Hannah Sendolo joins the team from North Carolina where she completed her undergraduate studies in Exercise and Sports Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. While there she was a living, breathing, working Tar Heel. Hannah worked as a Public Relations Assistant at the UNC Visitors Center, as a tutor for elementary students, involved herself with community health fairs and in various community service projects as a mentor and through extensive literacy promotion. Hannah found her way to City Year in Philadelphia where she continued the mentoring, tutoring and educational access skills she developed in Chapel Hill. Not only was she an all-star on her team, but she also helped to counsel female students about positive self-image and healthy behaviors. Hannah has experience doing recruitment and outreach.
Hannah will spend most of her time at LIFT-DC’s office at THEARC while practicing her client service skills at our Perry office. She’ll spend time connecting with community partners in Ward 8, raising LIFT’s visibility in that community and participating in advocacy efforts.
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Annie Lobel is no stranger to LIFT. While an undergraduate student at Tufts, Annie served the Somerville office as a volunteer advocate, student director and volunteer manager. She also spent a summer interning at our National Office, helping to organize the very training we’ll attend next week. Annie stayed connected to LIFT after graduation, attending regional benefits and maintaining relationships with staff and advocates. I met her during my second week on the job at last year’s Autumn Benefit and knew then that the woman before me had what it takes to be a Site Coordinator.
Annie proved her dedication to the larger DC-community when she took a year-long AmeriCorps position with the Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School east of the Anacostia river. In that role Annie assisted students in the lower-resourced area with the college application process, helping to prepare them for success in college and in the work force. With her dedication to social justice work, civic engagement, investing in whole communities and extensive knowledge of all things LIFT, I know she will help make our DC team complete.
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Mayra Ibarra joins us in the District most recently from Indiana, where she completed a Master of the Arts in American Studies at Purdue. While there, Mayra was a Teaching Assistant with the History Department and an active volunteer with the City Hall Archives department and the American Studies Archive Grant Writing Committee . As part of her Masters project, Mayra looked into homelessness and housing services, comparing policies in Denver, Seattle and Phoenix. In this work, Mayra noticed how the structure of social services make it difficult for populations to access services in different areas, recognizing many barriers related to the criminal justice system, in particular. These findings made Mayra more aware of how social services work and how easily individual get stuck in the unjust systems; you might say this project motivated Mayra to engage in client service more directly.
Mayra earned her Bachelor’s degree (with honors!) from Scripps College in Mathematics and Cultural Studies. She served as a Resident Advisor (a brave soul!), Mentor, Tutor, and Office Assistant. Originally from Los Angeles and Phoenix, Mayra brings a native fluency in both English and Spanish to the LIFT-DC team- our Columbia Heights office can’t wait to have her! Beyond her language abilities, we are excited to have Mayra’s experience working in a leadership and mentorship role with college students, commitment to social justice and interest in research and organization, on the team.