BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Dr. Lisa Arrastía (Board President). From New York City, Lisa is is an associate professor of education at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. She is a former full-time lecturer in the Program for Writing and Critical Inquiry at University of Albany, State University of New York. Lisa has a Ph.D. in American Studies, an M.Ed. in Educational Administration and Supervision, an M.A. in Education, and Illinois Licensure in General Administrative and Supervision. She has worked as a middle and high school principal and a grades 5-12 teacher in independent, public, charter, and international schools. Her scholarship investigates discourses of racial capitalism and pedagogies of culture that frame notions of individualism, whiteness, and masculinity. Lisa uses audioethnography (digital oral history remix), an aesthetics-based education methodology she designed, to examine difference at the intersection of race, social class, place, and school.. Lisa is the founder and director of The Ed Factory, and she is the editor with Dr. Marvin Hoffman of Starting Up: Critical Lessons from 10 New Schools (Teachers College Press, 2012). Her writing has appeared in Overland, Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, Antipode, Exposure, and the Huff Post. She is a consulting editor for the journal Schools and an executive advisory board member of NYU's Project for the Advancement of our Common Humanity. Lisa, her husband, writer Mark Nowak, and their daughter, a former Kite’s Nest student, now a graduate of Pratt Institute, live and engage in social change work throughout New York.
Gregg Osofsky (Treasurer) is the Operations Director of the Watershed Center in Millerton, NY. He holds a B.S. from Stanford University in Environmental Science and Technology and has an extensive background in small business operations, website design and development, and community organizing. In addition to his work with Watershed, Gregg the CFO of Hammertown, his family’s small business, and a member of the Town of Northeast’s Fire Department. Gregg is also a certified Somatics Coach and is passionate is bringing physical practice into people’s lives as a fundamental aspect of personal growth and development.
Sonja Okun (Secretary) has two decades of experience developing and leading successful positive youth development intervention programs for justice system-involved youth, including founding and serving as Executive Director of exalt in New York City from 2006-2014. Sonja is currently a Principal at Root Cause, a nonprofit consulting group, and consults independently to several criminal justice-related organizations nationally. Sonja holds both a BA in African American Studies and an MBA from Harvard University.
Kamauru Johnson currently serves as Upper School Psychologist at Brooklyn Friends School (BFS) and as Program Director of the Horizons Program at BFS, an organization that partners closely with independent schools like BFS to reduce summer learning loss by providing out-of-school enrichment programming for elementary and middle school students who may not otherwise have access. Outside of BFS, Kamauru maintains a private practice as a clinical psychologist, offering individual therapy to adolescents and young adults and psychoeducational evaluation services. Kamauru earned his B.A. in Psychology at Morehouse College and his Ph.D. in Applied Educational Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. He has research interests in various areas including academic motivation, note-taking, academic self-concept, and public-private school partnerships.
Tanu Kumar is an urban planning and policy consultant based in the Hudson Valley, providing planning, research, and program development support to local organizations. She has over 10 years of experience working with government agencies, non-profits, and community-based organizations on land use planning, industrial development and zoning, and equitable economic growth strategies. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Pratt Center for Community Development in Brooklyn, NY, and led Pratt Center’s economic development work in NYC for five years. She has a B.A. from Williams College and a Master's in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University.
Kristina Wertz has dedicated her career to advocacy for LGBTQ communities with racial, gender, and economic justice at the core of her work. Kristina is the Vice President of Engagement and Philanthropic Outreach at Funders for LGBTQ Issues, where she oversees the organization’s programs to increase philanthropic resources for LGBTQ communities. A seasoned attorney, public policy advocate, and philanthropic organizer, Kristina is passionate about working alongside queer and trans people of color to shift the centers of power in philanthropy. Prior to her work at Funders for LGBTQ Issues, Kristina was the Director of Policy and Programs and Legal Director at the Transgender Law Center where she partnered with trans leaders to achieve groundbreaking legal protections for trans and gender nonconforming people. In 2011, Kristina was named on the National LGBT Bar Association’s inaugural list of “Top LGBTQ Lawyers Under 40.” She is a graduate of NYU and Brooklyn Law School. Proudly born and raised in San Francisco, Kristina now lives in the Hudson Valley with her partner, two adorable kids, and a fluctuating number of chickens.
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