Staff Bios
Staff
Sally Lee is the founding Executive Director of Teachers Unite. A native New Yorker and daughter of a proud public employee union member, she has been working in education and in the nonprofit sector for most of her life. After graduating from Wesleyan University with a BA in African American Studies and American Studies and Bank Street College with an M.S.Ed. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education, Sally taught 5th/6th grade for two years in a Lower East Side public school. There she became passionate about the idea of starting an organization that would support and sustain teachers committed to social justice activism while energizing them to be active in their union. An early member of NYCoRE (New York Collective of Radical Educators) for many years, she saw a need for an institution that could support the leadership development of teacher activists who were trying to make real change in education and society. She loves the work of making that vision a reality. Sally lives in the L.E.S. with her husband Josh--a teacher--and their sons Zachary and Marcus.
Natalie Havlin brings to Teachers Unite seven years of teaching, community organizing and labor organizing experience. Prior to joining Teachers Unite, she worked with the National Low Income Housing Coalition in Washington, D.C. to advocate for affordable housing, and organized graduate employees to work in coalition with community organizations as a leader of the Graduate Employees' Organization (Local 6300 IFT/AFT/AFL-CIO) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. At Teachers Unite, she coordinates the organizing program and works as the Coordinator of the Pilot School Working Group of the Dignity in Schools Campaign, a campaign to dismantle the school to prison pipeline and end the criminalization of Black and Latina/o youth and students with disabilities through the national and local implementation of restorative justice alternatives to current school discipline practices.
Board of Directors
Hiram Rivera is the Strategic Director of the Philadelphia Student Union. Hiram Rivera is a native of New Haven, CT, a father, an activist, and an organizer. He started his career in youth organizing as a coordinator at Youth Right's Media in New Haven, training Black and Latino students in video production and campaign organizing around Education & Juvenile Justice issues. He most recently served as Youth Organizing Coordinator at the Urban Youth Collaborative in New York City, where he provided strategic and technical support to the community organizations that make up the UYC, as well coordinating the city-wide campaigns to reform the NYC public school system
Josh Heisler is a social studies teacher at the James Baldwin School in New York City. In his former and current school, he has lead efforts to establish restorative justice protocols and develop positive school culture practices.
Daniel "Herm" Jerome is the Director of Student Life at Banana Kelly High School in the Bronx where he coordinates a restorative justice program. Daniel was a founding member of the New York Collective of Radical Educators.
Sally Lee is the Executive Director (bio above)
Funding
Teachers Unite relies on membership dues and the generosity of foundations who support our work.
2010-2011 foundation grants were awarded by:
Ben & Jerry's Foundation
Donors Education Collaborative
Left Tilt Fund
North Star Fund
