STAFF:

Yeneika Puran, Executive Director

Heather Andra Horgan, Program Coordinator

Heather Andra Horgan is a dedicated and hard working woman of color. As an organizer and educator she has worked with F.I.E.R.C.E., Fabulous Independent Educated Radicals for Community Empowerment, as a community organizer through Public Allies’ Americorp Program.  Her work at FIERCE focused on reclaiming and building safe space for queer and trans youth of color.  Ms. Horgan also worked with Food Change as a program manager, mentor, and administrator.  Her creativity is evident through her artistic talents and her use of the arts as a tool for healing and organizing.  Ms. Horgan gives time and energy beyond what is called for.  Her strength is connecting with people and building relationships.  She is currently attending college and pursuing a degree in public health.

Lisa Gutierrez, Mortgage Counselor

Rick Echevarria, Programming Consultant

Rick has been involved in housing organizing and anti-predatory lending work in New York City since 1996. He has worked and/or interned for East Brooklyn Congegations, Make the Road By Walking, the Open Society Instiutute, and the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. In 2004, Rick co-founded the Bushwick Housing Independence Project. Most recently, Rick was the Campaign Manager for the General Election City Council Campaign of City Councilman Jumaane Williams. Rick is a life-long resident of Brooklyn and is a graduate of New York University.

Left to right: Councilman Jumaane Williams, Excutive Director Lionel Ouellette, Councilwoman Letitia “Tish” James.

Lionel Ouellette, Executive & Development Consultant

Lionel Ouellette has been involved in community organizing and education work since 1995.  He was a New York City Public High School teacher in Brooklyn and Union Square Awards awardee.  He’s worked at numerous non-profit organizations as field organizer and director of education and outreach.  He has been organizing around predatory lending, foreclosures, and banking and real estate fraud issues since 2002.  He is an avid community gardener and member of the East New York Gardeners’ Association.  He works with Green Gems Community Garden in East NY.  He has a B.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.A. in English Education from Teachers College at Columbia University.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

Lenina Trinidad, Board Chair,  Staff Attorney at Harlem Legal Services

Lenina has been a staff attorney with Harlem Legal Services for six years.  She specializes in Domestic Violence and Family Law.  Born and raised in New York, she obtained her J.D. from CUNY Law School in Queens, New York.

Tyrone Cadett, Board Treasurer, tax accountant

Ken Stevens, Board Secretary, Homeowner

A long time CHANGER  homeowner supporter and recent Board Member. Ken brings 15 years of expierence in the financial sector and 10 years as a homeowner.

Madeline Lamour Holder, Associate Director of Private Giving, New York Women’s Foundation

Madeline is the founder of CHANGER, and a recipient of an Open Society Institute Community Fellowship and a 2006 Union Square Award winner. In 2007, Madeline joined the New York Women’s Foundation after 2 years as Executive Director of CHANGER.

Ana Aguirre, Executive Director, United Community Centers Brooklyn, N.Y.

Ana currently serves as the Executive Director of United Community  Centers in East New York, Brooklyn.  She has worked with UCC since her arrival in New York from Peru in 1993.

David Shuffler, Jr. Executive Director, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, Bronx, N.Y.

Bill Lundgren, Educator

Bill Lundgren has taught and worked in public schools and a youth prison in New York City and Maine. A graduate of the MA program in English Education at Teachers College, his eclectic resume also includes work in politics, truck driving and a stint as founder and director of an organic farm. He presently works for Teachers College Office of School and Community Partnerships, serving as a professional development advisor to the Green School in Brooklyn and Banana Kelly High School in the South Bronx. He is the editor of Smoke Signals: Oral Histories from Long Creek and co-author of Becoming Other(Wise): Enhancing Critical Reading Perspectives. As a member of CHANGER’s board of directors, Bill looks forward to adding his experience in the field of education and non-profits to the CHANGER team. He lives with his veterinarian wife and a houseful of animals in Portland, ME.

Michelle Fayez-Olabi, Small Business Owner, Homeowner

Founding member of CHANGER Inc.