CommunityShare

CommunityShare was founded by Josh Schachter in collaboration with a passionate group of educators, entrepreneurs, artists, ecologists, nonprofit organizations, technophiles, graduate students, and community leaders. CommunityShare is a fiscally-sponsored initiative of CITY Center for Collaborative Learning. Jason Hansen, CTO, oversees CommunityShare's online platform and other tech-related needs. Jason is a software engineer and full-stack developer. He has a broad multi-disciplinary background, spanning mechanical design, aerodynamics, flight controls, simulation, game development, and both enterprise and commercial web development. Anne LaVigne, School and Community Partnerships Program Coordinator, oversees the implementation of professional development and other learning strategies to build a culture of community engagement and student-centered, real-world learning experiences in schools. She is an artist, author, farmer, teacher, traveler, facilitator, instructional designer, and perhaps most importantly, a learner. Anne's worldview incorporates a multitude of perspectives. She works locally, nationally, and globally across educational and non-profit settings to increase understanding of dynamic, interdependent systems in ways that empower, engage, and motivate. Josh Schachter, CommunityShare Director, is an educator, visual storyteller and social ecologist. Josh earned a master's degree in environmental management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where he explored the role of youth-produced media in supporting personal and community transformation. Over the past 18 years he has collaborated on community-based media projects with youth, teachers, neighborhood groups, and nonprofit organizations in places ranging from New Delhi to Nigeria. He co-founded VOICES Inc., a nonprofit organization that hired low-income youth to work as journalists to tell the stories of their lives and communities in Tucson. Josh co-founded the Finding Voice Program with ELL teacher Julie Kasper at Catalina Magnet High School in Tucson. Finding Voice is dedicated to developing the English language, literacy, multimedia, critical thinking, and collaborative skills necessary to participate socially, academically, economically, and politically in local and global communities. Kent Thompson,Project Specialist, works on CommunityShare's Artist in Residence, Seed Grant and Network School Programs. Prior to working with CommunityShare, Kent taught high school history and government before transitioning into the role of principal at Sahuarita High School, where the school was awarded as an A+ school of excellence by the Arizona Educational Foundation in 2016. As a former teacher and administrator, Kent looks for ways of improving the lives and experiences of all those involved in education.