Joshua Mandelbaum, Executive Director

Joshua Mandelbaum, Executive Director, joined 826NYC in July 2013. He has over 16 years of nonprofit experience, including serving as Advertising Director of Poets & Writers and Executive Director of Words without Borders. In addition, Joshua served as editor and publisher of the literary magazine Ballyhoo Stories.

Photo by Aslan Chalom.

Rebecca Darugar, Director of Education

Rebecca Darugar joined the world of out-of-school time education after completing her Master of Arts in Teaching from the USC Rossier School of Education. She has been a part of the 826NYC community since 2013, serving first as the Volunteer & Programs Coordinator and then rejoining the team as the Director of Education. Before entering the field of education, she worked at anti-poverty nonprofits in New York City to help individuals and families enroll in public benefit programs.

Photo by Alan Winslow.

David Rosenstein, Development Manager

David Rosenstein joined 826NYC in September 2017 and brings over 7 years of development experience to his role. Prior to joining the organization, he worked as the Manager of Development and Operations at generationOn, the youth service division of Points of Light, and as the Development Coordinator at AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps. In another life, David would have been the music director at a Low Power FM alternative radio station.

Photo by Aslan Chalom.

Aarti Monteiro, Writers' Room Coordinator

Aarti Monteiro comes to 826NYC with a background in writing and education. Before joining the team, she taught at an extended learning time program at a Brooklyn middle school and coordinated a writing and mentoring program. She has an MFA in Fiction from Rutgers University-Newark, and has received writing fellowships from VCCA and VONA/Voices. She also reads writing submissions for the literary magazine, A Public Space. As the Writers’ Room Coordinator, she develops writing projects to support what students at PS/MS 7 and Global Tech Prep are learning in school.

Photo by Aslan Chalom.

Liz Levine, Programs & Volunteer Coordinator

Liz joined 826NYC in August 2014 after graduating with a BA in Writing and Politics. She has served as a tutor and administrator of her college writing center, assisted teachers at local public schools, and taught English in Peru and Thailand. In addition to running the volunteer & intern program and the Park Slope tutoring location for 826NYC, she also harbors dreams of opening her own literature-themed sandwich shop.

Photo by Morrigan McCarthy.

Brancey Mora, After-School Tutoring Programs Coordinator

Brancey Mora first joined 826NYC in 2015 as a volunteer doing field trips and after-school tutoring. Before joining the team in August 2016, she worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA and the Whitney Museum, where she assisted with group visits and programming. Brancey loves reading, drawing, and the strange and unusual. While not running the Williamsburg tutoring location for 826NYC, she also solves mundane crimes and investigates theories of time travel via the G train.

Photo by Aslan Chalom.

Ian Lloyd, Volunteer Coordinator

Ian Lloyd has worked in the world of education since completing his own at Bard College in 2012, with a degree in History. He then worked extensively as an after-school tutor and as a Middle School math teacher, before finding his happy place behind the scenes of an education nonprofit. As Volunteer Coordinator, he develops and implements strategies to recruit excellent and invested tutors.

Photo by Aslan Chalom.

Sarah Lefebvre, Development Coordinator

Sarah Lefebvre graduated from McGill University where she studied Psychology and wrote her thesis on finding vulnerability markers for depression in female adolescents using EEG. She has developed and led improv workshops for students in Montréal and Upstate New York and has worked at Unity House of Troy Domestic Violence Shelter as a respite worker. Sarah once came in sixth place in a hot dog eating contest, but has since settled down to work as Development Coordinator for 826NYC.

Photo by Aslan Chalom. 

Kathleen Fletcher, Field Trips Coordinator

Kathleen Fletcher has a varied background as a writer, museum educator, blues singer, and amateur magician and will amazingly bring all these skills together as the Field Trips Coordinator at 826NYC. Her extensive experience teaching K-12 students, and writing plays for young audiences will be especially handy as she helps churn out books for Ms. Mildew.

Photo by Aslan Chalom. 

Nico Garbaccio, Field Trips Associate

Nico Garbaccio has been part of the 826NYC community since 2014, originally as volunteer and an intern, and then joining the staff in August 2016. He worked as a sportswriter and as a middle school English teacher before finding his niche in nonprofit education. He considers himself to be just a big kid with facial hair, which is his main superpower for leading a group of rowdy third graders on a storytelling adventure. Aside from helping to oversee our always-lively field trips program, Nico manages the booking and hosting of birthday parties and community events in our space.