A world where
every child succeeds.

Andre Eaton coordinates program expansion, program support, staff development, and additional training for all New York ParentChild+ sites. He assist program partner sites coordinate with New York State and City Departments to ensure that all Program children and families are connected with the appropriate next educational steps and services. Andre works on developing new public and private funding streams, fostering relationships with new local partner agencies and state and local policy makers, and enhancing partnerships with business and other literacy and early childhood programs. Andre was selected in 2017 to be a member of the NYS Family Engagement Coalition Steering Committee, serving on the Support/Best Practices subcommittee, and is also currently a member of the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council. Before coming to ParentChild+, he was the Southeastern Regional Director for Jumpstart for Young Children, Inc. and previously was Executive Director of Covenant House Georgia. Andre has a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology/African & African America Studies from Brandeis University, a Masters of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University. He is a New York State Licensed Social Worker and holds a Student Supervisor Certificate from Fordham University.

Angela “Angie” Drakeford has joined ParentChild+ as the North Carolina State Director.  She comes to us with experience in case management, consulting, practice management and program design, implementation and development.  In addition to her work in human services, she brings with her 11 years of business systems analyst experience.  She is a native of Charlotte, NC and attended University of North Carolina at Greensboro majoring in English.  She has a passion for fostering positive change in her community and it shows through her work history, volunteerism and community activism. Angie is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and a former member of the City of Charlotte Community Relations Committee. Angie lives in Charlotte, NC and is the very proud parent of three children.

Anita’s new role at ParentChild+ is to help extend the reach via new funding sources including corporations, foundations, cause-marketing and public private partnerships. Anita recently joined ParentChild+ after 12 years as Senior Vice President of Global Strategic Partnerships & Development at Sesame Workshop, where she developed innovative private/public partnerships and funding globally, for the Sesame Workshop’s signature children’s series and critical community engagement programs. Prior to Sesame Workshop, Ms. Stewart held positions at PBS, MobileComm Inc. Texaco, and N.W. Ayer & Partners where she had strategic development and relationship management positions. She holds a BA in Education and Sociology from City University of New York, Queens College.

Avery Serebin has directed business operations across the spectrum of business types – corporate, union, academic, and not-for-profit sectors, and across industries – from engineering to global for-profit education.

Just prior to joining ParentChild+, she oversaw the operations for one of 1199SEIU’s three benefit funds.

Avery has an MBA in operations management and sustainability. She is LEED O & M certified.

Carol began home visiting at the age of five, accompanying her father, a family doctor, on house calls in Baltimore, Maryland.  She remembers his deep respect, caring, and concern for the children and parents in his practice, and the obvious warmth his patients felt toward him.  Carol thought she wanted to be a nurse, like her mother, but went to school for social work instead. She founded a non-profit, parenting network and resource organization named WarmLines, which provided support to young parents with information, workshops, and parent-child playgroups.  She continued home visiting as the Director of ParentChild+ in Newton, Needham, Waltham, Wellesley, Brookline, and Watertown.  She led a large staff of volunteer home visitors, and raised public and private funds to expand the number of families served.

In 2006, Carol became the Massachusetts State Director for ParentChild+. In this role, Carol strives to increase capacity through state funding and private foundation support.  She supports the 42 ParentChild+ sites through statewide workshops and technical assistance.  Carol is a member of the Department of Early Education and Care’s advisory council.

César oversees data collection, quality assurance, and research projects. He coordinates the National Center’s efforts to support replication sites’ capacities to plan and conduct research and evaluation projects on the short and long-term value of ParentChild+ for children and families. He is responsible for the implementation of DAISY, ParentChild+’s Management Information System (MIS), including designing, updating, and providing training to Site Coordinators and Early Learning Specialists. Before coming to ParentChild+, César worked as a project associate at the Equity Assistance Center (EAC) at, New York University. César also served as a Board Member of the Passaic Public Schools in New Jersey. He has a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Developmental Psychology.

Cobi Rhea Dunn is a native Floridian, born and raised in Miami, and alumna from Flagler College in St. Augustine where she double-majored in Elementary Education and Specific Learning Disabilities, with a minor in Fine Art. For more than 25 years, Ms. Dunn’s work has focused on advocating for and educating children by leading programs that empower under-resourced families. In 2009, Cobi spear-headed the development of the Palm Beach County ParentChild+ program and has since provided oversight to this county-wide collaborative. In this role she was recognized as a member of the Council of Champions for the Campaign for Grade Level Reading in 2018 and was awarded for Program Excellence by the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County in 2012. Outside of work, Cobi is a portrait artist and avid reader. She can also usually be found either on a dance floor or her yoga mat.

Dina manages the day-to-day operation of the National Center office and provides administrative support to National Center activities. She manages the office, maintains site and office records, and assists with the annual conference, trainings, and other events. She is fluent in German, Farsi, Hebrew, and English.

Jessica joined ParentChild+ to support implementation, training and quality assurance for the Core Model. Prior to joining ParentChild+, Jessica worked for Montefiore Medical Center’s Group Attachment Based Intervention (GABI), where she assisted with dyadic and play therapy in addition to managing clinical assessments. She is also a certified early childhood consultant through Resources for Infant Educarers (RIE®). In this role, she facilitated parent-infant guidance courses, nanny training courses, and conducted home consultations. Before working in the early childhood education sphere, she held various roles in development; in her last position, she served as the Director of Development for the Boys & Girls Club of Newark.

Jessica holds a master’s degree in psychology with an emphasis on research. During her studies, she was a Research Assistant in Miriam and Howard Steele’s Attachment Lab, where she consensus coded parent-child interactions using Dr. Ruth Feldman’s Coding Interactive Behavior global scale.

Malkia is a native of Glen Burnie, Maryland and graduate of Anne Arundel County Public Schools and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. She moved to Philadelphia in the late nineties, where she found her passion for Early Childhood Education while working with women and children experiencing homelessness. This passion led her to pursue her Master Degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

One of the most important relationships in Malkia’s life was one of her first caretakers, her baby sitter, Irene Green. Malkia recalls Irene being her first friend and feeling safe and loved whenever she was in her presence. This early experience informs Malkia’s interaction with all she comes in contact with, especially children. Her favorite quote is “To whom much is given, much is required.” Malkia is grateful for the experiences she has had in her life and considers it a privilege to work for ParentChild+ and positively impact families in Pennsylvania.

Marcella Taylor’s introduction to early learning came with the birth of her daughter, Taylor-Corrine, in 2002.  She has over 16 years of ParentChild+ experience –  after completing the Parent-Child Home Program (now ParentChild+), Marcella was invited to join Atlantic Street Center’s team as a home visitor and later became a program coordinator. Her motivation for working with children and families is rooted in the knowledge that home visiting programs can and do change lives.  After all, ParentChild+ changed hers.

Michele oversees training and certification of ParentChild+ Site Coordinators and sites. She develops training materials and workshops to train both Site Coordinators and Home Visitors and provides technical assistance to both developing and existing ParentChild+ sites on issues including hiring, training, and supervising staff, recruiting families, expanding services, and community relations. She also organizes ParentChild+’s annual national conference. Michele was a Site Coordinator for six years at ParentChild+ replication site sponsored by the Freeport, N.Y. School District and the Nassau Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). She has also worked in the Nassau BOCES Teen Parenting Program, and taught child development courses to college students and professionals. Michele has also made national presentations on the value of early parent-child literacy experiences. Michele has a Master’s degree in Elementary Education.

Pamela currently serves as the ParentChild+ Washington Program Director and is a member of the Home Visiting Services Account (HVSA) HUB team within Washington. Formerly she was the Family Literacy Program Manager for the School District of Philadelphia Office of Early Childhood where she managed ParentChild+ in Philadelphia from 2005 -2013 and the Even Start Family Literacy Program for over 10 years. Ms. Williams has worked in the field of family literacy for over 20 years and holds a BA from Temple University and a MS from Drexel University.

Dr. Levenstein was the founder and original Executive Director of ParentChild+. She was a clinical psychologist, who first developed the Program for her Columbia University doctoral dissertation. Her background was in the interdisciplinary study of the family, social work, and education. She was an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Social Sciences Interdisciplinary Program at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. She conducted much of the early research on the effectiveness of the Program and published numerous articles and the acclaimed book, Messages from Home, about child development and PanretChild+. She was the lead author of the article examining the results of the high school graduation rate study that earned ParentChild+ national attention.

In his role, Ricardo assists in the coordinating and executing of all fundraising and outreach events including: the annual gala, corporate and volunteer engagements, the annual golf outing, the annual conference, friend-raisers, and educational forums. He also maintains our website, writes press releases, manages our communications platform, drafts newsletters, social media postings, and creates and edits program presentations.

Prior to ParentChild+ Ricardo was an intern at the Media Innovation Center at SUNY College at Old Westbury where he honed his writing, web development, directing, producing, filming, and editing skills. In 2019, he was nominated and won the Multimedia Package Award at the Media Arts Celebration Award Show for his project entitled, “Kicking for Life: A Craig Pinto Story”.

Ricardo holds a BA in Media and Communications from SUNY College at Old Westbury.

Sandra’s research and professional projects have combined her interests in social equity, health & well-being, and inclusive policy design. Sandra worked in developing research in Psychology and Food Anthropology; and consulted various non-profits and public organizations, such as NYC’s Mayor of Immigrant Affairs and IMPACCT Brooklyn. She aspires to contribute to equitable housing, education, and healthcare policies; to mitigate the health and socioeconomic inequalities among local and global communities.

Sandra earned a B.A. in Psychology from Hamilton College and a M.S. in Public and Urban Policy from The New School. She is based in Jersey City, NJ.

Sara Karlya is the Grant and Content Manager at ParentChild+. She works with foundations to foster funding for the support and expansion of the Program nationwide, and creates marketing materials to raise the profile of the organization. Before joining ParentChild+, Sara worked in book publishing at St. Martin’s Press. Sara holds an MS from New York University’s School of Professional Studies.

Originally from upstate New York, Sarah received a Masters in Applied Social Research from Hunter College. Sarah is influenced by a calling to support the advancement of racial equity and uses research as the avenue of realizing this endeavor. At ParentChild+, Sarah contributes to research projects and program evaluation, and manages ParentChild+’s management information system. Sarah now lives in Long Island with her partner and can be found reading a fantasy novel, sewing costumes for her niece and nephews, or spending time with the world’s most graceful Westie.

Q: Who are some of the people who loved you into being? as Fred Rogers always phrased it. Or, Which relationship was the most critical in informing the person we are today?

A: My mom. Her strength, independence, and love for learning is why I am the person I am today.

Q: Your favorite quote.

A: “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities” – JK Rowling

Q: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A: Art teacher

Sarah grew up in Massachusetts and is a product of Cambridge and Brookline public schools (she is still a Red Sox fan despite years in NY and also an avid Liverpool soccer fan).  She wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up because she loved arguing, but found her passion in children and family policy and programming.  Before becoming CEO of ParentChild+, Sarah was Counsel to the Assistant Secretary for Legislation at HHS, working on early childhood and family support issues. Prior to that, she was legislative assistant/counsel to Senator Joseph Lieberman, working on early childhood, education, housing, and anti-poverty initiatives. She was also responsible for children and family issues for the Clinton/Gore Domestic Policy Transition Team. She has presented on ParentChild+, school readiness, and home visiting to many audiences, including the Campaign for Grade Level Reading, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, the Philanthropy Roundtable, and the National Home Visiting Summit. She serves on the Board of Directors of The Petey Greene Program. She graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School.  Her two children grew up with ParentChild+ and are now a criminal justice reform advocate and a Boston public school teacher.  Favorite books from their childhoods, all read aloud many, many times include Jamberry, Mirette on the High Wire, Baseball Saved Us, Dinotopia, and Lord of the Rings.

Shannalee Levy has joined ParentChild+ as the Development and Finance Manager. She comes to us from Mediaocean where she was a Sr. Client Accounting Systems Analyst, with experience in developing, project management, implementing and training of financial, media and CRM data systems. She is an expert in client accounting, digital, and media buying/planning. She also worked at NASDAQ OMX as a staff account where she prepared budgets, performed general accounts analysis and reconciliations, audit preparation, maintained vendor contracts, and assisted with payroll. She’s been praised for her professionalism, dedication, erudition, attention to detail, teaching and people skills, among many other great attributes. She attended Pace University and State University of New York at Oswego where she majored in Business Accounting. Shannalee lives in Lindenhurst NY with her husband and two children.

Terri is the Senior Manager, Donor Engagement & Events. In this role she works with the public, private and nonprofit sectors, to include non-traditional partners for early-childhood/early-literacy programming, with a goal of enhancing the work of ParentChild+’s national center in New York while focusing on building strategic partnerships to expand the organization’s capacity for growth. Prior to joining ParentChild+, Terri was the Director of Development for the Tomorrow’s Hope Foundation where she raised scholarship funds for elementary education. Previously, she was the Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of United Way of Long Island where she was responsible for programs, grant making, and human resources; she was Executive Director of the Frederick B. Abramson Memorial Foundation where she was responsible for operations, development, and programs; and the Assistant Director of Development for Corporate and Foundation Relations at Georgetown University where she raised funds for the university’s medical center. Terri spent the early part of her career as a management consultant with Booz-Allen & Hamilton, Inc. and Standard Technology Inc. She holds an MALS in Public/Social Policy from Georgetown University, a BA in English and Spanish from George Mason University, and a post graduate certificate in Leading Community Problem Solving from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

In the summer of 2021, Vidya joined the ParentChild+ National Center team. As Family Child Care (FCC) Director, Vidya supports the implementation and expansion of our FCC model across the nation.  Vidya believes in parent choice in child care and knows that the best environment for young children are small family-like settings that are reflective of the home culture and language.  Prior to working at ParentChild+, Vidya worked on the NYS QUALITYstarsNY team to develop and establish the State’s Quality Rating and Improvement System for child care programs.  She has been a community activist in her work around child care program development and the essential role it plays in improving life outcomes for children in the most vulnerable communities that face multiple toxic stressors.

Whitney Evans currently serves as the Bay Area Director at ParentChild+ in San Jose, California. As a Bay Area native, Whitney is thrilled to be able to help bring ParentChild+ programs to her community.

Prior to ParentChild+, she worked for Girl Scouts of Northern California. First heading up programs for teenage girls in detention centers and gang impacted neighborhoods. Whitney then oversaw all programming for girls and families in low income communities including Title 1 schools, shelters and migrant housing. Whitney was honored to speak at the United Nations 57th Annual Commission on the Status of Women on eliminating and preventing violence against women and girls.

Whitney holds a Bachelor’s degree in Comparative Sociology from the University of Puget Sound. She earned a Master’s in Child and Adolescent Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy University. She also has experience working in education for youth and adults with learning differences as well as immigration law.

You  joined the team to support the Program’s internal and external evaluation, the quality improvement and program fidelity research work, and the monitoring and support of program implementation activities. Her main responsibility is to design, organize and conduct independent research in conjunction with the Research Evaluation Director to strengthen the model of evidence-based practices. You comes from China, has lived in the UK for 11 years and recently has moved to New York. She completed MSc Psychoanalytic Developmental Psychology and later PhD at University College London in the UK. Prior to joining ParentChild+, You worked at Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, and later the Psychotherapy Evaluation Research Unit of Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust in London. She currently also works as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at New York Psychoanalytic Society & Institute. You is a Chartered Psychologist of the British Psychology Society, an Early Career Professional of the APA Division 39 Section II Childhood and Adolescence, and a member of the Youth Working Committee of the Chinese Mental Health Association.