Amanda Shabowich (she/her/hers) is a 30-year-old lifelong Boston resident, who serves as the Director, Youth and Young Adult Pathways at United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley. From 2021-2023 she served as a member of the MA LGBTQ Youth Commission. From 2019-2022, she served as a Youth Transition Funders Group (YTFG) Economic Well-Being Youth Fellow.After [...]
Born and raised in Boston, Dre Woodberry is a class of ‘07 BDEA alumnus. Before graduating from BDEA, Dre was experiencing homelessness which inspired him to use this as a topic for his capstone project and the short film “What it’s Like to be Homeless in Massachusetts” to shed light on the experience of others [...]
With over 15 years in the alternative asset management sector, Jon is currently a Manager of Portfolio Reporting at Audax Private Debt, specializing in analytics, fundraising support, and portfolio metrics. Despite a recent relocation to Salem, MA, Jon still feels a great attachment to the Boston community, having lived there for 20 years. Jon's years [...]
Boswell has joined BDEA as the Physical Education Teacher now spearheading the BDEA Athletic Department after previously working at BDEA as a Community Field Coordinator. Between these two roles, Boswell worked as a Social Worker, and a Division I Men’s Assistant Basketball Coach at the University of Rhode Island, reaching the NCAA tournament twice. Boswell [...]
Salesia Hughes-Hibbert, affectionately known as C.C., is a native of Boston, Massachusetts. A graduate of Cambridge College with a Bachelors in Juvenile Justice, a master’s in counseling psychology and a certificate of advanced graduate studies in Marriage & Family Therapy. Currently, Salesia is the Vice President for Behavioral Health Services for Children’s Services of Roxbury [...]
Norma Suárez Quiles has been involved in her children’s education for thirty-two years since her oldest started at a Boston Public School. Her youngest is a BDEA student and she has been involved in Parent Council, parent groups, family meetings, fundraising, and other special events within the school. Norma’s involvement in her children’s education has [...]
Alisa Hunter, MS currently serves as the Chief of Pathway to Post-Secondary Success at Tenacity. Before joining Tenacity, Alisa worked for Wediko Children’s Services (merged with The Home for Little Wanderers in April 2020) for over ten years, where she last served as a Program Director. As a proud native of Boston, she has devoted her [...]
Jumaane Kendrick is the Director of Programs and Partnerships of MissionSAFE - a community diversion program created to divert youth from the school to prison pipeline and the Founder of Beyond The Block Youth Solutions Inc. a nonprofit youth entrepreneurship and mentorship organization that engages young people to be both accountable for their actions and capable of finding [...]
Lisa Laguerre is the Associate Director of Community Relations for the Institute on Race and Justice (IRJ) at Northeastern University. She received her Master of Science Degree in Criminal Justice and Clinical Counseling Psychology from Northeastern University and is currently working on completing her LMHC and PhD. Lisa has been with IRJ since 2002 and [...]