commitment to the ideals of the organization were further expanded as she joined the Board of City Year Seattle/King County (CYSKC), participated in the National Investors Summit, was a presenter at the CYSKC Ripples of Hope and is a frequent panelist for Equity Summits.
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During her time in public education, Tarra has served as a building administrator at Elementary, Middle and High School, as well as a Secondary Math Teacher and Teacher on Special Assignment supporting all Secondary Math instruction in Marysville School District. She also has been an Adjunct Professor at various universities for undergraduate math courses, teacher preparation graduate courses, and principal certification courses. She is currently on staff at Seattle University in the Educational Administration program. Tarra is currently studying at University of Washington pursuing her Doctorate and Superintendent licensure in the Leadership for Learning Program, which is designed to equip equity focused leaders to transform and re-envision educational systems. Prior to 2009, Tarra lived and travelled around the world always connected to the military. She was raised in a Coast Guard family, joined the Army as a Chinese Linguist, and traveled for 20 years as a Navy spouse. She has three adult daughters, one brand new granddaughter, and a grandson on the way.
Pawn has served as executive director at City Year New Hampshire for 20 years. With her leadership and commitment to helping students, AmeriCorps members and staff succeed, City Year New Hampshire has more than tripled its service capacity and developed a widely recognized culture of idealism. The organization consistently provides high quality service to students and communities as reflected in numerous awards including 11 Best of City Year Awards, City Year National’s highest recognition, as well as a Corporate Fund’s Dunfey Award.
Among Pawn’s community and professional commitments, she serves on the boards of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Reaching Higher New Hampshire and Manchester Proud. She also serves on the Governor’s Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Council.
As Senior Vice President and Executive Director of City Year Baton Rouge, Dr. Luz Randolph leads 11 staff members and approximately 40 AmeriCorps members serving in four partner schools for the 2022-2023 school year. Additionally, she works closely with the advisory board and external stakeholders to continue growing our brand in the community. She will be accountable for a current annual revenue budget of approximately $2.7 million while simultaneously securing the resources necessary to ensure sustainability, growth and scale to achieve City Year’s national long-term impact goals.
Previously, she served as associate vice president for diversity at Louisiana State University. She was responsible for coordination of strategic planning and foundation work for the LSU Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to ensure the development and implementation of programs and services that foster a campus community committed to diversity and inclusion. Prior to her role at LSU, Dr. Randolph served as the executive director of development at St. Petersburg College Foundation where she was responsible for college-wide fundraising efforts. In that position, among other accomplishments, she led the successful effort to secure a grant of $1.3 million to create the Helios-SPC Titan Achievement Program, which led to the creation of the Florida African American Male Experience. Prior to her role at St. Petersburg College, she served in several roles with increasing responsibilities at the University of South Florida Foundation, including as assistant director of development, diversity initiatives. Her primary focus was to assist in cultivating relationships between USF constituents and the Tampa Bay community that would enhance the university’s diverse students’ experiences. She successfully fundraised over $3.5 million for diversity initiatives and assisted in the development and implementation of the Black Leadership Network, which aims to provide financial and mentoring support to African American students at the University of South Florida.
Before her positions at USF, Dr. Randolph served as director of the Candidate Empowerment Center at the College of Education at Florida A&M University. In this role, her team increased the College of Education’s Teacher Certification passage rate by 75%. She also served as assistant director of the Department of Multicultural Student Affairs at the University of Miami, where she coordinated services and programs that challenged, motivated and supported ethnically diverse students.
She is a double alum from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Arts in interpersonal and organizational communication and a Master of Education in curriculum and instruction, college student affairs. She completed her doctor of education in higher education and leadership administration from Nova Southeastern University. Her dissertation focused on the experience of Latinas in Latina sororities at a predominantly White institution and the impact on their academic persistence. Since then, she has presented on topics relating to Latinas and their college experience, philanthropy and diversity and gender issues and sexual orientation. She serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Hispanic Services Council, Cetera Florida and Humanities Amped.
Her diverse experiences in team management, her ability to execute to results in the face of challenge, her natural ability to build and leverage relationships and her inspiring enthusiasm for our work make Dr. Randolph an excellent candidate to lead the team at City Year Baton Rouge.
For the past six years, Monica Roberts has led the Boston Public Schools’ family and community engagement work, most recently as the chief of family and community advancement. 12 of the 20 years she has spent in public urban education have been with Boston Public Schools in various capacities. In her current role, she leads family and community engagement, school assignment, constituent services, translations and interpretations and partnerships. She supports the superintendent in advancing critical efforts including the district’s strategic implementation plan and the historic exam school admissions policy.
Prior to her return to the Boston Public Schools, Ms. Roberts worked for Peace First Boston, serving as the first executive director. She supported the organization’s growth strategy by leading the transition and stabilization of the New York City and Los Angeles offices, all while expanding in her home city of Boston. Monica transitioned from Peace First to Randolph Public Schools as the first director of family and community engagement, partnerships and communications. In this role, she set up a capacity-building model that resulted in robust engagement and partnership with families and the community–all centered around student learning and school improvement. She also helped redesign and implement the district’s secondary alternative education program, leading to the first set of graduates from the program in its then eight-year history.
Monica was born and raised in Boston and is a proud graduate of Boston Public Schools. She serves on the board for the Boston Higher Education Resource Center and the Boston Education Fund. Monica holds two master’s degrees from Boston College, one in political science and the other in business management, a Bachelor of Arts from Brandeis University, a superintendent’s license and a secondary administrator license.
In her free time, Monica enjoys traveling, cooking, reading fiction, creative writing and spending time with family.
Adero Robinson serves as the senior vice president and executive director for City Year Columbus. In his previous role as chief of staff, he oversaw the activities of the executive, human resource and operations departments. Additionally, he collaborated with site leadership to develop and implement long-term strategic plans and operating goals.
Adero has over 25 years of nonprofit experience. He began his journey as an AmeriCorps member with City Year Columbus, serving as a tutor and mentor in a Columbus City School fifth grade classroom. Adero then transitioned to a team/project leader (aka impact manager), where he supervised AmeriCorps members serving at Gladstone Elementary School in the South Linden neighborhood.
As a community development specialist with the Columbus Compact Corporation, Adero worked to improve the quality of life in Columbus' central city neighborhoods through the implementation of high-impact community-based projects, including education, housing, safety and capacity-building initiatives.
During his tenure as senior impact director for the United Way of Central Ohio, he helped facilitate $8 million in education, $5 million in health and wellness and $2 million in housing and safety-related program investments. He also was integral in the planning, development and implementation of United Way’s Community Impact strategic direction. Additionally, he managed the Neighborhood Partnership Center and administered a $2.2 million summer program designed to provide low-income youth with opportunities to attend summer camps in Franklin County.
As the director of education services for the Columbus Urban League, Adero secured over $700,000 in funds for programs related to academic enrichment, victim assistance, higher education, life skill and leadership development, violence intervention, substance abuse prevention and HIV education/testing for youth and adults.
As a project manager with Battelle for Kids, he managed multiple large-scale education-related initiatives designed to improve the effectiveness of educators, building leaders and school districts.
He has received several community awards, including a City Year Comcast Leadership Award. Adero has participated in several local and national leadership programs, including the African American Leadership Academy, Ray Miller Institute for Change and Leadership, Bank of America Emerging Leaders and is a proud alum of the 2017 City Year LEAD program. Adero has also volunteered in different roles on various nonprofit community boards and committees.
Adero holds a B.A. from Denison University and an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management. He is married to Tracy Robinson and is the proud father of four children and three stepchildren. In his spare time, Adero enjoys spending time with family, reading, watching Netflix, listening to 80s and 90s hip-hop and coaching youth basketball. Adero is second-degree black belt through the United Fighting Arts Federation and enjoys practicing and teaching karate and participating in martial arts competitions.
Jeff Shafer serves as the executive director of City Year Kansas City. In this role, Jeff maintains strategic relationships with Kansas City public schools, City Year Kansas City’s board, corporate and philanthropic partners and the wider Kansas City community.
Raised in Kansas City, Jeff grew up attending Kansas City Public Schools and is a graduate of Lincoln College Preparatory Academy. He then spent 10 years in Chicago, where he received a B.A. in marketing communications from Columbia College Chicago and first got involved with City Year by serving as an AmeriCorps member from 2010-2012 on the city’s South Side. Jeff then transitioned to the staff team, working as an impact manager where he helped develop and coach 26 AmeriCorps members as they provided targeted support to 200 students across three Chicago Public schools. Jeff went on to utilize his talent for storytelling as the grant writer for City Year Chicago before joining the City Year Kansas City start-up team in 2015.
For the last five years, Jeff has served as development director. In that role, he has been responsible for the cultivation and stewardship of donor relationships and has exceeded fundraising goals each year. In addition to his impact on City Year, Jeff is involved in the community, serving as a committee member for Uncover KC and board member for Brothers Liberating Our Community.
Michael has been with City Year more than 12 years, having served in several roles at Headquarters and locations across the network. His career in national service began with by serving in the founding corps for City Year Louisiana, followed by a second year of AmeriCorps service with Habitat for Humanity in Jacksonville, FL.
Following his service years, he joined the staff of City Year Washington, D.C. where he served in several positions during his seven-year tenure. Michael later joined the City Year Jacksonville team as the managing director of impact where he managed the full operation of a department that included 120 AmeriCorps members and 17 staff members. After his time in Jacksonville, Michael served as the national student engagement services director with City Year’s National Program Design Team, leading the vision, strategy and pilot opportunities for Student Engagement services supporting 300+ schools across the network. He returned to the field to serve as startup director for City Year Buffalo and is now the executive director of City Year Washington, D.C.
Prior to her Executive Director role, Karen served as the managing director of impact and senior program director at City Year Philadelphia for six years. As an innovator in impact, Karen worked closely with the executive director of City Year Philadelphia to build a coalition of district partners and principals to create the site’s first principal summit. Her contributions and leadership resulted in an improvement in impact, staff engagement and culture and increased funding from the district.
Prior to City Year, Karen worked as a bilingual discipline and truancy liaison to navigate crises and disciplinary procedures with students, families and district personnel covering 44 schools and impacting 16,000 students with the school district of Philadelphia. Earlier in her career, Karen also worked with several consulting and social work agencies, with a focus on performance management improvement and supporting bilingual communities.
