Executive Director: Courtney C. Reeve has worked extensively on education issues for immigrant, refugee, and underserved populations in the both the US and abroad, in direct service as well as policy capacities. Immediately prior to her position with GBLC, Ms. Reeve served as Education Program Manager for the International Rescue Committee’s programs in Liberia, West Africa. She has directed multi-site education programs for all age groups (early childhood through adult), is an experienced English as a Second Language teacher, and has provided consulting to public charter schools. Ms. Reeve currently serves on the Arlington Chamber of Commerce’s Community Action Committee as well as on the Board of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of DC (YNPNdc) for which she coordinates the Young Executive Directors’ Roundtable and also serves as Treasurer. She has a BS in Bilingual Education from Boston University, an Ed.M. (Master of Education) from Harvard University Graduate School of Education, and a Master’s Certificate in Global Mental Health from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma. She is proficient in Spanish.
Director of Programs: Lauren Cranman has served in several positions with GBLC since 2001 when she was the Program Director for the Virginia Gardens site. Since that time, Ms. Cranman has also served as Director of Community Outreach and Interim Executive Director. Prior to her work with GBLC, she coordinated afterschool programs for immigrant and refugee children at two sites. She has also led psycho-educational groups for pregnant/parenting teens, and facilitated a variety of workshops on emotional and behavioral concerns for parents and children. Ms. Cranman has a BA in Psychology from Emory University and a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Georgia.
Learning ROCKS! Program Manager: Katie Ochs is a formally trained history teacher with experience teaching non-native English speakers both domestically and internationally. In the US, she has taught in the public school system at a high-performing inner-city school and has also worked in community education settings where she developed and implemented cultural immersion and English language curricula for recent immigrants. Internationally, Ms. Ochs has taught in Chile, serving with the Harvard Center for International Development’s World Teach program, as well as designed and coordinated an afterschool program in Namibia for hearing impaired children. Katie is a certified public school teacher and earned both a B.A. in International Development and an M.A. in Teaching from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. Ms. Ochs is fluent in German and speaks Spanish proficiently.
Learning ROCKS! Program/Site Coordinator: Erin Garnett began working with GBLC in the fall of 2008 as coordinator for the 3rd-5th grade Learning Rocks! program at Virginia Gardens. Prior to working with GBLC, Ms. Garnett taught elementary school in the Republic of the Marshall Islands to descendants of the island peoples displaced by the United States’ nuclear testing on Bikini Atoll. During her time there, Ms. Garnett started an after-school youth soccer league and coordinated a week-long educational field trip to the capital city for her students, most of whom had never left their home island. Ms. Garnett graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Italian and Spanish Language and Literature and coursework in Education. She is proficient in Spanish.
