Staff
Jacqueline M. Carrera, President & CEO
Administration
Wayne Lawson, Director of Administration
Finance
Dekermu Nushann, Director of Finance
Erin Williams, Accounting Assistant
Development & Promotions
Jean DuBose, Director of Development & Promotions
Kyle DeVaul, Development & Promotions Coordinator
Kathleen Dragovich, Campaign Consultant
Alexandra Kraus, Development & Promotions Assistant
Motivating Youth Programs
Monica Logan, Director of Youth Programs
Bernie Shephard, Sports Program Manager
Jacquelyn Bullock, Manager of Youth Enrichment Programs
Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
Guy Hager, Senior Director of Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
Mary Washington, Associate Director of Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
Jeff Barrett, Watershed Community Forestry Organizer
Andrea Calderon, Schoolyard Greening Network Coordinator
Abby Cocke, Community Greening Stewardship Program Manager
Katie Dix, CGRN Coordinator
Shari Edelson, Communtiy Greening Coordinator
Mary Hardcastle, Environmental Education & Community Outreach Program Manager
Nicole McDaniels, Recruitment & Placement Coordinator
Ryan Patterson, Community Arts Organizer
Bryant Smith, Watershed Community Forestry Assistant Manager
Portia Smith, Community Outreach Liaison
Desiree Shelley, Environmental Education Coordinator
President & CEO
Jacqueline M. Carrera, President & CEO
Jackie Carrera is an advocate for strong communities with a special focus on environmental and recreational issues. Ms. Carrera has extensive experience working with volunteers, overseeing community planning processes, developing and administering programs and fundraising. Ms. Carrera currently serves as the President & CEO of the Parks & People Foundation where she oversees athletic and summer camp programs, natural resource management and environmental education initiatives, park restoration projects and a community grants program. Ms. Carrera guided the Foundation from a $500,000 annual operating program in 1993 to a $4 million annual program with assets totaling $8,000,000.
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Administration
Wayne Lawson, Director of Administration
Wayne is a long time resident of the Baltimore metropolitan area and has been with Parks & People since August 2000. Wayne has many years of professional computing and administration experience spanning the government, education and for-profit sectors.
Finance
Dekermu Nushann, Director of Finance
Dekermu Nushann hails from Liberia, West Africa where he served on the Baltimore Sister City Committee. He moved to the United States in 1985 and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from California Lutheran University. He then moved to Baltimore and obtained an MBA from the University of Baltimore in 1991. Dekermu completed an internship at Parks & People when he attended the University of Baltimore and retuned to us in 2007 as our Director of Finance. He has over 15 years of accounting experience with both for profit and non-profit organizations.
Erin Williams, Accounting Assistant
Development & Promotions
Jean DuBose, Director of Development & Promotions
Jean joined Parks & People in the fall of 2003 after working on the housing side of community development in Baltimore for several years. She sees greening neighborhoods and improving parks and recreation as key to the revitalization of Baltimore and improving the quality of life for city residents. A resident of leafy green Lauraville in northeast Baltimore, she enjoys her local park - Herring Run. A native of Louisville, KY, Jean came to Maryland’s eastern shore to attend Washington College in Chestertown. She and her husband and two children enjoy exploring the world, particularly the Chesapeake Bay, by sailboat.
Kyle DeVaul, Development & Promotions Coordinator
Kyle joined Parks & People in April 2009 as Development & Promotions Coordinator. Though most of her career has been spent at nonprofit arts organizations, she is thrilled to be working with Parks & People to make Baltimore a healthier, more livable city. Kyle lives in Canton and enjoys sailing, hiking, mountain biking, paddling, opera, great books and the beach.
Kathleen Dragovich, Campaign Consultant
Alexandra Kraus, Development & Promotions Assistant
Alex graduated from Syracuse University in 2009 and returned to her hometown Baltimore for work and play. Prior to finding her home at Parks and People Foundation, Alex interned with a local environmental nonprofit in Baltimore. She enjoys discovering what Charm City has to offer and loves taking in the outdoors as much as she can.
Motivating Youth Programs
Monica Logan, Director of Youth Programs
Monica has been with Parks & People since September 2000, and enjoys her work because she has the ability to further the development of our community and the participants in our programs. When she is not working, Monica is an avid sports enthusiast who can be found shooting hoops, playing softball, football or coaching her local middle school girls basketball team. She also enjoys reading books, photography, eating her mother's home cooking and exploring the many cultural and social offerings in our area. Monica is the youngest of three and was born and raised in College Park, Maryland. She hopes one day to travel all of the continents and to learn how to country line dance.
Bernie Shephard, Sports Program Manager
Prior to joining Parks & People in 1997, Bernie spent 23 years in banking as a Senior Branch Manager and Loan Officer for a major financial institution in the city. He brings his managing talent to bear on the many sports leagues that he oversees for Parks & People; Baltimore Baseball League, Baltimore Middle School Soccer, Baltimore Starlings Volleyball, and Baltimore Middle School Lacrosse. Bernie's passion for sports and children is both a vocation and an avocation - over the last 25 years he has served as a volunteer, coach and officer in many community baseball, basketball and football programs.
Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
Guy Hager, Senior Director of Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
Guy grew up on the West Coast, but chose to live on the East Coast, attracted to its large cities and seasonal changes. He obtained his Masters Degree in Public Administration in Urban Affairs from American University. Guy has extensive experience as an Urban Planner, Policy Analyst, Project Manager and Public Administrator. His prior positions include project management for the National Wildlife Federation and National Research Council and he served as Executive Director of the Baltimore Regional Council of Governments and as the Director of the Department of Planning and Zoning for Harford County and Chief of the Administrative Services Division, Department of Public Works for Howard County. While on active duty with the U.S. Navy, he served on board the U.S.S. Garrett County in Vietnam. Married with two sons, Guy is an avid genealogist, naturalist, historic preservationist, an active church member, and youth leader.
Jeff Barrett, Watershed Community Forestry Organizer
Abby Cocke, Community Greening Stewardship Program Manager
Growing up in Baltimore County, Abby’s mother taught her a love of nature at an early age, taking her on exploratory visits to the local creek. She got her start at Parks & People as an intern, writing a series of case studies on park support groups. This opportunity gave her the delightful experience of meeting some of the city’s most active greening enthusiasts. In October of 2006, she took on a new role as a Community Organizer for the Partnerships for Parks Program. Abby is a recent graduate of UMBC’s Environmental Studies program and currently resides in Hampden. She loves digging in the dirt, writing, and exploring Baltimore’s many neighborhoods on her bike.
Mary Hardcastle, Environmental Education & Community Outreach Program Manager
Mary hails from central Illinois and spent her childhood playing in a city park.She combines her strong roots in the Midwest with her love of Baltimore’s urban landscape. Mary draws on an undergraduate degree in Botany and an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies to encourage an integration of nature and place-based education, sustainability, and social justice. In addition to sharing knowledge about the natural world, Mary volunteers as the Maryland Coordinator for the national non-profit Hooked on Nature and is a guiding member of the Greater Baltimore Children & Nature Collaborative, a network of individuals and organizations dedicated to connecting kids with nature. She is an avid vegetable gardener, and loves to spend time in the amazing city parks of Baltimore.
Sarah Krones, Community Greening Coordinator
Sarah Krones earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental science from the University of MD, College Park in 2005. She subsequently taught high school environmental and earth science, worked on a 10-acre organic fruit and vegetable farm in southern PA, and was an outdoor educator and summer camp director at Pickering Creek Audubon Center on the Eastern Shore. As an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer at the Parks & People Foundation, she developed the model for the Baltimore City Community Greening Resource Network (CGRN) and has been working at Parks & People to coordinate this and other community greening stewardship programs. She is also a Baltimore City Master Gardner intern and chair of the Community Gardens Committee.
Ryan Patterson, Community Arts Organizer
Ryan grew up in South Florida and moved to Baltimore in 2002 to attend the Maryland Institute College of Art. While he was a student at MICA he served as an art teacher with Parks & People’s SuperKids Camp for three years. He was also very active with the Community Arts Partnership program while a MICA student and is working full-time this year at Parks & People as a Community Arts Organizer. Ryan’s goal for his service year is to integrate a sustainable community arts program into Parks & People’s existing community greening and parks initiatives.
Mary Washington, Associate Director of Great Parks, Clean Streams & Green Communities
Mary joined the Parks & People Foundation in January 2007. Growing up in Philadelphia, a city with great parks and tree-lined neighborhoods, she and her 5 brothers and sisters spent many afternoons exploring the banks of the Schuylkill River. Mary earned her Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1997 and taught sociology at Lehigh University. In Baltimore she has held positions as the Director of Housing and the Interim Director of the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance.
Mary is the past president of the Abell Community Association and was a Construction Captain for "Our Playground at Stadium Place," a playground and green space project on the old Memorial Stadium site that created a safe and welcoming play park for the Stadium area children, families and seniors. Mary is excited to be a part of the Parks & People team and looks forward working on many projects that will make Baltimore a healthier, cleaner and greener city.
Desiree Shelley, Project Blue Coordinator