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2011 Penny Pick-up, Check back every day to see the pennies add up!
Check out some video reflections on our blog from the Penny Harvest at PS 163!
Stay tuned for more on the Second Annual Penny Harvest Run for Change! on April 29, 2012!
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Home > About Us > Common Cents Staff
 Lashon Allen
Administration and Finance Manager
lallen@CommonCents.org
Lashon, a recent graduate of St. Joseph's College, started at Common Cents as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer. She has worked with Penny Harvesting schools and Student Roundtables in Queens and Brooklyn. Currently, she is a part of the administration team and helps with daily office management. She is thrilled to see the continuous growth of the program, while it maintains its mission to empower students to help their community. |
 Anthony Berthel
Director of Administration and Technology
aberthel@CommonCents.org
Anthony has worked for Common Cents since August 2002. Prior to that, he was an IT assistant for Leadership for Environment and Development International, a program run by the Rockefeller Foundation. His expertise includes Network management, PC repairs, software and hardware installation and upgrades, and many other computer related skills. |
 Nia Challenger
Penny Harvest School Support
nchallenger@CommonCents.org
Nia Challenger is a recent graduate of Howard University, with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish, and a minor in Sociology. While in college, she had the opportunity to volunteer with numerous non-profit organizations in both the New York and Washington D.C. areas, such as Habitat for Humanity, Jumpstart and the Latin American Youth Center. Nia also had the opportunity to study abroad in Barcelona, Spain. She is an avid traveler and has been to 4 continents. Nia is one of the newest members of the Common Cents staff and is a member of the 2011-2012 NYC Civic Corps class. |
 Teddy Gross
Executive Director
tgross@CommonCents.org
Teddy Gross is the founder and executive director of Common Cents, a national not-for-profit educational organization, which specializes in designing citizenship programs for children and young people, and supporting their work in schools throughout the country and across all demographic divides.
The organization started in 1991, and grew out of the desire of a four-year-old child to help a homeless man in New York City. As the girl’s father, Teddy responded by developing the Penny Harvest, which has continued to evolve over 17 years, and is now a robust year-long program that uses philanthropy service-learning to teach the skills of democratic participation, moral reasoning, and community building to children during their first decade of school. Under his leadership, a lab at Common Cents continues to pilot new models and programs in civic development.
Teddy's interest in innovating social justice programs is the natural outgrowth of a lifetime's work as a journalist, newspaper editor, children's book author, and playwright. He has served as the editor in chief of The Phoenix, a Boston weekly paper. His career as a playwright began at the prestigious Eugene O’Neill National Playwright Conference, where he was a resident for two summers, and continued with many plays and productions, both in regional theatres across the country and off-Broadway. He is also the author of a children’s book, and a frequent speaker at national and international conferences on service-learning and civic engagement.
Under Teddy’s leadership, the Penny Harvest has become the largest child-philanthropy program in the United States, helping to nurture a new generation of caring, informed and capable young people.
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 Keith Hickman
Program Director
khickman@CommonCents.org
Keith joined the Common Cents team in August 2011 as Program Director. Keith has been working with organizations that serve youth and families for the past 15 years, and brings to CC a wealth of knowledge and experience. Prior to joining CC, he worked at the New York City Department of Education, New Leaders for New Schools, and the Center for Court Innovation. Keith began his professional career in the early 90’s as a Gang Intervention Case Manager in Seattle, Washington. He lives his life by the great words of Horace Mann, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” Keith is a graduate of Antioch College. |
 David Inkeles
Penny Harvest School Support
dinkeles@CommonCents.org
A Proud native New Yorker and life-long Upper West-sider, David is a recent college graduate with a B.A. in Government-History from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. Beginning in August 2011, David has been a member of NYC Civic Corps Class of 2012 and a Penny Harvest School Support with Common Cents. David is passionate about civic engagement and volunteerism, especially pertaining to education and youth/community development. At Skidmore, David graduated with Cum Laude honors and a member of the National Political Science Honor Society (Pi Sigma Alpha). In addition, he captained an intramural basketball team, co-hosted a weekly radio show, and participated as a peer-tutor. He enjoys music, basketball, U.S. history and politics, and experiencing the trials and tribulations of being a New York sports fan (Mets, Knicks, and Jets). |
 Michael Karp
Penny Harvest School Support
mkarp@CommonCents.org
Michael Karp graduated in December 2010 from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a B.S. in Anthropology, focusing on Archaeology. He has over 5 years of experience working with children and families as a swim instructor and lifeguard. Michael has also worked on an archaeological excavation in Israel for two summers. During the 2011 summer excavation, he participated in a community service project that gave local school children a chance to see and experience the ancient history of their city by working on the archaeological site. He is a member of the 2011-2012 class of the New York City Civic Corps and is ecstatic about starting work for Common Cents and the Penny Harvest. |
 Kathleen Lynch
Penny Harvest School Support
klynch@CommonCents.org
Kathleen is a recent graduate of Drexel University with a BS in Entertainment and Arts Management and minors in Theatre and Business. She is thrilled to join the Common Cents team as a member of the 2011-2012 NYC Civic Corps! Kathleen comes from a background in non-profit theatre with an interest in keeping arts education in schools and engaging youth in their community. |
 Stephanie Odino
Penny Harvest School Support
sodino@CommonCents.org
Stephanie is a Penn State graduate majoring in Crime, Law and Justice with a minor in Labor Studies and Employment relations. She is dedicating a year of service to Common Cents through the NYC Civic Corps program for the 2011- 2012 year. As a proud Hispanic American, Stephanie aspires to be an immigration lawyer to improve the way of life of many immigrants in the United States of America. She is proud to be part of the Common Cents family. |
 Whitley Plummer
Penny Harvest School Support
wplummer@CommonCents.org
Whitley Plummer is currently dedicating her NYC Civic Corps year of service to Common Cents. A recent graduate from Stony Brook University, she majored in Political Science with a specialization in IR/ Comparative Politics and Public Policy. While at Stony Brook, believing “the personal is political,” Whitley became involved with organizations that engender change by communicating information pertinent to students. She enjoyed engaging and informing the student body about issues affecting women, and eventually became President of a campus organization, The Center for Womyn’s Concerns. Philanthropy has always been near and dear to her heart, so working here at Common Cents is an exciting new endeavor. |
.JPG) Gracie Rifino
Program Manager
grifino@CommonCents.org
Gracie joined Common Cents in August 2007. She graduated from Binghamton University with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and minors in Spanish and International Studies. Drawn to Common Cents by her desire to help youth discover their full potential, much of her work has focused on developing and facilitating youth development programs for students ranging from ages 5 to 21. During her first 2 years at Common Cents she lead a city-wide high school leadership council and developed a cross-age mentoring program while supporting Penny Harvest schools across the city. She now manages the day-to-day operations and communications for Penny Harvest schools in NYC and Albany. Her hopes for the upcoming Penny Harvest are for students, coaches and fellow staff to have a meaningful and successful year. |
 Adam Seidel
Managing Director
aseidel@CommonCents.org
Since his involvement in youth development programs as a teenager, Adam has sought to create similar opportunities for others. He’s worked directly with middle and high school students and has extensive experience supervising various youth programs. Adam joined Common Cents in January 2004 as the Community Development Fellow. After a year and a half in this position, he took over the oversight and operations of the NYC/Metro NY Penny Harvest. He is a graduate of Oberlin College.
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 Genesis Taveras
Penny Harvest School Support
gtaveras@CommonCents.org
A New York City native Genesis Taveras graduated from SUNY Purchase College with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a minor in Political Science. As a member in the current class of the New York City Civic Corps, Genesis comes to Common Cents with experience working in state government, community organizations and schools focusing on youth and community issues. As a new School Support Fellow in the Common Cents organization Genesis is excited to be working on the Penny Harvest project. |
Interns
 Caroline Kelley
ckelley@CommonCents.org
Caroline Kelley is a current freshman at New York University, but she travels up the West Side to serve as the School Support Intern for Common Cents. She is a Washington, DC native creating her own major in ethnomusicology at the Gallatin School because of her dual passion for music and geography. She will try to combine those interests with her passion for community service in her work with the Penny Harvest this year. Hopefully, this experience will build momentum for a long lasting commitment to service. |
 Dylan Kitts
dkitts@CommonCents.org
Dylan was drawn to Common Cents for his passion for public service and engaging young people in community service. As a sophomore at Xavier high school, he was first exposed to community service when he went to Tennessee to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity. From that experience, he gained social awareness, a passion for helping others, and confidence that he could make a difference in his community. With Penny Harvest, he hopes to help Penny Harvest coaches throughout the process and inspire their students. Alongside interning for the Penny Harvest, he is also interning at City Year and is a freelance high school sports writer with the New York Daily News while he pursues his undergraduate degree at St. John’s University.
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 Courtney Morgano
cmorgano@CommonCents.org
Courtney will be graduating from Saint Peter’s College with a bachelor’s in Sociology and minors in Urban Development and Political Science. She has interned at Hudson Community Enterprise, which is a Special Needs school and has worked alongside with her professor and Senior Seminar class to raise awareness of violence and the youth at-risk in the Jersey City, NJ community. She is passionate about advocacy and working with our youth. |
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