| LEADING THE WAY |
The Children’s Workshop Foundation was established in 2011 to serve the needs of local families. As a 501(c)3 public charity, our mission is to spark confidence, joy and the love of learning in each child. All of our proceeds go toward bettering the lives of children, improving communities, and furthering early childhood education.
STRONG LEADERS
Lori joined The Children’s Workshop in November 2019. She leads all aspects of our Human Resources programs to support the success of TCW team members. She is passionate about advocating for equitable access to affordable, high quality early education programs for all RI families.
Strong leaders set out to make a difference. They measure success by the impact they make in other people's lives. Our Executive Director, Board of Directors, and every employee at The Children's Workshop have a common goal: to improve the lives of children and under served families in our communities by helping them access needed resources and quality education. We accomplish this by supporting other organizations whose goals align with ours and through mentoring and community outreach.
The Children’s Workshop current Board of Directors are eager and active, newly appointed subcommittee chairs and Board president are recent under new Executive leadership. Much like our students and staff, our Board of Director's represent diverse communities and industries; with members in Education, Business , Finance, Banking, Human Resources, and Legal.
Pastor Dan Klassen, Chair
Barrington Baptist Church
Sonya Barbosa, Secretary
CEO, Minas Cleaning
Members
Stephanie Calenda
Human Resources Director
Wood River Health Services
Amos Hamrick
Family Teacher, Boys Town New England
Dan Harrington
Business Acceptance Consultant, MassMutual
Charles Johnson
Faculty, Times 2 Academy
Candice McLean
Lead Teacher Blackstone Valley Prep
Paul Miller
Special Education Teacher,
Bensalem Township School District
Taylor Millspaugh
Director of Business Development, CMRK
Matthew A. Reay
President, Good Morning LLC
Dave Sousa
Regional Vice President, Bally's Twin River & Bally's
BOARD of DIRECTORS
Leadership
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Our team is made up of individuals from a wide-rang of backgrounds, enabling us to collectively access a broad knowledge base to best serve the children and families of our communities, as well as support our TCW employees.
John is our Deputy Director, bringing more than 15 years of senior level youth program management experience to TCW. He is responsible for ensuring the highest level of care and education to our students and their families.
John joined TCW in December 2020 as our Regional Director of Operations, where he oversaw and improved daily internal and external operations for all 5 of TCW’s schools. In that role, he led efforts that strengthened operating efficiency and assisted the organization through a transformative period and into a return to growth.
John is a proud TCW Dad and holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Johnson & Wales University. He firmly believes that all children deserve equitable access to quality early learning opportunities, regardless of their socio-economic background, and is driven by this in his daily work.
John Kelvey
Deputy Director
jkelvey@tcwri.org
Sean Cassidy
Executive Director
scassidy@tcwri.org
Sean Cassidy serves as The Children’s Workshop’s Executive Director. With over twenty years of senior leadership experience, he takes pride in advocating for continual improvement and change with strong analytical approaches and effective communication.
Sean has established a unique mentor and supervisory experience, catered to individual’s strengths and growth providing extensive experience in operations and facilities management, fundraising, collaborative partnerships and program development.
Sean is a lifelong Rhode Islander and currently lives in Pawtucket with two daughters.
Abbie-Jo, a valued TCW team member for over 20 years, has an Associate degree in Elementary Education along with a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education. She first joined the organization as an Education Coordinator and has grown alongside TCW, always helping our teachers, children and programs reach new heights.
Serving as the Director of Education since 2020, Abbie-Jo is able to uniquely relate to both staff and parents, as she has filled many different roles in the organization and her son attended TCW from infancy through middle school.
Abbie-Jo is a firm believer in Whole Language - meaning a developmentally appropriate, experiential approach to learning where the students learn through exploration and discovery.
Abbie-Jo Francis
Director of Education
education@tcwri.org
Erin has been a proud TCW parent since February 2019 and joined The Children’s Workshop as our Staff Accountant soon after her son was born in 2021. She quickly proved to be an asset to our team and was promoted to Finance Manager in September 2021.
Erin oversees all areas of finance and administration including accounts payable and receivables, cash management, general ledger, banking and reconciliations, quarterly financial statements and RI State Pre-K grant work. She is an indispensable resource to the Support Team and Center Directors, providing strategic analyses to determine project and organization profitability.
Erin Van Durme
Finance Director
finance@tcwri.org
Lori joined The Children’s Workshop in November 2019. She leads all aspects of our Human Resources programs to support the success of TCW team members. She is passionate about advocating for equitable access to affordable, high quality early education programs for all RI families.
Lori Viner
Human Resources Director
hr@tcwri.org
Lori joined The Children’s Workshop in November 2019. She leads all aspects of our Human Resources programs to support the success of TCW team members. She is passionate about advocating for equitable access to affordable, high quality early education programs for all RI families.
Stephanie Williams-Desoucy
Director of Food Services
swilliams@tcwri.org
Steph joined the Food Service team in 2014 before stepping into the role of Director of Food Services in 2015. She graduated from Johnson & Wales in 2009, where she gained the knowledge that helped her work in various different food service areas, before ultimately finding herself a career at TCW.
Steph oversees the entire food service operation, including maintaining quality control as part of the high standards required to continue TCW's participation in the Child and Adult Food Program.