College Now students from “$ Breakdown”

CUP and CUP teaching artist Douglas Paulson worked with students from College Now at Brooklyn College on an Urban Investigation about neighborhood financial services. Those students were: Roodlyne Vilsaint, Kimberly Saintelus, Maniza Pritila, Alyssa Lau, Cynthia Dunston, Tommi Ann Davis, Shannae Braham, Alexa Betancourt.

Sam Holleran

Is an artist, designer, and writer. Sam is CUP’s Communications Coordinator and office baristo. He attended the New School, Universiteit van Amsterdam, and the Cooper Union where he was the recipient of the Herb Lubalin Fellowship for Typography and the Benjamin Menschel Fellowship for Creative Inquiry. Sam has worked extensively in printmaking; his fields of interest include: photogravure, letterpress, Ukiyo-e, etching, and silkscreen.

Valeria Mogilevich

Valeria is the Program Director at CUP. She has been with CUP over five years creating design projects that break down the city’s complex systems to help people better participate in shaping the city. In partnership with high school teachers and teaching artists, Valeria has produced over a dozen experiential youth education projects. These projects have been featured in such venues as the Netherlands Architecture Institute and MoMA and such publications as City Limits, the New York Times, and Design Observer. She has presented on project-based learning and community-engaged youth education at the New Museum, NYU’s Steinhardt School, The Cooper-Hewitt, Pratt Institute, plenty of NYC public high schools, and educational institutions from Philly to Toronto. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in Modern Culture and Media. Valeria is also an independent film programmer and has worked with the Margaret Mead Festival, Anthology Film Archives, and Cinema Tropical. 

Fatima Abdul-Nabi

Fatima was born and raised in NYC and is interested in all things urban. When not working, she likes to explore and relax in different parks around the city. Fatima is completing her bachelors in urban studies at Barnard College and is teaching this fall’s class on disaster planning. 

John Dalessi

John is a researcher-as-artist who has called Brooklyn his home since 2001. 

He is most interested in creating and experiencing works of art that challenge ideas of social/political formation by way of critical theory. John works in a variety of media, including pen & paper, digital, video, sound, and performance. Some of his influences include: Vito Acconci, Barbara Kruger, the Fluxus movement, Nam June Paik, and Mark Lombardi. 

John has a B.A. in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. His other interests include: postcolonialism, post-9/11 national security, and psychoanalysis.

Christine Gaspar

Christine is the Executive Director of CUP. She has over ten years of experience in community design. Prior to joining CUP, she was Assistant Director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she provided architectural design and city planning services to low-income communities recovering from Hurricane Katrina. She holds Masters in Architecture and in City Planning from MIT, and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.

She’s been a CUP fan since 2001, and a staff member since 2009.

Valeria Mogilevich

Valeria is the Program Director at CUP. She has been with CUP over five years creating design projects that break down the city’s complex systems to help people better participate in shaping the city. In partnership with high school teachers and teaching artists, Valeria has produced over a dozen experiential youth education projects. These projects have been featured in such venues as the Netherlands Architecture Institute and MoMA and such publications as City Limits, the New York Times, and Design Observer. She has presented on project-based learning and community-engaged youth education at the New Museum, NYU’s Steinhardt School, The Cooper-Hewitt, Pratt Institute, plenty of NYC public high schools, and educational institutions from Philly to Toronto. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in Modern Culture and Media. Valeria is also an independent film programmer and has worked with the Margaret Mead Festival, Anthology Film Archives, and Cinema Tropical. 

College Now Students from “Are You Ready For A Ruckus?”

Students from College Now at New Design High School and the Urban Assembly Academy of Government and Law who worked on an Urban Investigation about disaster preparedness. Those students were: Christy Chavez, Oscar Fermin, Diosa Melenciano, Rosa Melenciano, Christian Ogando, Christopher Santos, Jeffrey Salazar, Tajanay Sajous, Malik Tucker; with help from Magdiel Ciego, Kymani Hanley, and Danielle Hernandez.

John Mangin

John Mangin is a construction manager and housing litigator at Fair Share Housing, an affordable housing developer that grew out of the Mount Laurel exclusionary housing cases in the 70’s and 80’s. He was formerly a homebuilder and continues to take building and furniture-making jobs out of his Philadelphia studio. He graduated from Yale Law School in 2008. He was one of three staff members at CUP from 2008 to 2010.  

Sara McKay

Sara is a freelance designer based in Brooklyn. She has done work for Elixir Design, Carin Goldberg Design, Number 17, and New York Times Magazine. Prior to discovering that she was a designer, she had an entirely different career in social justice-based community planning and development. She worked with CUP to design the Barriers to Reentry MPP.

The Fortune Society

The Fortune Society, founded in 1967, supports a broad array of alternative-to-incarceration and reentry initiatives for people with criminal records. Fortune founded the David Rothenberg Center for Public Policy (DRCPP) to coordinate Fortune’s policy development, advocacy, technical assistance, training, and community education efforts. DRCPP promotes programs that support people with criminal records, and works to change the laws and policies that create counterproductive barriers to the successful reentry of people with criminal records into our communities. The Fortune Society Collaborated with CUP on the MPP Barriers to Reentry.

Jonathan Bogarín

Jonathan Bogarín is an artist, filmmaker, and educator. He believes that art is a tool for understanding our world that can help us become more active, creative, and conscientious citizens. Jonathan is currently co-directing Invisible Murals, a PBS supported documentary about myths, murals, and oil in Venezuela. He has created numerous public artworks in collaboration with youth including CUP projects “Bodega Down Bronx” and “Scary, OK with it, Good.” Jonathan thinks CUP is cool.

New Settlement’s Bronx Helpers

Students from New Settlement’s Bronx Helpers collaborated with CUP and Jonathan Bogarín on Bodega Down Bronx. 

Andy Kennedy

Andy Kennedy is a freelance animator/filmmaker/musician living in Brooklyn. He is a RISD graduate with a BFA in film/video/animation. His most recent stop-motion animated film, Accumulonimbus, has screened at film festivals and on computer screens worldwide. In collaboration with CUP, Andy has animated corn in Bodega Down Bronx, and made sewer sounds for H2 Oh No! His work can be seen at andykennedy.net

Rosten Woo

Rosten Woo is a cultural producer living in Los Angeles. He makes work that helps people understand complex systems and participate in group decision-making. He produces that work in partnership with local and national groups ranging from the American Human Development Project to the East Los Angeles Community Corporation. His work has been exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt Design Triennial, the New Museum, the Venice Architecture Biennale, Netherlands Architectural Institute, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, on the internet, and in various public housing developments, tugboats, shopping malls, and parks in New York City and Los Angeles. His first book, “Street Value,” was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2010. He is co-founder and former executive director of the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP). His website: www.wehavenoart.net

Nikki Chung

Nikki Chung is a graphic designer and the principal of Once & Future, a design studio in NYC dedicated to bringing thoughtful visual order to complex information. Once & Future makes identities, websites, mobile apps, books, illustrations, and more for small businesses and cultural organizations. Nikki received a BA in Architecture from UC Berkeley and a MFA in Graphic Design from RISD. She has worked with CUP on Scary, OK With It, Good, Soda Census, and Draw the Line. Her website is http://once-future.com

Christine Gaspar

Christine is the Executive Director of CUP. She has over ten years of experience in community design. Prior to joining CUP, she was Assistant Director of the Gulf Coast Community Design Studio in Biloxi, Mississippi, where she provided architectural design and city planning services to low-income communities recovering from Hurricane Katrina. She holds Masters in Architecture and in City Planning from MIT, and a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University.

She’s been a CUP fan since 2001, and a staff member since 2009.

Sam Holleran

Is an artist, designer, and writer. Sam is CUP’s Communications Coordinator and office baristo. He attended the New School, Universiteit van Amsterdam, and the Cooper Union where he was the recipient of the Herb Lubalin Fellowship for Typography and the Benjamin Menschel Fellowship for Creative Inquiry. Sam has worked extensively in printmaking; his fields of interest include: photogravure, letterpress, Ukiyo-e, etching, and silkscreen.