New Board Member: Joanna Delson
The CIVITAS board of directors welcomes Joanna Delson, who joined the board in June 2012. Joanna grew up in Yorkville and attended Brearley and the University of Southern California. Joanna and her husband, David Venderbush, live with their three children in a rowhouse they renovated on East 106th Street.
Joanna has a background as a high school English teacher and administrator. For the last decade she has run her business, Space Management, which specializes in design and planning for small spaces.
Regarding her goals as a CIVITAS board member, Joanna said she “would like to see East Harlem come into its own and maintain mixed incomes and cultural diversity while improving the neighborhood’s general character” including less litter, more recycling and better air quality. Key issues also include convincing the City of New York to convert to cleaner fuels and better air quality standards. Joanna would also like to help get the word out about CIVITAS’s work in East Harlem and the Upper East Side. “I hope to be a board member who can support CIVITAS and its members in many ways,” she said.
Joanna comes by her activism and passion for her community naturally. Morton Delson, her father, was a member of Community Board 8 between 1974-1982 and served as its chair. Her mother, Anna, was part of the original committee that created and saw the realization of the “pick-up-after-your-dog” laws.
New Administrator: Lauren O’Toole
CIVITAS welcomes Lauren O’Toole as the new Administrator. Lauren has worked with CIVITAS before as a member of the 2010-2011 NYU Capstone team, which completed a Community Engagement Study of the Upper East Side and East Harlem.
Lauren has most recently worked for Friends of the High Line, and previously for the Community Preservation Corporation. She has had internships at the NYC Department of City Planning, New Yorkers for Parks and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s Office. Lauren holds a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from NYU’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Manhattan College. She and her fiancé live on the Upper East Side. Lauren is excited to be working with CIVITAS again and looks forward to working to promote the organization’s important mission.
Good Luck: Tali Cantor
We wish Tali Cantor the best of luck as she begins her graduate degree in urban planning at the University of Pennsylvania. Tali worked for three years as CIVITAS’s Associate Director and spearheaded efforts to improve neighborhood Select Bus Service, increase enforcement of newsrack box regulations, and led many other community improvement projects. She also guided the design of the semiannual CIVITAS newsletter.
No comments:
Post a Comment