Clara Amenyo

Clara was the Program Manager for CUP’s Public Access Design program from 2012 to 2014. Before coming to CUP, she worked in Structured Credit for Barclays Capital. Clara has a Bachelor of the Arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

Christine Gaspar

Christine is the Executive Director of CUP. She has over fifteen 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. In 2012, she was identified as one of the “Public Interest Design 100.” 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.

Housing Court Answers

Housing Court Answers has been advocating for people without lawyers in NYC’s Housing Courts for more than 30 years. They staff information tables, run a hotline and train advocates who assist low income people facing eviction and homelessness. Housing Court Answers has led the fight for the use of plain language in the courts, better treatment of “pro se” litigants (those without lawyers), and an end to tenant “blacklisting”. And they continue to advocate, as they have since their founding, for a right to counsel for low income tenants in eviction cases. CUP has collaborated with Housing Court Answers many times and has created Housing Court Help, Keep Your Family’s Home, Mantenga el hogar de su Familia, and Get Support in Housing Court!  http://housingcourtanswers.org/

Christine Gaspar

Christine is the Executive Director of CUP. She has over fifteen 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. In 2012, she was identified as one of the “Public Interest Design 100.” 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 was CUP’s Communications Coordinator from 2011 to 2014. He attended the 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, and silkscreen.

Valeria Mogilevich

Valeria is a visual storyteller who creates tools for participation in collaboration with social justice organizations. She also consults with cultural institutions, education non-profits, and others on community engagement and youth education. Valeria was formerly the Deputy Director of CUP, where over the course of eight years she created popular education tools with community-based organizations and developed curricula to help public high school students change the way the see their own neighborhoods. She has shared her thoughts on project-based learning, collaboration, and design for social impact at places like the New Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt, Pratt Institute, and institutions from Indianapolis to Rotterdam. Valeria holds a Bachelor of Arts from Brown University in Modern Culture and Media.

Partnerships for Parks

is a joint program of NYC Parks and the City Parks Foundation that helps New Yorkers work together to make neighborhood parks thrive.

Elana Schlenker

is an independent graphic designer, art director, and the publisher of Gratuitous Type, an annual magazine offering interviews and projects from contemporary creatives. Prior to the establishment of her studio practice, Elana worked as an art director at Condé Nast and a designer at Princeton Architectural Press and Rodale. elanaschlenker.com/

Leslie Wood

is an Illustrator based in Brooklyn, NY.  In addition to her illustration work she also does murals, ceramics, and jewelry.  Leslie received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design.  She is a lover of tacos, travel, and NCAA basketball. leslieawood.com

Center for Court Innovation

The Center for Court Innovation helps the justice system aid victims, reduce crime, strengthen neighborhoods, and improve public trust in justice. The Center combines action and reflection to spark innovation locally, nationally, and internationally.

The Center for Court Innovation worked with CUP on the I Got Arrested, Now What? MPP.

Christine Gaspar

Christine is the Executive Director of CUP. She has over fifteen 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. In 2012, she was identified as one of the “Public Interest Design 100.” 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.

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.  

Youth Justice Board

The Youth Justice Board is a leadership program that gives young people a voice in policies that affect their lives, and provides policymakers access to the insights of informed young people. Each year, a team of high-school-age youth from across New York City investigates a juvenile justice or public safety issue, formulates policy recommendations and works to implement its recommendations. The current Youth Justice Board seeks to expand and improve the City’s Alternatives to Detention (ATD) programs for young people charged with delinquencies. The Youth Justice Board is a project of the Center for Court Innovation and the Center for Courts and the Community. The Youth Justice Board was the advocate for the MPP I Got Arrested! Now What?

Hatuey Ramos Fermín

Hatuey Ramos Fermín is an educator and multimedia artist who uses photography, video, installation, graphics, performance, intervention, maps, sounds, and social and curatorial practices to creatively investigate issues related to urban space. His work is informed by the documentary and the fine arts.

April Lee

April Lee is an artist and education practitioner, researcher, and consultant. She has worked in the curatorial and education departments of cultural institutions such as Dia Art Foundation, the Hammer Museum, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, as well as with community-based arts and education organizations in the U.S. and abroad. Her fields of interest include artistic research, and cultural, global, and ethics education. Recently, she completed a master’s degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and consulted on the development of a world-class school in Bhutan.

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.  

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