Rebecca has an extensive background in education, leadership and program administration, specifically with regard to adolescent development and youth programming. For the past seven years she utilized these skills as Director of Opening Doors and Building Bridges youth development & after school program at the Martin Luther King Educational Campus in New York City. Since 1999, she has successfully provided vision, supervision and effective program management for a start up grant from The After School Corporation (TASC), which has grown to serve more than 3,000 high school students cumulatively. No longer ‘just’ an after school program, Opening Doors and Building Bridges provides programming to students and their families year-round. A visitor to her program once said, “It’s as if you are the principal of a small high school!” In 2004, the Program was awarded a highly coveted 21st Century Community Learning Center grant totaling more than $1.2million over five years. A long time champion of the program, New York City Council Member Gale Brewer honored Rebecca in July 2006 with a New York City Council Proclamation of Exemplary Public Service to Youth in the Community. Additionally, in 2005, CitiGroup honored Rebecca with a Promising Practice for her submission of a “Professional Documents Binder”. Under Rebecca’s leadership, in 2003, New York City recognized the outstanding nature of Opening Doors and Building Bridges through a Neighborhood Development Achievement Award. Recognizing Rebecca’s ability to relate effectively with business professionals and youth, the New York Knicks asked Rebecca to serve as a consultant to reorganize and revitalize their summer internship program in partnership with Merrill Lynch. In 2003, Rebecca was selected as a Robert Bowne Foundation Fellow and participated in a yearlong fellowship to conduct research about after school programs. She documented her findings in a paper called: Developing Social Capital in Youth Programs. In 2000, Rebecca contributed a chapter titled: “Teaching out of One’s Field” to Teacher Training, A Reference Handbook, by Dave Pushkin.
Rebecca is a former high school teacher, and prior to teaching in the pubic schools, Rebecca held the position of Senior Staff Trainer of the Adolescent Education Program/Teens Helping Each Other, part of the SUNY Research Foundation. In this role she guided program planning and implementation, curricula development and staff training for adult and adolescent peer educators. She contributed to the development of Core Peer Educator Training curriculum: Building Ourselves to Give back: Peer HIV/AIDS Education. Rebecca has been an HIV educator for nearly 15 years and in 1999 she earned her certification as a Community Health Education Specialist (CHES). In 1997, she was invited to speak during Black History Month at Kingsborough College, in Brooklyn, about HIV/AIDS in the Black community.
An accomplished educator and trainer, Rebecca excels in her ability to communicate information in a direct and effective manner. She has been asked to provide training for several national conferences including: Center for Summer Learning Conference (2006); Hamilton Fish Institute (2005); 21st Century Community Learning Centers National Conference (2004); American School Health Association Conference (2004); TASC/Citi Group Promising Practices Conference (2002); the Metro TeenAIDS Conference (1998) and Advocates for Youth Conference (1997).
An entrepreneur at heart, in 2002, Rebecca founded Scramble T’s, Inc. “changing the world one t-shirt at a time.” Scramble Ts™ are designs created by the acronym of common phrases, concepts for living, and political statements. For more than 10 years, Rebecca has worked as a consultant providing training in the areas of leadership, staff development, and technical assistance.
The word that describes Rebecca is amazing!
Nominated by M.G.
Very Nice Site. Congratulations!
Cheers
Hillary
http://innerbeauty-owners.blogspot.com/
Posted by: hillary | June 03, 2008 at 06:50 AM