our tEAM
LIZ Pitofsky, founder & director
Liz started the Service Learning Project (SLP) after working at The After-School Corporation (TASC) (www.tascorp.org) for more than 10 years, where she created a service learning after-school initiative for students in grades 5-12. Liz developed the program content, trained and provided technical assistance to staff, and worked directly with students at more than 20 public elementary, middle, and high schools throughout New York City.
Liz launched SLP in 2010 with the creation of a Residency Program which she co-taught with elementary and middle public school teachers in Brooklyn, New York. Since then, SLP has grown exponentially to serve more than 750 students per year through school-day, after-school, and summer programs in NYC and Vermont, as well as across the country through a virtual SLP Lab.
Liz has trained many SLP Faculty as well as Department of Education and other school staff on how to facilitate SLP’s proven effective model of action civics. She is passionate about kids and service, and dedicated to helping ensure that all youth have opportunities to make their voices heard.
Liz has a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin- Madison and a J.D. from Columbia Law School, and is the mother of two NYC kids who love to help solve problems in their community.
Allie Cashel, Associate director
Allie (she/her) is the author of Suffering the Silence: Chronic Lyme disease in an Age of Denial (North Atlantic Books) and the co-founder and president The Suffering the Silence Community, a nonprofit dedicated to leveraging the power of art, media, and storytelling to raise awareness and break the stigma surrounding the experience of chronic illness and disability. Allie leads the effort to bring SLP to schools and communities throughout Vermont and coaches SLP facilitators, empowering youth to become active citizens in their schools and communities.
SLP Faculty
Tiffanie Cheng
Tiffanie (she/her) recently moved to NYC after graduating from Princeton University and currently works as a mental health outreach specialist at a Chinese American non-profit. Throughout high school and college, Tiffanie volunteered to support student wellness and mental health, especially those living in underserved communities. She is passionate about anything service related and excited to collaborate with and learn from SLP students. In her free time, Tiffanie likes to cook, take naps and frolic around the city with friends.
Jack Dryden
Jack Dryden (he/him) is an artist and educator originally from Saint Louis, Missouri. Jack has taught acting, speech, dialect, improvisation, singing and directing to students all over the country, and has also worked as a mentor to elementary and middle school students in both theater and public speaking. More recently, Jack has become interested in student advocacy and uses his tools as a performer and artist to help his students in whatever capacity he can. He is proud to join the team at Service Learning Project (SLP).
Betsy Guttmacher
Betsy Guttmacher (she/her) has over two decades of experience in the NYC nonprofit sector with expertise in community partnerships, youth civic engagement, volunteer program development, and service delivery to vulnerable populations of all ages and life-stages. She currently works with the Doula Program to Accompany and Comfort and is a Usui Reiki Master offering healing sessions in community and medical settings and 1-1 with private clients.
Ella Katagas
Ella Katagas (she/her) is a native New Yorker and former member of SLP’s Youth Board. Since receiving a BA from NYU Gallatin, Ella has worked in film production and at We Build The Block, an NYC-based organization bringing community together to build the future of public safety. With positivity & creativity, Ella looks forward to building community and connecting with youth across NYC.
Bo Scarim
Bo Scarim (they/them) is a New Yorker, born with a passion for cities, always looking to improve the urban experience for all residents through community development, affordable housing, usable public spaces, and resource sharing. They bring a strong background in facilitation to SLP, with a focus on gender and sexuality.
Dani Sohn
Dani Sohn (she/her) was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Rose Valley of Southeast Morocco, where she served as a Youth Development & Women’s Empowerment Specialist. She is currently pursuing her MA at NYU with a concentration examining the intersection of Museum and Women’s Studies. Dani has always been fueled by the positive change that can occur when art activism, accessible education, and community care collide.
Jenn A. Quintanilla
Jenn A. Quintanilla (she/her/ella) is a Community Arts Producer and facilitator focused on community-wellbeing, narrative change and storytelling. In her work, Jenn looks at how the arts can unearth solutions for culturally responsive mental, emotional, social healing & human-forward care.
Casey Wortmann
Casey (she/her) is a community organizer, writer and performer based in Brooklyn, where she lives with her husband and two cats (Mac & Cheese and Pirate Jenny). She holds a BA in Theater from Northwestern University and an MSW from Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College.