A member of the UFT's Teachers Assigned Chapter, Lindsey “Desi” Desmond provides targeted support to teachers and administrators who work with the city’s youngest students.

Michael Buitrago, an ELA teacher at Flushing HS, helps organize events and activities for students to promote school spirit. "I truly believe that a large part of the high school experience is being able to look at your school like a second home," he says.

Madeline Velez-Vazquez, a bilingual school counselor at PS 58 in the Bronx, says school counselors are needed “now more than ever to help students succeed.” She says, "I’m seeing both extremes: children who are more hypervigilant about the pandemic and then those who are completely aloof."

Mauri Small is a school social worker at the Williamsburg HS for Architecture and Design in Brooklyn, where she handles all the mandated counseling for students with IEPs as well as crisis intervention and mediation. 

Theresa Aponte is a family child care provider in East NewYork, Brooklyn, and a “second mother” to children who attend her in-home day care center while their parents work.

IEP teacher Maryse Crevecoeur-Charles provides intensive reading intervention to struggling readers at PS 6 in Flatbush, Brooklyn.