2018- 2019 POWER OF 3:00 AMBASSADORS

Douglas Gee was born and raised in Southampton, New York the youngest of seven children. Doug is a graduate Paul Smith’s College where he was awarded the Chester L. Burton Award for Academic Excellence and the Culinary Institute of America where he was awarded the Brillat Savarin Award. He also received an LPN degree and worked as a licensed practical nurse. He has had over 25 years of work experience including a background vocalist where he toured throughout the United States and the former Soviet Union. Doug’s people centered experiences and the desire to share his culinary passion with others led him to become the first culinary arts instructor at the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center in Bridgehampton, New York (BHCCRC). In his culinary arts program at BHCCRC he initiated the “Sol Garden”, an edible school yard garden designed to provide learners with a hands on experience from the first steps to harvesting the bounty. Summer 2018 was the most successful of the “Sol Garden’s” existence of providing students, teachers, and local community members an innovative and healthy vehicle to communicate and share. In addition to his culinary arts responsibilities, while at BHCCRC he assumed the positions of afterschool instructor and Assistant Director of the summer program. As a program leader he has worked with the local schools and community groups to ensure a rigorous program for the students at BHCC&RC. He is a strong advocate for expanded learning opportunities for all learners and understands fully the need to challenge the young people of today for the challenges of tomorrow. Doug is enthusiastically looking forward to his participation in the New York State Network for Youth Success Power of 3:00 Ambassador training and for the opportunities his participation will afford young learners and members of the Bridgehampton community.

Gretchen Smith, LMSW is the Coordinator of Family Outreach & Support and Manager of Data & Outcomes for the Greater Rochester Summer Learning Association (GRSLA) in Rochester, NY. GRSLA’s programs—called summerLEAP— are high-quality summer learning and enrichment programs designed to reduce summer learning loss and close the achievement gap among low-income students from PreK to 8th grade. Gretchen coordinates GRSLA’s family outreach team, which works year-round to maintain connections with summerLEAP families and make summer-after-summer placements possible. As a licensed master social worker, Gretchen holds a BSW from Nazareth College and an MSW from Roberts Wesleyan College. Before joining GRSLA during summer 2016, she served as a live-in case manager at a house of hospitality for homeless pregnant women in Phoenix, AZ. Gretchen is eager to join the Power of 3:00 Ambassadors program in order to focus on state-wide initiatives and policies that promote the importance of out of school time enrichment, with a special focus on summer learning.

Jonathan Yetto has been a Site Director for The Boys and Girls Clubs of Albany for the last 10 months. He grew up in Lansingburgh, New York and participated in many extracurricular activities but his favorite was playing baseball. He received an athletic scholarship and studied Adolescent Education at The College of Saint Rose. While attending college he worked for an afterschool program in Colonie, NY. He then found a job working with Lasalle School in Albany with at risk teens who had experienced trauma in their life. It was there he realized that working with at risk youth was what he wanted to do. He is excited to advocate for the youth in New York and bring light to how afterschool programs help aide in the recovery of adverse childhood experiences and help our future leaders reach their full potential.

Melanie Spencer has over nineteen years of experience working with youth and families. She spent the early part of her career working with families affected by crime, poverty and youth living in alternative housing. For the past ten years, she has been working as a Site Coordinator for Gateway Academy, a program of the Nepperhan Community Center in Yonkers, NY, serving high-school youth. She successfully put together an annual comic book convention which combines professional artists with the students she serves, developed relationships with several businesses to expose her students to different career choices and internship opportunities and has been able to recruit and retain over 300+ students in her program on an annual basis. Melanie currently serves as a Board Member with the Yonkers City Planning Council. She holds both a B.S. in Human Services as well as a Master’s of Public Administration from Metropolitan College of NY. A proud mother of two, Melanie is excited to become a Power of 3:00 Ambassador stating, “Students are thriving in day school and excited about their education because after-school and summer programs give kids the unique opportunity to learn outside of a paper and pencil environment. Parents are happy to know their children are safe and learning, while kids are busy building robots, writing and acting out their own stories, creating music, etc… and connecting with people who care about them… people need to be aware of the importance of this programming. The Power of 3:00 Campaign is an opportunity to expand our after-school/summer program village!”