Staff

Prisca focuses on city and state budget issues with an emphasis on education and human services. She is currently pursuing a master’s in public administration degree in public and nonprofit management and policy at New York University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and public policy from Rutgers University and a master’s degree in quantitative economics and econometrics from Binghamton University (SUNY-Binghamton), where she was also a teaching assistant.

Kevin Aportela-Flores is a New York native, born and raised in Jackson Heights. He worked at his father’s coffee shop in Long Island City throughout high school before completing an internship, and then accepting a job, at a small immigration law firm in Manhattan. After completing his undergraduate studies in political science and economics at Syracuse University, Kevin returned to New York City to continue his professional and academic career at The New School, where he is currently pursuing a master’s degree in politics. He has worked with the Provost Office and the Continuing and Professional Education (CPE) team, most recently as CPE’s Outreach and Engagement Coordinator.

Tiffany is a disability advocate and community organizer and brings deep care and lived experience to community and public policy spaces. Tiffany’s lived experience of the child welfare system and family separation over three generations are the driving force that shapes her work. As a visiting fellow, Tiffany focuses on the 3 Ps Framework: Promoting, Protecting, and Preserving the Black family, and specifically families with disabilities. Tiffany is also the founder and lead facilitator of the neighborhood initiative Blight to Light, a member of the Child and Family Wellness Fund Working Group, and a retiree of the New York State Office of Mental Health.

Bruce provides editorial advice for all the Center’s projects and events. He has written for and about New York City government for more than 30 years. From 2002 until 2014 he was senior speechwriter for Mayor Michael Bloomberg and, briefly, Mayor Bill de Blasio. Before that, he was chief speechwriter for Manhattan Borough Presidents Ruth Messinger and C. Virginia Fields. His extensive knowledge of New York City and its government is rooted in his work for the 1987-89 New York City Charter Revision Commission, for which he wrote and edited newsletters, op-eds, and other publications explaining the most extensive overhaul of City government in a generation. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, with a bachelor’s degree in history.

Brittney Davis helps manage and implement one of ITM's newest programs, the Mentor's Action Plan (MAP) Fellowship, which trains credible messengers to implement Credible Community Circles throughout NYC to deepen trust-building and care in communities. Brittney is a public health professional with a background in community-based participatory research (CBPR) and program management. Prior to joining the Center, she worked at the New York Academy of Medicine, where she led and developed expertise in community-centered activities, policy analysis, and service delivery. Brittney has extensive experience working with vulnerable and underrepresented populations across NYC and is dedicated to advancing health equity in Black and Brown communities through collaboration, community partnerships, and innovative policy solutions. Brittney holds a BS in Biology from Hampton University and a master’s degree in Public Health from Hofstra University.

Lennox, who previously worked as a housing rights organizer with the Justice Center en el Barrio and spearheaded educational initiatives on sustainable food practices in Harlem, will lead collaborations with organizations supporting home-based child care providers. While playing a critical role in New York City’s child care infrastructure, these providers also are threatened with the potential failure of their businesses due to low pay and other issues of economic precarity. The project will enable providers to produce evidence intended to inform policies sustaining family-based childcare and improving the quality and accessibility of early care and education for low-income families. Lennox holds a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology and Health from the University of Texas at Austin.

William leads the Institute for Transformative Mentoring and during his tenure he has expanded our trainings to support a wide-range of community healing and activism. He previously served as a pivotal force in re-entry work providing discharge planning at Rikers Island and counseling in the Alternative to Incarceration unit at the Fortune Society. William is a 2019 Echoing Green Fellow, a certified instructor in Mental Health First Aid, Tending the Roots - Recognizing Trauma & Cultivating Wellness, and Psychological First Aid, and the founder of Neighborhood Benches, an organization dedicated to combating youth violence and incarceration. He earned his master’s degree in nonprofit leadership from Fordham University. William M. Evans is a catalyst for change, relentlessly working to transform lives and communities for the better.

Cherrell Green is a Research Fellow at The New Hood. She is a nationally recognized researcher, strategist, and advocate whose work focuses on racial equity, community safety, and justice reform. Throughout her career, she has led efforts to strengthen community-based violence intervention initiatives through research, strategy, and cross-sector collaboration. Her research explores how Black men impacted by violence navigate trauma, systems, and healing, with a focus on shifting narratives toward resilience, structural harm, and community-centered solutions. Green combines rigorous research with lived experience and community-engaged practices to advance equitable systems change nationwide.

In addition to managing the Center’s Child Welfare Watch program, Tracee, helps manage the work of the Narrow the Front Door (NTFD) project, a coalition of parents, activists, academics, and others with which the Center is affiliated and which seeks to end harsh and racially discriminatory practices and policies in the child welfare system. Tracee is a longtime professional in child welfare and juvenile justice services. Before coming to the Center, she worked for New York Foundling as a resource parent coordinator and for the New York City Administration for Children’s Services as a child protective specialist. She has a master’s degree from Empire State College and a Ph.D. from Walden University; her doctoral dissertation looked at the effectiveness of reentry services and the lived experiences of formerly incarcerated African American males.

A public school parent and alumna of New York City's public schools, Gigi Hernandez is the Partnerships and Spanish Project Lead at InsideSchools, where she conducts outreach and helps Spanish-speaking parents navigate public schools, college access and beyond through offering classes, workshops and online community forums. Before joining InsideSchools, Gigi worked with parents at Make the Road New York in Queens as a Parent Leader, supplying educational material and policy information. Gigi is a graduate of Brooklyn Tech High School and CUNY Hunter College, where she completed her BA in Sociology and is currently pursuing another BA in English with a focus on Linguistics and Rhetoric.

Talib Hudson, PhD is the founder of The New Hood. He serves as the lead instructor for the ITM Public Policy Fellowship, and he is a part-time faculty member in the Urban Studies Department. Dr. Hudson is also the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Black & Brown Collective for Community Solutions to Gun Violence, and previously served as the Director of Research for the National Network for Safe Communities at John Jay College, as well as the first Policy Director for Community Justice. His anti-violence work began with Street Corner Resources, a community-based organization in Harlem. His research interests include community-based violence prevention, race and urban policy, and community development. He earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate in public and urban policy from The New School.

David A. Lee is an economist and fiscal policy analyst with over a half-decade of experience working in New York State government and politics. Previously, David served as the legislative director for New York State Assemblymember Ron Kim, where he wrote laws enhancing nursing home patient rights and investigated wage theft in the home health care industry. His work has been featured in The American Prospect, New York Focus, The City, and the Netflix documentary Knock Down the House, and he has presented his research to forums as varied as Yale Law School, the American Bar Association Section on Labor and Employment Law, and grassroots community organizations. Moreover, he runs the Substack publication Alphabet Agency. Beyond policy, David is a physical oceanography researcher, having done work in the physical sciences at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. David holds a B.A. in Pure Mathematics and an M.A. in Economics from the City University of New York. His research interests span machine learning methods, climate risk analytics, American legal history, and progress studies.

Joyce McMillan is a thought leader, advocate, community organizer, educator, and the Founder and Executive Director of Just Making A Change for Families (JMACforFamilies). Joyce’s mission is to remove systemic barriers in communities of color by bringing awareness to the racial disparities in systems where people of color are disproportionately affected. Her ultimate goal is to abolish systems of harm–especially the family policing system (or the so-called “child welfare system”)–while creating concrete community resources. Joyce has been a visiting fellow at the Center since 2017 and informs our approach to the family policing system and parent leadership.

Courtnie McMillan draws on her lived experience of being impacted by the “family policing system,” commonly referred to as the “child welfare system,” to advocate for Black and low-resourced families. Her work calls attention to and addresses the damaging, life-altering consequences of state custody and family separation as part of a broader push for systemic change, and she engages the public and policymakers through narrative change, community engagement, and art. Courtnie holds a BS in Marketing from Bentley University, and through her writing and visual work, she seeks to inspire political action in New York State and beyond. She served as a visiting fellow at the Center and currently serves as the Communications and Engagement Manager for Narrowing the Front Door, a coalition chaired by CNYCA and JMACforFamilies.

Lauren Melodia brings over 15 years of experience in policy advocacy, economic research, organizing, and coalition-building to her role at the Center. Prior to joining the Center, she worked at the Roosevelt Institute, providing research and data analysis on the Covid-19 economic recovery, inflation, and fiscal and monetary policy at the national level. Lauren is a fellow at the Groundwork Collaborative and has presented her work to the US Joint Economic Committee, the House Financial Services Committee, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Her writings on the state of the economy have been published in the Washington Post, The Nation, and Ms. Magazine. She has also organized criminal justice campaigns in New York State, including a successful end to New York’s exploitative prison telephone contract, and has designed and promoted regional economic development infrastructure projects to create and maintain jobs in rural areas. Lauren holds a BS in foreign service from Georgetown University and an MA in economics from CUNY John Jay College. She grew up in Seattle, WA, where her first job was helping her mother run a family childcare center in their home.

L.K. Moe is associate director of the economic and fiscal policies unit. Her research has focused on workforce development, worker misclassification as independent contractors, the minimum wage, and how an active labor market policy can help redress persistent inequality in labor market outcomes. Current projects include analysis of New York’s persistent gender pay gap and continuing research on the gig economy and worker misclassification. Moe holds a masters in economics from The New School.

As the Director of Operations, Seth manages grant funds and expenses, oversees independent and vendor contracts, and supervises the Center’s events and design teams. He started his career in the student activities and alumni relations/corporate development fields, and has worked in a variety of specialized areas including, but not limited to, student affairs and engagement, developing high school academic curriculums, departmental operations/budget management, student philanthropy, special events, and organizing constituent groups, with a focus on engaging new and diverse communities of alumni and students. Seth is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University, Main Campus, where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in history. He has a master’s of business administration from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Kim Nauer directs the Higher Education Affordability Project at the Center for New York City Affairs and is the founder of Understandingfafsa.org, a website focused on helping students and counselors navigate the FAFSA and financial aid system. Before her work on higher education financing, Kim founded the Center's New York City public education research initiative, publishing groundbreaking research on chronic absenteeism, district management, the impacts of school poverty, and the best way to structure New York City college access initiatives. Before joining the Center, Kim led strategic initiatives at The Nation Institute, worked as an adjunct at Columbia University, and was executive director of City Limits magazine and of the Center for an Urban Future. Kim earned her bachelor's degree at the University of Connecticut and her master's degree at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

Emily Nonko is the communications coordinator for the center’s economic policy team. She has a long background in journalism and writing about New York City. Her coverage has encompassed the economy, housing, social justice movements and urban policy. More recently, she's worked in partnership with incarcerated writers around the country and co-founded a nonprofit to support that work.

Mohamed Obaidy is an associate director and economist at the economic and fiscal policy unit. Mohamed brings over seven years of experience in economic policy, research, and international diplomacy. Prior to joining the Center for New York City Affairs, Mohamed worked as a consultant at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, UNICEF, UNDP, and the New Development Bank. Mohamed has also taught macroeconomics and international finance as an adjunct lecturer and teaching assistant at Florida International University, The New School, Columbia University, and Borough of Manhattan Community College. Mohamed holds a PhD in economics from The New School for Social Research. His research focus is on economic growth, inequality, multidimensional poverty, and international finance.

James brings to the Center over 30 years of experience in New York City economic and fiscal issues from positions in City and State government and the private sector. Most recently he was deputy director and chief economist of the Fiscal Policy Institute. He regularly analyzes the city’s economy and job market and has written extensively on topics including income inequality and the City and State budgets and tax policies. His research helped bring over $20 million in federal funds to New York following 9/11 to aid dislocated workers, and he coordinated the economic research in support of New York State’s $15 minimum wage policies adopted in 2015 and 2016. He has been one of the leaders in the citywide campaign to raise wages for nonprofit workers providing services under government contract. James is a frequent media commentator on economic and fiscal issues, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times and The American Prospect. He has served on various city and state task forces and advisory bodies, including on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Tax Reform and Fairness Commission. James received his B.A. in American Studies from Illinois Wesleyan University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He has taught public policy and labor economics at CUNY institutions.

Natasha Quiroga is Director of Education Policy and InsideSchools at the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs. She brings almost 20 years of experience advocating for children, youth, and families to these roles. Most recently, she was Director of the Parental Readiness and Empowerment Program (PREP) and Senior Counsel in the Educational Opportunities Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, where she developed and successfully expanded national initiatives fostering parental leadership in education. Over the course of more than 10 years’ leadership at the Lawyers’ Committee, she provided extensive and expert analysis for parents, educators, and legislators on issues impacting the education of students of color, immigrant children, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities. Natasha also served as the first full-time Executive Director of Escuela Bolivia (now Educación Para Nuestro Futuro) in Arlington, Virginia, and advised state and local education agencies on compliance with federal education laws at an education law firm. Natasha received her J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law and her Master's in International Politics with a concentration in Children and Youth Development from American University’s School of International Service. She received her B.B.A. in Marketing and B.A. in Plan II Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a 2017 Presidential Leadership Scholar.

Melanie is an education policy data analyst at the Center’s InsideSchools project. She is currently pursuing her BA in Urban Studies through BPATS and an MS in Public and Urban Policy through Milano, through the Bachelor’s Master’s program at The New School. Prior to her arrival at The New School, Melanie studied at Columbia University and is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy. She worked at the New York City educational non-profit Prep for Prep as a student advisor, helping high-achieving, disadvantaged, minority middle school students socially and academically transition to independent day and boarding schools, and is an alumna of the program herself. Melanie is currently a respite service coordinator at the non-profit Human First, providing in-home support services to adult individuals with developmental disabilities, and to their families.

Lydie reviews schools and writes for the InsideSchools blog. She is a graduate of Bank Street College and is interested in education in all its forms. With Clara Hemphill, she co- authored a 2015 report called “Conquering Teachers’ Math Anxiety.” Lydie is a former public school teacher (grades 1-3) and continues to work as a Montessori teacher-trainer during the summers. Her son attended public school in Manhattan. As a teacher, parent, writer and consultant she has been inside hundreds of New York City schools.

Keyonn Sheppard leads ITM’s Youth Program. Before joining ITM he was the lead mentor at the Harlem Justice Community Program (HJCP) and with the ARCHES/Next Steps programs in the South Bronx, both of which focus on anti-recidivism. Keyonn’s career spans 30 years, beginning as a founding member of the Citykids Repertory Company; he also is the former Leadership Training Coordinator for the IMPACT Repertory Theatre Company in Harlem. He serves as the assistant pastor of the New Beginnings Tabernacle of Deliverance in Brownsville, Brooklyn. When Keyonn isn’t mentoring youth in his programs or at his church, he is a proud husband and father of three beautiful children.

Nicole is a Research Assistant and Restorative Justice Facilitator with ITM. Her work centers racial and social justice, and she provides coaching and training to organizations, institutions and communities looking to support relationships and community-building while deeply embedding belonging within their culture. Nicole works collaboratively with individuals, teams and staff to sustainably build capacity around accountability, values-alignment, rethinking systems and structures, repairing harm, and holding space for critical conversations. Prior to her work in restorative justice, Nicole was a dedicated New York City educator for two decades. Nicole holds a Masters in Urban Planning and International Development from New York University and a Bachelor in Psychology from Howard University.

Abou Sow is a seasoned education professional with over 15 years of experience leading community programs, case management initiatives, and youth development projects across New York City. Before joining InsideSchools, Abou worked as a Senior Caseworker at DocGo, providing comprehensive support to newly arrived immigrants and asylum seekers, ensuring access to essential services such as housing, healthcare, and education. Previously, Abou served as a Community School/Program Director with New York Edge in various New York City public schools. Fluent in French, Wolof, and Fulani, he brings a deep understanding of cultural diversity and inclusion to his work. Abou holds a BA in Education/Humanities from the University of Dakar, Senegal, and an Advanced Adolescent Certificate from Hunter College School of Education.

As a Senior Fellow at the Center for New York City Affairs, George’s work focuses on New York’s state and local fiscal policy and budgetary conditions. Prior to joining the Center, he worked at the New York City Independent Budget Office, serving as deputy director, managing the agency’s research, analysis, and forecasts for over two decades, and then as IBO acting director for over a year. He is the author of numerous IBO reports on education finance, economic development, and tax policy. Before joining the IBO, Mr. Sweeting worked at the New York City Department of Finance. From 1986 to 1993 he was an analyst and later co-director of the Tax Statistics Unit in its Office of Tax Policy, working in the area of personal and business income taxes. From 1993 through 1996, Mr. Sweeting was a manager in the department’s Real Property Division responsible for assessment quality review, market value modeling, and policy analysis. Trained as an economic historian, Mr. Sweeting received a Ph.D. in U.S. History from Columbia University, as well as his B.A. and M.A.

Isabella has worked at the Center for New York City Affairs since 2021, where she oversees all public-facing communications. She holds a master’s degree in HCI and Design Engineering from UC Berkeley and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from Parsons School of Design. She is a full-stack product designer with a focus on user research and consumer products. She has worked at Snap Inc., conducted research for The New York Times, and taught design courses at UC Berkeley.

Born in the Bronx and raised in Harlem, Natalie comes to CNYCA after six years as a job coach and credible messenger facilitator at the Center for Employment Opportunities, which provides skills training, job placement, and other services to people recently released from incarceration. Trained in conflict de-escalation and resolution and mental first aid, she also brings her lived experiences with overcoming the challenges associated with incarceration to bear on her work.

Laura Zingmond has more than 20 years of experience writing about and advising families, policymakers, and advocates on New York City’s public education system. As Senior Editor at InsideSchools, she has visited hundreds of schools, observing classrooms and engaging with educators, parents, and students—experiences that inform her work in education journalism, policy research, and advocacy. She also serves as Senior Editor for our Understanding FAFSA project, a resource helping students, particularly first-generation college-goers, navigate college financial aid. From 2014–2016, Laura served as the Manhattan Borough President’s appointee to the New York City Panel for Educational Policy, working with city education leaders on key policy issues. A lifelong New York, Laura and her children are proud graduates of NYC Public Schools. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.