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About TCA
Ja'Nai Barber
Early Childhood Advocacy Coordinator
Ja’Nai’s primary responsibilities are to coordinate and execute multi-year advocacy campaigns to win The Children’s Agenda’s goals for early childhood policy and funding reforms. Also Ja’Nai ensures the active participation of parents, caregivers and others directly affected by early childhood issues in leadership roles throughout our campaigns. Other duties include organizing public education, training and direct action events, like community forums, interfaith advocacy, and non-lobbying visits with policy-makers. Ja’Nai is currently in her senior year at Roberts Wesleyan College in the Master of Social Work program concentrating on mental health and its effects on children and families and on the community. Prior to attending Roberts Wesleyan College, Ja’Nai attended RIT and graduated in 2016 with dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Criminal Justice and Sociology and Anthropology. Ja’Nai has a desire to make her community better and to ensure that every child is able to have have equal access to fundamental human rights such as children being able to receive the appropriate service needed to strive and survive!
Joe Calabrese
Chief Financial Officer
Joe is our chief finance and development strategist and looks to continuously improve all of The Children’s Agenda’s internal systems and external relationships. Joe also manages our website and coordinates the processes for our donors, staff and volunteers to keep the organization’s database functioning at an optimal level. Joe ensures communication with our donors are done effectively and efficiently. Prior to working with The Children’s Agenda, Joe has a twenty-five year career in leadership positions with nonprofits such as the Urban League of Rochester, Hillside Children’s Foundation, and the United Way of Washington County in Wisconsin. Joe has a Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising from Penn State University and lives in Fairport with his wife and children. In his spare time, Joe is a curler and serves as the play by play voice for USA Curling for many of their national championships.
Brigit Hurley
Chief Program Officer
Brigit has primary responsibility for our annual, detailed analyses of the proposed City, County, and State budgets, and directs our budget advocacy efforts. She leads our data collection and maintenance efforts, keeping us up-to-date on children’s outcome indicators. Brigit also staffs The Children’s Agenda’s Interfaith Collaborative and its year-round advocacy activities, anchored by the annual Children’s Interfaith Weekend in October. Brigit serves on a number of issue-based coalitions such as the Greater Rochester After-School Alliance (GRASA) and Roc/ACTS Education Task Force. She came to TCA from Catholic Family Center, where she spent ten years in the Office of Social Policy working on issue advocacy and faith-based education and outreach on topics such as poverty, children’s mental health, and immigration reform. Prior to that, she served as Coordinator of the Rochester Toy Library for SPCC and the Junior League. Brigit earned a Master of Public Affairs degree from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota. Brigit lives in Scottsville, NY with her husband and 4 children.
Jeff Kaczorowski, MD
Senior Advisor
Jeffrey is a Professor of Pediatrics and Vice Chair for Government and Community Relations at Golisano Children’s Hospital at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Prior to Jeff’s 13-year tenure with The Children’s Agenda, he co-founded the nationally award-winning Pediatric Links with the Community (PLC) program at the University of Rochester, now known as the Hoekelman Center for Leadership in Community Health. Jeff is currently the Director of the American Academy of Pediatrics National Community Pediatrics Training Initiative which promotes training activities that empower future pediatricians to become leaders in improving the health of all children in their communities, through community-based and child advocacy efforts across the United States. Jeff holds a Bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and a M.D from the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry.
Larry Marx
CEO
Larry joined the organization in 2011. He has overseen The Children’s Agenda’s growth from 4 employees to a staff of 18 and a budget of over $1.8M. Larry is a Board member of the Partnership for America’s Children (and its former co-chair), a national federation of 53 state and local children’s advocacy groups in 42 states. He is an appointed member of the Governor’s Child Care Availability Task Force and also the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council. He serves on the Executive Committee, Steering Committee and as Policy Committee Co-Chair of the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative. Larry represents The Children’s Agenda as one of ROC the Future’s conveners and serves on its Executive Committee. Larry was honored by Action for a Better Community and the Rochester chapter of the National Council for Jewish Women for his advocacy work with The Children’s Agenda. Prior to his family settling in Rochester, Larry was Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin for 12 years, Program Officer for the Proteus Fund, and Executive Director of the Donor Collaborative of Wisconsin. He has participated in over 100 issue advocacy and election campaigns. Larry is married to Deb Rosen, Executive Director of Bivona Child Advocacy Center. Together they are the proud parents of two teenage daughters, Natalie and Naomi.
Pete Nabozny
Director of Policy
Pete leads our work to develop and introduce policies and practices that improve outcomes for children. This includes systems building efforts with other organizations, identifying evidence based programs that could be helpful in our community, analyzing public policy challenges in the community, and promoting innovative approaches for home visitation, early care and education, early intervention, summer learning, child welfare, juvenile justice, and anti-poverty efforts. Pete was previously Associate Principal with the Center for Governmental Research, where he managed and contributed to a diverse set of projects in the human services and nonprofit sectors, including the viability of mobile summer meals programs in Rochester, Reconnect Rochester’s work on transportation and poverty, and the Empire State Poverty Reduction Initiatives in Oswego and Jamestown. Prior to that, Pete served as Assistant Commissioner of Research and Evaluation with the New York City Administration of Children’s Services, and in senior positions with the Jewish Child Care Association of New York City. Pete is a University of Rochester graduate, and earned his Masters in Public and Nonprofit Administration from the Robert Wagner School of Public Service. Pete and his wife Lindsay are the proud parents of daughters Lucy and Ruth.
Eamonn Scanlon
Education Policy Director
Eamonn increases public transparency, awareness and accountability in the RCSD budget development and approval process; identifies policy, expenditure, and funding alternatives to maximize opportunities for RCSD students’ success; and fuels parents’ and residents’ engagement to win changes in policy, expenditures and funding that best promote evidence-based strategies and programs in Pre-K — 12 settings. Eamonn has been an Education Organizer in Rochester with Citizen Action of New York, where he designed the study analyzing the RCSD’s data on school discipline. He also helped rewrite the RCSD Code of Conduct. Prior to his position at Citizen Action, Eamonn worked with the Detroit Standards and Accountability Commission, researching and producing a report on college readiness indicators for an on-track dashboard used in 12 Detroit-area high schools. Eamonn graduated from SUNY-Binghamton and earned his Masters of Public Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Carmen Torres
Parent Advocacy Coordinator
Carmen has a love of music, dance, culture and community.
Carmen was born in Villalba, Puerto Rico and moved to New York and eventually Rochester as a child. She started her career as a Paraprofessional for the Rochester City School District. She fell in love with her job and was encouraged to continue learning and growing as an educator. Before joining The Children’s Agenda, Carmen spent 30 plus years as a highly effective Parent Liaison; working with a variety of parents, students, building concrete relationships with neighborhood agencies as well as designing programs and events for her parents.
This makes her perfect in her position as TCA’s Parent Advocacy Coordinator, where her goal is to gain positive parental interest and trust for her work within The Children’s Agenda and the Rochester City School District.
Stephanie Townsend, Ph.D.
Communications and Coalitions Manager
Before joining The Children’s Agenda, Stephanie worked as the Director of Research and Analytics for ROC the Future, and before that for 12 years as a consultant to community-based and educational organizations. Her work included projects here in Rochester as well as for state, national, and global organizations. She also taught as an adjunct instructor in undergraduate and graduate programs at St. John Fisher College, Nazareth College, Rochester Institute of Technology, and SUNY College at Brockport. Stephanie has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Religious Studies from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in social ethics from the Graduate Theological Union, and master’s and doctoral degrees in community and prevention research from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
As a community psychologist, she has been widely published and is recognized as an expert on community-based responses to violence, including violence prevention. Stephanie grew up in a military family, attending public and Department of Defense schools around the country and overseas.
She and her husband have one son in middle school.
Kim Wolfe
Administrative Assistant
Kim is an administrative assistant to The Children’s Agenda. She helps to keep the Organization on track and flowing during our continued growth. Prior to joining The Children’s Agenda, she had over 25 years of experience working for a large local CPA firm managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment. Kim has a passion for fitness including bodybuilding and yoga that help keep her balanced in her personal and professional life. She is dedicated to nutrition and a holistic approach to wellness and hopes to share her knowledge and experience with the community. Kim lives in Irondequoit and has two adult children that are the joy of her life.
Michelle Yale
Administrative Director
Michelle manages all administrative, operational, and financial activities for the organization, including high-level oversight of finances, budget, payroll and human resources. She serves as the staff liaison to the Board of Directors. Michelle has more than 25 years advanced administrative experience and she has been with the organization since its inception in 2004. Michelle lives in Honeoye, NY with her husband and 2 active teenagers.
