be_ixf;ym_202403 d_18; ct_50 YES! I want to make a difference TODAY!

New York alumni board

Our alumni support our work and drive change in their local communities long after serving with City Year.

Jesse Applegate, board co-chair
City Year New York ’09

Jesse Applegate is the director of special education academic policy and strategic planning at the New York City Department of Education. Prior to that, he was the director of education strategy at American Prison Data Systems, where he consulted with correctional facilities across the country on educational technology. Jesse was also a New York City Teaching Fellow, working as a special educator in Brooklyn. He has a bachelor's degree from Haverford College and master's degrees from Brooklyn College and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Erin Connell, board co-chair
City Year Washington D.C. '09

Erin M. Connell served as an AmeriCorps member in Washington, DC from 2008-09. Erin now serves as senior program manager at Cause Strategy Partners, where she oversees the strengthening and expansion of boards and leads a signature program that matches corporate professionals to nonprofit board service opportunities. Erin focuses on recruiting diverse candidates to be matched to nonprofit boards around the US, strengthening the overall governance and the values of diversity, equity and inclusion across the nonprofit sector.

Erin worked previously in both social sector and nonprofit consulting, with an emphasis on organizational development, capacity building, program evaluation and strategic planning. She completed her master in public administration at the Wagner School of Public Service at New York University, where she was the recipient of NYU Wagner’s Jo Ivey Boufford Award for creating innovative solutions to public service challenges. Erin earned her bachelor of arts in philosophy and human rights from Columbia University.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Eric Barbour, co-chair, fundraising committee
City Year Sacramento '13, '14

Eric Barbour is a trainer/program manager for the Military Veterans Program at the Posse Foundation, a non-profit focusing on college access and persistence, career readiness, and workforce leadership. Originally from Ohio, Eric completed a bachelor's degree at DePaul University in Chicago before joining City Year Sacramento's founding corps in 2012. After a second year of service, he moved on staff with City Year Sacramento before returning to Chicago to work on City Year's midwest recruitment and admissions team. During that time Eric sat on Chicago's Alumni Board, focusing on fundraising and alumni engagement. Currently, Eric spends his time training for a Tough Mudder, planning his wedding with his partner and traveling home to see his two nieces (Sara-3, Eilish-1) in Ohio.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Tatiana Donaldson
Co-chair, corps support committee; City Year New York, '18

Tatiana B. Donaldson is an associate consultant at Community Resource Exchange (CRE), focusing on areas of strategic planning, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), risk management, and leadership development.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Tori Fenton
Co-chair, alumni committee; City Year New York '13; City Year Tulsa '14

Tori Fenton is an expansion manager with the Division of Early Childhood Education at the New York City Department of Education. She works to expand universal preschool through the Pre-K and 3-K for All initiatives. She received her master's degree in public administration, specializing in public and nonprofit management and policy, from NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School for Public Service in 2016. Tori is from Oklahoma and received her bachelor's degree in French and European Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles in 2012.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Melissa Kennedy
Co-chair, corps support committee; City Year New York ‘12

Melissa Kennedy is a product manager at FactSet, a financial technology company. Throughout her career she has worked in areas of customer service, sales and now works to improve FactSet's product to best suit the needs of their clients. Melissa is also a co-chair of FactSet's Corporate Social Responsibility committee in their New York office, organizing events to engage the 700+ members of the office in powerful service events throughout the year. Melissa has a bachelor's degree in economics from Villanova University.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Monica LaSalle
Co-chair, fundraising committee; City Year New York ‘15, '16

Monica is a senior recruiter at Indeed.com, a worldwide job search engine. Her primary focus is the inside sales and sales analysis functions across the US. Monica served in CYNY in ’14-’15 as a corps member in the South Bronx and returned in ’15-’16 as a senior corps member on the civic engagement team. She holds a bachelor's of arts degree in psychology from the University of Miami. She enjoys golfing, boxing and eating good food.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Lucy M. McLoughlin
Co-chair, alumni committee; City Year New York ‘13, '14

Lucy McLoughlin is a development and fundraising consultant, partnering with nonprofit clients around the country of all shapes and sizes. Previously, she worked as a Director of Development for a charter school network in the South Bronx. Lucy began her career on the program side of nonprofits, moving into operations and eventually finding her home in development. Lucy served with CYNY for both her corps year and senior corps year and has been a part of the alumni board ever since. During her free time, Lucy can be found in Brooklyn trying to keep her plants alive.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Lauren Bochner
City Year New York; City Year Washington, D.C. '06

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Yassi Davoodi
City Year New York '07, '12

As the regional director of New York for uAspire, Yassi is the lead strategic advisor to inform programmatic, policy, and fundraising initiatives. Previously, as the senior program director of virtual implementation, Yassi oversaw the virtual advising program in New York City and postsecondary advising in the Bay Area. Yassi's first role at uAspire was launching and stewarding the partnership with University of California Office of the President. Yassi joins uAspire from iMentor and City Year New York. Yassi attended the College of Wooster and received a college counseling certification from the Options Institute in New York.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Matthew Glover
City Year Sacramento ‘16

Matt is entering his final year at CUNY School of Law, where his academic interests center on the intersection of race, education, liberation and human dignity. A native of South Florida, Matt enjoys basketball, football (the global one), learning and eating.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Kayla Johnson
City Year New York ‘14, '15

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Deirdre Levy
City Year New York ‘12

Deirdre Levy is a NYC District 75 special education teacher in Brooklyn. She received her bachelor of arts in public affairs and policy and master of science in higher education administration and policy from the University at Albany. Deirdre completed her master of science in special education and childhood at Pace University as NYC teaching fellow.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Yetunde Olayinka
City Year New York ‘13

Yetunde Olayinka is the Brooklyn Team regional team coordinator. Following her year of service, Yetunde decided to serve again with Public Allies Baltimore before heading to Pace University for her master in public administration.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Parth Patel
City Year New York '16

Parth is in his third year of medical school at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson in New Brunswick, NJ. He's involved in the entrepreneurship network as well as the service organization body at the school helping to learn more about the needs of local nonprofits and how medical school students can fill those needs. He got his bachelor's degree from The College of NJ in 2015 and a master's degree from Rutgers University in 2017. During his free time, he enjoys catching up on Premier League soccer games and binging on Netflix.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Alex Phillips
City Year New York '15

Alex Phillips is a fundraising professional at iMentor, an education nonprofit that matches volunteer mentors with students at high schools in low-income communities, where a majority of those served will be first-generation college graduates. Before becoming a development manager to iMentor's National Team, Alex worked for iMentor's New York City Region for over two years as a project manager and special assistant to the executive director.

Alex came to iMentor after completing about two years as an assistant to an alternative TV/News Agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a top talent agency regarded as a dominant and influential company in the business. During his time at CAA, Alex also served as a task force leader, a voluntary leadership role that partnered with nonprofit organizations to engage CAA employees and clients in philanthropic activities and events. Alex started his career serving as a City Year AmeriCorps Member in Long Island City, Queens. There he acted as his team's external affairs coordinator, communicating successes and challenges to City Year's corporate sponsors. He received a bachelor of arts in journalism from The Univeristy of Texas at Austin. Alex is originally from Dallas, Texas and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. In his spare time you can find him eating, reading, running, or playing tennis.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Jonathan Pomboza
City Year New York '12, '13

Jonathan Pomboza is a public engagement associate at the Kings County District Attorney's Office. Previously he worked as a contract recruiting assistant at Viacom, a multinational mass media conglomerate company . He received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 2011. Jonathan served two years with City Year New York as an AmeriCorps member from 2011-2013 and served on the City Year New York alumni board in 2018-2019. During his free time, he likes spending time with family and friends and partaking in wine tastings.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Chris Proscia
City Year Boston ‘17; team care force ‘18

Chris Proscia graduated from St. Joseph's University in 2016. He then served his corps year in a third grade classroom with City Year Boston in 2016-2017. He decided to come back for a second year with Team Care Force in 2017-2018. After his stint with City Year he accepted a job and moved from Boston to New York. Chris worked as an event outreach coordinator for the American Cancer Society. Most recently he accepted a role as a field coordinator for the Huntington's Disease Society of America (HDSA). When Chris is not working he enjoys reading and playing Gaelic football.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Jane Rosenfeld
City Year New York ‘17

Jane Rosenfeld is a born and raised New Yorker. After serving with City Year in 2016-2017, she went on to study childhood general education at Bank Street College of Education. She recently graduated in May 2019 after working as a second grade teacher at The Spence School, where she now works as a first grade teacher. She believes in classrooms that support students social-emotional growth and emphasize that in their classrooms. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and singing. She loves being around people and ice cream in the summer time!

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Amira Soliman
City Year Detroit ‘13

Amira Soliman is a math teacher at Achievement First, a charter network with schools across Brooklyn. She entered the field of education through Teach for America, where she served her corps years in Detroit beginning in 2013. Prior to that, she served her City Year- also in Detroit- in 2012, directly following her college graduation. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Vermont in 2012 and her master's degree from Relay Graduate School of Education in 2018. She is a Brooklyn native and excited to continue exploring her home city!

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Dan Sterling
City Year Chicago ‘98

Dan Sterling is a business development specialist with over 15 years of experience working with media technologies. He is currently the Sr. Director of Sales at ListenFirst, a digital analytics firm headquartered in NYC. Previously, he held sales leadership roles with JW Player and Cision. Upon graduating from Northern Arizona University in 2003 with a degree in Electronic Media, he began his career working in radio broadcasting as a marketer and on-air talent. Dan served with City Year Chicago 1997-98 and subsequently volunteered as a group leader with the YMCA's Global Teens program where he brought NYC high school students abroad to participate in service projects. He currently lives in Queens with his wife and young daughter.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Shane Stone
City Year New York ‘15

Shane Stone is a resident physician at Lenox Hill Hospital. He recently completed his medical education at Wake Forest School of Medicine, graduating with honors. Before that, he studied biology and evolutionary anthropology at Duke University (2010-14). Shane served with City Year New York in 2014-15 in East Harlem. During his free time, he enjoys reading fiction novels, cooking and hanging out with friends.

Bruce T. Moore, Co-Chair
Jessica Wagner
City Year New York ‘08

Jessica Wagner is the director, talent acquisition at PAVE Schools, a nonprofit charter school management organization based in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Previously, she worked in school operations at Success Academy Charter Schools and Uncommon Schools. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 2007 from Trinity College with a bachelor's degree in educational studies and anthropology, and is an alumna of the 2008 City Year New York corps. Jessica received her master's degree in education policy and management from Harvard in 2012. A huge animal lover and advocate, Jessica volunteers with Anjellicle Cats Rescue in her free time, where she leads adoption/foster seminars and helps at adoption events. She also enjoys curling up with a good book while cuddling with her own two rescue cats.

National Strategic Partners
National Partners