Category Archives: Community Spotlight

Meet the CFK 2012 Summer Interns!

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When they’re not busy locking us out of the office, the CFK Team is putting us to work. We’ve traipsed around NYC for silent auction items, videotaped P.S. 73’s year-end violin performance, and served up signature cocktails at the Change Team Launch Party. Needless to say, we’ve been busy. So stay tuned – we’ll keep you updated on our unforgettable experiences here with the team!

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Dylan Maag

College/University: New York University (New York, NY) class of 2014, majoring in Psychology with a double minor in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies and Law and Society.

Relevant Background: She has worked in an elementary school as a Teacher’s Aid, and has extensive volunteering experience through her high school, college, and cheerleading teams. Dylan is excited to learn more about New York City’s public school system, as well as to broaden her volunteering knowledge and experience.

Fun Fact: Dylan is a NYU cheerleader.

Favorite thing about NYC: Dylan enjoys taking walks and exploring Downtown Manhattan.

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Kayley McLaughlin

College/University: Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL) class of 2013, majoring in Finance

Duties with CFK: Kayley is working to execute CFK’s new “Change Team” initiative, a one school at a time approach to improve the quality of education for underprivileged students. She helped receive donations for the Change Team Launch party that occurred in June, and is now helping prepare for the 4th Annual Bowl for Kids event this October.

Relevant Background: Kayley has had experience fundraising and participating in various events such as a 5K and flag football tournament in her college town that raised money for Breast Cancer Education and Awareness. She has also volunteered at Jack and Jill Children’s Center in Broward County, which provides low-income, working families a place where their children ages 6 weeks to 5 years old can grow, learn, and thrive. Kayley loves interacting with young children and understands the importance of extracurricular activities.

Fun Fact: Kayley loves to travel. She has visited Europe and hopes to someday travel to all seven of the continents. Growing up a South Florida girl, she might reconsider visiting Antarctica.

Favorite Thing about NYC: Kayley loves reading and laying out in any of the local parks while sipping on Starbucks, which is conveniently available on almost every block.

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Abhi Elisetty

College/University: New York University class of 2015, double majoring in Political Science and Philosophy, with a minor in Social and Cultural Analysis.

Duties with CFK: Abhi is working with ED, Colin Smith on building out CFK’s communications platform. This entails enhancing CFK’s online presence on several external channels, as well as improving overall communications by creating talking points, memos etc… He is also helping Director of Education Sarah Stevens with community needs research.

Relevant background: As an assistant debate coach at The Bronx High School of Science, Abhi has learned the importance of robust enrichment programs in NYC public schools by witnessing firsthand the impact they have on students. The opportunity to carry over that work at Change for Kids has proved to be a highly rewarding experience.

Fun Fact: As the only other guy on team CFK, Abhi helps keep Colin’s sanity intact in the office.

Favorite thing about NYC: Abhi loves the NYC water, as well as the multitude of fascinating characters the city has to offer.

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Chelsea Wagner 

College/University: Florida State (Tallahassee, FL) class of 2012, majoring in Social Sciences

Duties with CFK: Chelsea is working with the Director of Development, Ashley Faison, to plan their Change team party to gain more corporate and individual sponsors. She is also helping set up their main event, Bowl for Kids, which will be in October.

Background: Chelsea comes to New York as a member of the Dream Careers internship program. Previous summers she was a camp counselor for Mentally Challenged children in South Florida. She is also on the survivor committee of Relay for Life up at her school; which was what interested her in the non-profit business. Her entire life Chelsea has known she wants to work with children and help better their childhood. Change for Kids was the perfect fit to help further her goal.

Fun Fact: In Chelsea’s spare time she likes to take as many dance classes as possible. She grew up as a competitive dancer, starting at the age of 2.

Favorite Thing About NYC: Chelsea really enjoys all the random talent that performs down in the subway and all over the streets. She has seen some really amazing hip hop dancers.

Community Spotlight: A Conversation with Ronnie Jaber

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You’ve no doubt noticed Ronnie Jaber circulating at CFK’s events. Whether he’s frantically bidding for a Gossip Girl set visit (“For my friend’s kids!”) or raising a cool $5,000 for CFK in just about 72 hours, he’s the one perpetually surrounded by attractive people who are clearly having the greatest time of their lives. Turns out, though, the man rocking the pink shirt is full of surprises. This life of the party is a big advocate for arts education, occasionally keeps a low profile while traveling the globe, and is even a little reluctant to talk about himself. Here’s what we did manage to wrest out of him.

"I think our lane average of 80-something was a few standard deviations below the national average...but I felt honored that we were blessed with the only pink shirt."

Ronnie grew up in a small town, and thanks to a great public education, had an early appreciation for good teachers.  “I was spoiled with great teaching,” he says. “I remember we did this simulation of the French Revolution – which means so much more when you’re actually playing the roles of the Bourgeoisie vs. the Emperor, and you’re getting guillotined.”

After studying engineering and applied math at Cornell, he entered a career in finance in New York. The international flavor of the city suits him, especially when it comes to very difficult task of choosing a favorite restaurant. “Spice Market…no, no, no, wait…how about La Esquina? Well, what category of restaurant are we talking about here?”

His free time is filled with friends, sports like soccer (“It’s the world sport. You don’t have to have a genetic edge to play.”) and a travel schedule that puts even the most determined jetsetters to shame. “I’m trying to see the world,” he says. We know what you’re thinking: “Come on, the world? Where’s the man traveled in the last twelve months?”

“Ummmm…Paris, Prague, London, Anguilla, Colorado…”

He then launches into an explanation of how to maximize your time at Machu Picchu, the merits of having oxygen pumped into your room at high altitude, and the presence of guinea pig on local Peruvian menus (“I just couldn’t do it.”) The trick, he says, is balancing your touring with a more low-key approach. “I really try to do both,” he says. “I try to experience new places as a tourist. But I also really appreciate being immersed in the culture, getting a real feel for the people and how they live. And I try to fit in to the extent that I can.”

Ronnie’s always been a good friend to CFK, but we were completely blown away last fall when he told us he’d be establishing his own fundraising page for the Bowl for Kids campaign. Twenty-four hours after setting up a page (with a Jackson Pollack as a headshot), he’d raised $1,500. By the end of the week he was nearing five grand. “I just have a lot of really generous friends and co-workers,” he says, as though that were sufficient explanation for the quantum leap in donations we saw that week.

“Sometimes you just have to ask yourself, ‘well, what’s important?’ And when people realize that so close to home in New York there are schools that don’t have tutoring, or music and art programs that could really shape lives in important ways – that makes it an easy sell. This is a really tangible way to effect change and see change and do it at a critical stage in someone’s life.”

So why exactly was he the only one lucky enough to have a pink shirt at this year’s Bowl for Kids?

Isn’t it obvious yet?

Because he’s Ronnie.

Community Spotlight: Meet Joshua Holmes

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Meet Joshua Holmes, the Detroit native with a master’s in public administration, a love for all things sports-related, and a special fondness for NYC food culture. When he’s not on his long-standing quest to find the best burgers and beer in the city, you can find him on the sports field. Any sports field will do. “I play softball, racquetball, football, tennis, and basketball. Also golf and snowboarding. I enjoy reading, though I always fear I don’t do it enough.” Prod him a little though, and he’ll admit that his favorite books are pretty diverse – Freakonomics, all seven Harry Potters, Cornel West’s Race Matters, and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I’ve also heard from a very reliable source that he’s consistently voted the best dressed at the annual UVa alumni holiday party – perhaps not so hard to believe of a guy who manages to pull off a red plaid bow tie.

Josh Homes, Best Dressed and Tutor Extroadinaire

The best thing about Joshua, however, is that he spends every Tuesday reading with two very special second graders at P.S. 243 – Rubayet and Trinity (Weird factoid of the day: two of Joshua’s aunts actually attended P.S. 243). Given the recent standards push for nonfiction reading skills, they’ve been working all fall on a slew of animal books, says Joshua. “I’ve gotten a sense of their reading level at this point, so we always start by picking something out that looks really interesting…There’ve been lots of snakes, birds, and birds’ nests,” he adds.

Whether they’re sounding out words, identifying main ideas, or separating fact from opinion, the most exciting part of the process for Joshua has been watching Rubayet and Trinity grow more confident in their reading. “Rubayet was more shy and bashful when we first met, but now sometimes I have a difficult time keeping him on task because he wants to talk about all kinds of things. Trinity is very bubbly and warm. She’s really kind of adorable – like a little cousin.”
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Meet Jean Mirvil: P.S. 73′s Superman

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We’ll just say upfront that it’s hard not to gush about Principal Jean Mirvil. Even before we heard the great news that P.S. 73 had been awarded A’s in this year’s school progress report, we were well on our way to an almost embarrassing crush on the man. Let’s start with the basics.

Mr. Mirvil, Principal of P.S. 73

When you speak with Mr. Mirvil at Bowl for Kids next week, the first thing you will notice is the aura of calm that seems to surround him. And whatever your topic of conversation, you will get the distinct impression that he is not only well-versed in the matter but also intensely interested in what you have to say. The man is simply unflappable, a quality clearly perfect for anyone in charge of almost 900 elementary students in what was recently recognized as the poorest congressional district in the nation. Maybe it’s the Haitian lilt that still creeps into his measured tones, but we think you’ll find Mr. Mirvil to be the most intriguing man in the room.

Don’t mistake his calm demeanor for a lack of energy, though. In the four years since Mr. Mirvil arrived at P.S. 73, he has not only reversed the school’s downward performance slide but also rallied a broad range of community support that has meant a major bump in student resources, even as city budgets have taken a dramatic tumble. When Mr. Mirvil arrived at P.S. 73 from his previous post in the Bronx, the school was in “a state of vacuum,” with a high rate of student attrition, limited parental involvement, and a recently departed principal. They were also on their way to becoming a failing school, with C’s from the city and some public relations challenges.
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Community Spotlight: Meet Alicia Jayo

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As some of you may know (because you took a look at our spiffy 2010-2011 stats, of course), this is the year we more than tripled our volunteer numbers and very nearly doubled the number of individual donors—fabulous news that nearly rolled us over as we were crunching the numbers here at the end of the summer.

Alicia Jayo CFK

Alicia, our new Director of Community Engagement (on the right!)

Luckily we also had a great year in terms of board additions, which meant we were able to bring on Alicia Jayo, our new Director of Community Engagement, veteran e-warrior, and unabashed sushi addict (“I order sushi probably 4 nights out of the week,” she says). When she’s not chowing down on spicy crunchy tuna or eel avocado rolls, she’ll be cracking the whip on our contacts database, rounding up volunteers, and making our digital media go. You’ll be seeing a lot of her over the next several months, and that means we’ll be seeing a more of you!

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Community Spotlight: Meet Wright Harvey

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Those of you who’ve been attending our school beautification days have no doubt met Wright Harvey, the artistic guru frantically prepping mural spaces, weighing in on color choices, and adding a few more dabs of paint to his already over-the-top messy work pants. You may have asked yourself, “Who is this mad artist in the paint-splattered jeans with the preternaturally organized girlfriend?” Herein, everything you ever wanted to know about Wright Harvey.

Wright Harvey in his infamous work jeans

This Naples, FL native grew up a mile from the beach and came to art early in life through the efforts of his cousin April. Together they killed long afternoons with art projects and bracelet knotting, and when he went to the University of Virginia to study econ, he also managed to spend enough time in the print shop to add a second major in visual arts.

“Of course when I graduated I relied much more heavily on the economics degree to get a job that would put a roof over my head,” he notes. Wright’s been at JPMorgan ever since, and while there are plenty of opportunities there for creative business thinking, he hadn’t had a real chance to flex his artistic muscles in a public forum in quite some time.

Enter the Change for Kids school beautification days.
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Community Spotlight: Choose Your Own CFK Adventure

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Let’s just say you have a family you love and a highly successful, non-teaching career – like financial services. You’re happy in your life choices, but you’ve always harbored fantasies of stepping into a classroom, your chalk and attendance chart in hand, and making a difference in young people’s lives.

Do you:

A: Wait until retirement to dust off your Dead Poets Society dreams.

B: Abandon your current life for unknown adventures with Teach for America.

C: Have it all! On your own time, right here in NYC.

Steve Blum is mobbed by adoring 2nd graders

Meet Steve Blum, the man who chose option C. A Yale alumnus, championship fencer and father of two grown children, Steve is a Managing Director at Burnham Securities. He found us last year at the Yale not-for-profit fair, where he confessed to a lifelong love for education, fond memories of bringing math to life for his own kids and, like many professionals in other fields, an interest in picking up teaching as a second career “someday.” When we told him we could place him in a classroom as a volunteer – for as many hours during the week as he might be able to give us – he jumped at the opportunity to stretch his teaching wings without chucking his current life. “That is really the moment I realized that there was a different path that is not full-time teaching but that would provide an outlet for those needs,” he says.

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Community Spotlight: Meet Jenny Portillo

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Currently finishing her senior year at Fordham University, Jenny Portillo is the founding member of our P.S. 73 literacy tutoring program and a brand new Teach for America recruit!

Jenny Portillo (center) with P.S. 73 students on a visit to the Fordham campus

When she graduates this spring she’ll have a double-major in English and history and a completed senior thesis on the shared constructs and themes of traditional poetry and hip-hop music. She counts Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree among her favorite books. “I think his message of selfless love is meaningful for any person at any age,” she says.

In this month’s Community Spotlight, Jenny updates us on the P.S. 73 tutoring program and provides a first-person account of teaching and learning from students.

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Community Spotlight: Meet Olivia and Elian

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Olivia and Elian take a quick break. Photo credit: Caitie McCabe

Olivia Olson’s favorite book is Anna Karenina, but ever since she got involved with CFK, she’s devoted every Monday to Curious George. Olivia was born just outside Washington, DC and spent much of her childhood in England, but she arrived to us last year through Idealist.org. She had decided to return to graduate school after a long stint in the finance world and was looking for a way to give back, particularly in the areas of reading and literacy. We put her stellar skills to work with a whole pile of grant requests and then sent her to P.S. 243. There she met Elian, a lovable and creative first-grader whose reading skills were well below grade level. After many months of learning the alphabet and reading Curious George together, the two have become fast friends—one of our favorite stories to emerge from the new literacy tutoring program (get involved here). We’ll let Olivia tell the rest…

Elian is now in the 2nd/3rd grade class, and his reading is really coming along! When we started in October of last year, we were still going through the alphabet and the letters’ sounds. This week Elian and I read “Harry the Dirty Dog” together.  Elian read one sentence, I read the next, and larger words we sounded out together…so much fun. Elian is amazing. He’s addicted to Curious George and is SO imaginative. We can’t get through a page without Elian theorizing about what Curious George is up to, what he saw in a Curious George movie or on the Discovery Channel, etc.
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Community Spotlight: Meet Dave Schecter

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Dave Schecter (the gorilla) gives back to the community

CFK is lucky to have an unbelievably active cadre of young 20-somethings who, in addition to their limitless energy and general good humor, seem to have picked up the philanthropy bug. We managed to catch up with one of our most enthusiastic volunteers—Dave Schecter—who made us promise not to sell any of the interview material to the media. “I just don’t like being on Page 6, you know what I mean? I have to wear those big glasses when I leave my apartment – and my hat. It’s a real problem,” he insists, completely deadpan.

A junior at Fordham University, Dave is studying philosophy, concentrating in American Catholic studies and dabbling in sociology. When he’s not up to his elbows in Kierkegaard, he’s often—fortunately for us—involved in all kinds of helpful CFK projects. His agenda over the last year has included literacy tutoring at P.S. 73, volunteering in the education office at the Bronx Museum of Art and fundraising with a brutal efficiency reminiscent of the Huns laying claim to Gaul.
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