Who We Are
Mark Snyder
President & Co-FounderMark Snyder has extensive work experience in community mobilization and community-based program design aimed at addressing social inequalities and poverty reduction. He has worked as a wellness facilitator at Mother Theresa’s Home for the Dying and Destitute in New Delhi and as a community mobilizer in Dharamsala, India. His work in Dharamsala included the initiation of several waste management projects, community health and wellness programs, and the formation of a local youth group working towards addressing social and cultural issues specific to the region. He has also worked in Pisco, Peru on several disaster relief projects in response to the 2007 earthquake. Since 2007, Mark has focused his efforts in Haiti working mostly in Petite Riviere de Nippes. He has designed and implemented several community-based programs in the Nippes region including the Community Needs Identifiers Nutrition Program aimed at malnourished children and expecting mothers, specifically those found to suffer from vitamin/mineral and protein deficiencies. Currently, Mark is working on designing a Community Health Worker program for Ti-Riviere.
Lavina Shahani
Vice President & Co-FounderLavina’s experience and interests in community-based cultural and social projects have been informed by her various work experience at both cultural institutions and not-for-profit organizations. She has worked as a project assistant at the Manchester Museum on the community engagement film series “Collective Conversations” and at VSA Arts, as a visual arts intern where she helped organize a show at the Smithsonian with artists with disabilities. In 2008, she was appointed as the 5th Marie Curie/EU Fellow at the University of the Aegean in Lesvos, Greece researching issues of communities and how this relationship is reshaped by the use of new technologies. Lavina has also worked in New Delhi, India on an education initiative for women and children with the NGO Vidya and as a community mobilzer in Petite Riverie de Nippes, Haiti. Currently, she is a William J. Clinton Fellow working on an HIV-Target Intervention for Female Sex Workers in rural-northern India. Lavina holds a BA in Art History from UCLA and a MA in Museum Studies from The University of Manchester.
Eric Brandfass
Director of Operations & Co-FounderEric Gregory Brandfass was born in New Jersey and raised in Northern California. Eric joined the Marine Corp immediately upon graduation from High School, where he served for four years including two tours in Iraq. After discharge from the military, Eric began a committed journey to serve troubled youth, the underrepresented and the underprivileged in impoverished nations. Eric has volunteered in India helping to create sustainable employment, has worked in Haiti in the area of sustainable agriculture and is currently in Haiti volunteering as a relief worker. A vegetarian and licensed medical massage therapist, Eric believes in the mind-body-spirit connection to a healthy and balanced life. A committed humanitarian, Eric has spent the last four years on a spiritual quest for peaceful solutions to international problems, with an approach that honors people and nature equally. Believing that we are all one on this planet, Eric is convinced that together we can eradicate poverty and create a better world for everyone.
Monica Dyer
Program DirectorMonica fell in love with Haiti while studying Anthropology and Environmental Studies at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. After spending some time in 2006 seeking solutions to water scarcity issues in Fond des Blancs, Haiti, she began a Masters in Community Health Practice with a concentration in Global Health at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston. Her primary interests include sustainable water treatment methods for the developing world, medical anthropology in the Haitian context, and human rights advocacy. She enjoys reading, dancing, and time with family and friends.