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.

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.

Nico Garbaccio, Field Trips Coordinator

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.

Chris Eckert, Store Manager

Chris joined 826NYC as Store Manager in 2016, after a decade of volunteering in the store, in the education programs, and in the capacity of someone who was willing to blow up 200 balloons or get hit in the head with a steel chair for a student’s film. When he is not managing BSSCo. he tutors, writes, and strives to straddle the fine line between curating and hoarding regarding a personal library. Those are his actual glasses.