Libby Catania - Founder, Executive Director (M. Ed.) is a dynamic community educator, educational designer, and special education teacher/case manager, in Portland, Maine. She achieved her Master’s in Education from the Mind, Brain, and Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2019. She studied non-profit leadership and entrepreneurship, personalized learning, identity-centered program design, and inclusive education. She has performed research for the Center for Applied Special Technologies (CAST) and Populace. In 2021, she presented her novel framework for supporting refugee and immigrant youth, Universal Design for Deeper Learning, at CAST's annual conference. At LearningWorks in Portland, Maine, Libby designed educational after school programming for youth and equity professional development for staff from 2019-2021 as a Lead Site Coordinator and their agency's Educational Strategist. From 2021-2022, Libby worked as the Educational Specialist for Portland Housing Authority in East Bayside and ran a drop-in Study Center for learners of all ages in Kennedy Park. She currently works as a Special Education Teacher and Case Manager at East End Community School in East Bayside. Libby was selected to represent her community on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Steering Committee for the Board of Education in Scarborough, Maine from 2020-2021. Libby is committed to launching Our Place where she will work to eliminate the barriers that currently prevent the success of families in Portland beginning in July 2022.