TEEN EMPOWERMENT STAFF
Teen Empowerment's staff members are the agency's most valuable resource. Many have years of experience with TE, and several are TE "graduates" who worked with Teen Empowerment as youth.
Stanley Pollack: Executive Director
Stanley grew up in New Jersey and received his B.A. from Rider University in Trenton. His youth work career began in the early 1970's at a residential facility for delinquent boys in that city. He then worked for the Youth Services Department in Somerville, MA, for eight years, becoming the director of the department in 1978. During this time, he developed innovative methods for engaging youth in a process of changing their communities for the better--the basis for the current Teen Empowerment Model(R). From 1982 to 1991, Stanley provided consultation in the model to over 35 youth-serving organizations throughout Massachusetts and in Louisville, KY, and Houston, TX. In 1992, he established The Center for Teen Empowerment, Inc. as a nonprofit organization in Boston's South End/Lower Roxbury. When not involved with family or Teen Empowerment, Stanley plays guitar, writes songs, and thinks about musical equipment.
Doug Ackley: Director of Rochester Programs
Doug began working with Teen Empowerment in 1993, just after the Center was established. He worked at the South End/Lower Roxbury site, at the Madison Park and Dorchester High School sites, and at a pilot site at the DYS Judge Connelly Treatment Facility. He has used his extensive experience with the Teen Empowerment Model to help supervise TE staff and provide consulting, training and technical assistance to organizations across the country interested in implementing elements of the TE Model. Doug grew up in the Boston area and graduated from Hobart College. Prior to his work at Teen Empowerment, he spent a year working with teens in central California through the Jesuit Volunteer Program, then returned to Boston to work in a residential facility for youth. Following a move to Rochester, NY in 2002, Doug opened the Teen Empowerment site there, which is currently engaging Rochester youth in TE's model of youth organizing. Doug enjoys playing and following a variety of sports and maintains an unwavering loyalty to his favorite Boston teams.
Jennifer Banister: Development and Collaborations Manager, Rochester
Jennifer grew up in various parts of New York state, with Rochester becoming her hometown in the 1990s. She received her B.A. from SUNY Oswego and both her M.A. in Education and Ph.D. in Social Science from Syracuse University. She has worked as a human rights witness with returned refugees in Guatemala and as a fair trade organizer in Rochester. Jennifer started as a program coordinator at TE's South End/Lower Roxbury site in 2001, worked at the English High School site, and is now providing needed assistance with grants and collaboration to our Rochester program. She is a photographer, writer, and activist.
Justin Beatty: Office Coordinator
Raised in Roosevelt, NY, Justin grew up in a neighborhood consistently affected by drugs and violence. This background plus his heritage (Native American and Black) have given him a keen understanding of the plight of disadvantaged youth in minority communities. As a pre-teen, he joined a youth support organization, Operation Get Ahead, and began his lifelong interest in social justice. As a student at UMass Amherst, where he majored in Legal Studies, he worked as a student advisor and peer academic advisor for the Committee for the Collegiate Education of Black and Other Minority Students. He was a vocal member of the Native American and African American communities on campus and acted as a spokesperson for Native American students while participating in the 1997 Goodell Building takeover.
From a young age Justin has been involved in cultural activities and music. He started traditional powwow dancing at age 6 and powwow singing at 7. He has sung with some of the top traditional drum groups on the East Coast and is a founding member of the UMass Amherst powwow drum group, "Rollin' Deep." He has been given the honor of emceeing powwows in the Northeast, including at Harvard University, Williams College, and UMass-Amherst. Justin started playing percussion in third grade and learning how to DJ at age 13. He has DJed at some of the hottest clubs in NY, and was the DJ for the premier party of "BET's Ultimate Hustler." He is currently the DJ/backing vocalist for the band NewMerika (2007 Los Angeles Music Award nominee) and has performed in many noted venues and in showcases for major record labels.
Justin's previous job before TE was Director of Operations for Truelements Music. He worked on projects for artists such as The Roots, The Isley Brothers, CL Smooth, The Rock Steady Crew, Joss Stone, Talib Kweli, Game Rebellion, and many more. He is currently the founder and host of the internet radio show "NewMerika Nation Radio."
Stephanie Berkowitz: Director of External Relations
Stephanie has been doing fundraising, public relations, and event planning for Boston area nonprofit organizations for the last 9 years. Before coming to Teen Empowerment in 2002, she worked for the Higher Education Information Center and the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership. In addition to working at TE, Stephanie teaches kindergarten on Sundays at Congregation Kehillath Israel in Brookline, where she also serves on the Youth Commission. She is a board member of the Brookline-Brighton Jewish Community Fund and volunteers for GesherCity Boston, the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Boston, and the Boston Fair Housing Center. Stephanie is originally from South Euclid, Ohio, and holds a B.S. in Mass Communication and Public Policy from Boston University.
Sheri Bridgeman: Assistant Director of Boston Programs
Sheri earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts, where she studied English, Communications, and Theatre Arts. Shortly after graduation, she began working with young people as the Director of Youth Programs at the YWCA in Cambridge, while simultaneously running her own performing arts company called Dreamers Inc. She was using the arts as a catalyst to address issues in the lives of young people and their families. It was a great privilege to begin in 1998 to work for Teen Empowerment, where she could use her skills training young people to be leaders while incorporating the performing arts. As assistant director of Boston programs, Sheri continues to work on making positive social change with youth and adults in the city.
Stella Repetto Downie: Special Projects Consultant
Stella returned to Teen Empowerment in 2006 following seven years as the founder, owner, and operator of Stellabella Toys in Inman Square, Cambridge. She opened the store in 1999 in an effort to bring her background in economics and community organizing in line with her new role as a mother. During Stella's tenure, the store received the "Best of Boston" award four times and was named one of the top 10 toy stores in America by Child Magazine.
Prior to opening her business, Stella worked at Teen Empowerment from 1993-1998 in a variety of roles. She was a program coordinator at TE's first school-based site, where she helped adapt the Teen Empowerment Model to a public school setting. She also helped develop TE's consulting wing, and contributed significantly to TE's group facilitation book, Moving Beyond Icebreakers. In addition, she wrote grants and managed finances. After leaving the staff, she served for four years on the board of directors. She was the director of TE's Somerville program in 2006-07
Stella is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, with a degree in Economics and Environmental Studies. She lives in Somerville with her husband, Patrick, and their three children.
Amanda Holm: Assistant Director, Somerville Program
Originally from Boston, Amanda received her B.A. from Harvard University in 2005 where she majored in Government and Spanish. As an undergrad, she worked with youth of all age levels through various volunteer organizations and decided on pursuing a career in direct service work. After graduation she moved to Washington, DC, where she worked as an ESL teacher to 1st and 2nd graders. As a teacher, she was able to combine her love of Spanish with her passion for working with youth. Amanda now lives in Somerville and is thrilled to be working toward positive social change in her community at TE's Somerville site.
Jen Lewis: Program Coordinator
Jen graduated from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 1986 with a Bachelor's degree in Music Education and a concentration in Music Therapy and Special Education. She worked as a music therapist with the elderly, developmentally delayed, and homeless populations until she returned to school at Cambridge College, where she received a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology. Before joining Teen Empowerment in 2006, Jen worked at COMPASS School with at-risk youth from many of Boston's neighborhoods.
Jen is an avid amateur photographer and enjoys writing, poetry, and singing. She believes that everyone should have the opportunity to do work that encourages positive growth both individually and with larger and larger circles of people, in emotional, physical, and spiritual spheres of life. Creativity is an incredible tool, a continuously re-energizing process that is contagious, and to have this process as a central part of one's work and life is a great advantage. Jen is reminded of this through TE's work with young people and within her own family. She feels that simply playing and being present with her children (ages 4 and 7) can be as rejuvenating as developing a striking photograph, feeling the vibration and energy when singing, capturing a moment in haiku, speaking one's mind on something felt strongly, or getting down to a funky tune!
Heang Ly: Program Coordinator
Heang is a native of western Massachusetts by way of Cambodia, Thailand, and the Philippines. Her work with youth began through theater and community organizing as an undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she graduated in 2000 with a degree in Psychology and Education. She continued on as an advisor and program manager with the ACCESS program where she worked in all the Boston public high schools to provide increased financial aid opportunities for students to pursue higher education. In 2004, she earned her masters degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy. She is excited to be working as a program coordinator at the Dorchester site. Heang is an avid traveler, hungry to experience new places and people. She has an affinity for event planning, decorating, writing, dancing, drawing, acting, food, and laughing.
Craig McClay: Program Coordinator & Media Coordinator
Craig initially became involved in Teen Empowerment programs in 1989, when he worked as part of a six-member group of youth that offered small grants and technical assistance to other youth-led initiatives throughout greater Boston. He continued his involvement with TE after high school in the early 1990's, working to recruit, hire, and train youth and adult staff for a number of summer and year-round TE-connected programs in Boston's South End, as well as serving on TE's Board of Directors. In 2000, he returned to TE as a member of the adult staff. Since then, he has coordinated the South End/Lower Roxbury site, assisted with coordination of a site in South Boston, broken ground in Somerville when the first of the current two sites opened there (2004-2005), and led the charge to create positive social change in the Uphams Corner area of Dorchester. He now works at TE's site in Egleston Square.
Craig offers a multitude of talents and creative abilities that add dynamic and meaningful substance to TE's work. As media coordinator, he provides technical support to all Teen Empowerment sites, including the program in Rochester. He records TE events using state of the art video technology, edits videos using a variety of video editing software and formats, and produces ready-for-prime-time television videos, mini-dv's and/or dvd's. In addition, he engineers highly complex audio mixes that often incorporate lavelier and line microphones, live instrument in-/direct feeds and multi-media inputs at TE events. Craig directs the organization's 12-track music-recording studio, where he works with youth from all TE sites and will continue working with countless others.
He serves on several boards of local agencies that focus on improving social and political conditions in Boston. In 2007 he was awarded the honor of "Youth Worker of the Year" by Boston Centers for Youth and Families, given to an individual who has demonstrated excellence and commitment, consistently working above and beyond expectations on behalf of Boston's youth.
Danny McLaughlin: Program Coordinator
Danny is a 25 year old lifelong resident of Somerville who has made it his mission to bring about positive and ongoing change in his hometown. Growing up in Lexington Park, Danny witnessed the continued destruction of the Somerville he once knew. From the loss of his friends to overdose and suicide to the displacement of his neighbors due to rising living costs, tragedy after tragedy forced Danny to decide to be a more active member of his community. In 2003, he joined the Youth Leadership Development Program at Somerville Cares About Prevention, where he engaged in conversations with other youth to discuss the opiate problem in the city. In 2004, with his brothers Matt, Mark, and Steve, Danny founded the non-profit group Save Our Somerville. With SOS, the McLaughlin brothers found the means to accomplish their goal of restoring Somerville to its former glory. Danny is also a board member of the Somerville Community Corporation. He is the 2008 recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Award in Somerville.
As a program coordinator at Teen Empowerment since 2006, Danny works with the community's youth to unite the city and start a movement of positive change. In addition, through TE he has the opportunity to facilitate the Mayor's Youth Council, a program designed to encourage youth engagement in the city's governing body. Currently a student at Bunker Hill Community College, Danny continues to take strides to make positive changes in Somerville.
Sapna Padte: Director of Consulting and Training
As consulting and training director, Sapna designs and facilitates workshops, and provides general technical assistance to community groups, schools, universities, and agencies who are interested in using the Teen Empowerment Model and methodology to strengthen the work that they do. Sapna got her start at Teen Empowerment as a program coordinator in 2000, working for one year with students, teachers, and staff at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School and three years at Dorchester High School (now the Dorchester Education Complex). She received her Master in Public Health degree from Tulane University and has an extensive background in the field of community organizing and youth development. Sapna's love for travel combined with her professional interests when she spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cape Verde. Immersing herself in the Cape Verdean culture, Sapna moved to Boston in part to stay in touch with this community.
Marlon D. Ramdehal: Program Coordinator
Marlon is originally from the island of Trinidad and Tobago. He and his family emigrated to the United States in 1988 and have called Boston their home ever since. Marlon is a graduate of The Boston English High School, Class of 1999. He earned his bachelors degree in psychology at Wheaton College, Class of 2004, on a scholarship from The Trefler Foundation.
As a student at The Boston English High School, he interviewed with TE and was hired as a youth organizer. In the midst of other leadership programs he was involved with during that time, TE stood out as a real opportunity to take on a different type of leadership position. When asked about this change he said, "Being involved with TE allowed me to expand and enhance my ability to use my voice in different ways. I found various ways to identify with issues happening in my school and to think more creatively to strategize approaches for having a more positive impact using my own talents. Many of the same passions I had when I first got hired with TE brought me back to this organization today."
Marlon worked for three years as a program coordinator at The Boston English High School's TE site. After his first year on staff he expressed that, "Returning to TE and EHS has been an empowering experience in that I've felt obliged to give back to the people, community, and roots where I came from. Looking back, I have many people to appreciate and be thankful to, so it's important for me to not forget where I came from and the amazing people who helped to get me where I am today." He now helps coordinate TE's Somerville site.
Shanterra Randle: Associate Coordinator
Shanterra has been working with Teen Empowerment in Rochester since 2006, first as a volunteer and then as a youth organizer. Through TE, she was nominated and served as a youth agency representative on the Mayor's Youth Advisory Council (MYAC), one of the 20 young people who joined together to bring youth voice about the issues they face on a day-to-day basis to city government. In 2008 she began an internship at Teen Empowerment as an Associate Coordinator with the MYAC. Shanterra graduated from Wilson Commencement High School and is now attending Monroe Community College. She is also a member of the Rochester Teen Slam Team, which placed fourth in an international competition, held in Washington, D.C, entitled "Def Poetry presents Brave New Voices." In 2008, she accompanied Mayor Robert Duffy to Philadelphia for the Mayors' Action Forum on Crime, a national conference for mayors and police chiefs that was called to draft recommendations to the next U.S. president on effective crime prevention. Shanterra and another MYAC representative were the only two young people in attendance. She addressed all a plenary session of the conference and had a chance to speak with then-Senator Joe Biden.
Marquis Tucker: Program Coordinator
Marquis is one of only a handful of teens to be a three-time youth organizer. Drawing on this experience helped him to become a TE adult staff member in 2003 when, shortly after graduating from Dorchester High, he was offered the position of associate program coordinator. For two years he worked with two other staff members to help guide the youth of Madison Park High School around the many issues they faced. During this time, he also attended Bunker Hill Community College, majoring in Business Management. In 2005 Marquis answered the call to join two other staff members as a coordinator for TE's Dorchester community site. He is still a coordinator at this site, but occasionally makes an appearance on the "TE stage" when needed. He is also currently working on getting his bachelors degree.
