Joel Berg is a nationally recognized leader in the fields of hunger and food security, national and community service, and technical assistance provision to faith-based and community organizations.

Before becoming executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger in 2001, Berg served two years as USDA coordinator of community food security, a new position, in which he created and implemented the first-ever federal initiative to better enable faith-based and other nonprofit groups to fight hunger, bolster food security, and help low-income Americans move from poverty to self-sufficiency.

He was USDA coordinator of food recovery and gleaning the previous two years, working with community groups to increase the amount of food recovered, gleaned, and distributed to hungry Americans. Also, while at the USDA, he served as director of national service, director of public liaison, and as acting director of public affairs and press secretary. From 1989 to 1993, he served as a policy analyst for the Progressive Policy Institute and a domestic policy staff member for the President-elect Bill Clinton's transition team.

Berg has published widely on the topics of hunger, national and community service, and grassroots community partnerships. A native of Rockland County, NY, and a 1986 graduate of Columbia University, Berg now resides in Brooklyn. He is the past winner of the US Secretary of Agriculture's Honor Award for Superior Service and the Congressional Hunger Center's Mickey Leland National Hunger Fighter Award.

Victoria Dumbuya manages the Coalition's AmeriCorps*State Program, which engages 23 AmeriCorps national service participants in direct service activities to support soup kitchens and food pantries citywide. In this capacity she serves as a liaison between team members and their site supervisor, and additionally plans the AmeriCorps*State curriculum and tracks key performance measures of the program throughout the year. She joined the Coalition in Fall 2006.

A graduate of Rutgers University, Victoria previously served as an AmeriCorps national service Team and Service Leader at Hands on Atlanta, a non-profit that coordinates tens of thousands of volunteers with service opportunities in over 400 organizations and schools throughout Atlanta, Georgia.

Neal Flowerman is responsible for overseeing the Coalition's volunteer matching program, which links short and long-term volunteers with food pantries and soup kitchens throughout the five boroughs. He additionally supervises the Coalition's Volunteer Management VISTA.

Neal previously served a one-year AmeriCorps VISTA term at the Jewish Association for Services of the Aged (JASA) as their Volunteer Coordinator. He has also volunteered his services at the Mayor's Volunteer Center and at the Big Apple Greeter. He holds his BA in Speech/Theater from Long Island University.

Esther Sharon Larson manages NYCCAH’s donor development, fundraising, and grant writing activities. In this capacity, she works to increase awareness of NYCCAH’s work and to bring funding support to the 1,200 food pantries and soup kitchens it represents. With a background in the anti-poverty movement with the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, she brings experience as their AmeriCorps*VISTA program manager and New York Times Neediest Campaign communications manager.

With a Vanderbilt University BA, New York University MA, and MPA from Texas A&M University, she brings a wide-variety of experiences, including a White House internship with the Office of the USA Freedom Corps. She is a Board member of the Micah Global Foundation, an Arizona based foundation started by her parents whose unwavering devotion to service has motivated her involvement in promoting social change.

Carrette Perkins directly manages NYCCAH’s Farm Fresh Initiative, Advocacy Intern/Interfaith Voices Against Hunger Project, Annual Hunger Survey of food pantries and soup kitchens, Child Nutrition Program Capacity Building Project, Media and Communications, and Technology Project. Carrette also supervises the Coalition's Communications and Technology VISTAs.

With a B.A. from Queens College, CUNY, and M.A. from The University of California at Los Angeles, Carrette brings a range of experience to the Coalition. She came to NYCCAH directly from a 2 year service in the Peace Corps, where she taught English as a Foriegn Language in Mongolia, and prior to that, she spent a year as an Americorp VISTA. Before venturing into the nonprofit field, Carrette worked as an Editor at the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in their Corporate Communications department and as a Publisher's and Editorial Assistant at John Wiley and Sons.

George Spira is currently the Director of Finance and Administration for the Coalition. He coordinates NYCCAH's administrative, financial, and office support work, processing a range of financial reports for federal, state and city offices. George also oversees the Coalition's operating budget and billing for various grants.

Prior to his work with the Coalition, George spent over thirty years in the finance sector. He has worked on various projects for the Food Bank for New York City as well as St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church-Community Ministry, and is an active member of United Jewish Appeal’s Commission on the Jewish People.

Jim Wengler previously served as the Coalition's Benefits Outreach Consultant, and has been with the organization since July 2003. The majority of his work centers around the United Way Food Card Access Project, of which NYCCAH is a partner. This project helps people in communities throughout the city determine their eligibility for food stamps and assists them in the enrollment process.

Jim is a graduate of Rutgers University and has 10 years experience in the social service field, previously working with agencies serving those affected by HIV / AIDS. He also spent a year in Nicaragua as a volunteer for an organization that served impoverished and orphaned children.

Alexandra Yannias is the Coordinator of the IVAH Initiative and works to mobilize civic and religious leaders to advocate for intensified government action to end hunger and poverty. In this capacity, she is responsible for coordinating efforts to achieve anti-poverty policy victories, engaging in policy research and media outreach, and for serving as a liaison between the Coalition and other anti-poverty organizations.

Alexandra graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History from Wellesley College and recently completed her master's degree in Political Science at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She is passionate about social justice and has significant experience in advocacy, activism, teaching, and policy research both in the United States and abroad.

Andrea Dispenza is currently serving in the AmeriCorps*VISTA program at the Coalition as the Volunteer Management VISTA. Andrea connects interested volunteers with emergency food providers (food pantries and soup kitchens) in need of skilled and unskilled volunteers. Andrea graduated from West Virginia University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies.

Sandy Su serves as the Coalition’s Technology VISTA, where she works to increase the effective use of technology at soup kitchens and food pantries across the city. She oversees the collection and distribution of donated computer equipment, as well as designing software training to increase the operational efficiency of various EFPs. In addition, Sandy focuses on improving in-house data integrity and management systems, as well as maintaining the NYCCAH website. Prior to joining the Coalition, Sandy worked as an IT project manager for Johnson & Johnson. She graduated from Rutgers University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science in Management Science and Information Systems and a language concentration in Chinese.

Valerie Torrez served with AmeriCorps Direct last year in Hartford, CT and is entering her first year as an AmeriCorps*VISTA here with the Coalition. Valerie is the Year Five VISTA Team Leader, working as a liaison between the Coalition’s 14-member VISTA team, their host agencies, and NYCCAH. Additionally, Valerie is responsible for VISTA reporting to the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), facilitating bi-weekly meetings and trainings, and mentoring the VISTA team. Valerie graduated from the University of Portland in 2004 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Global Business with an emphasis in Marketing Management.

Frances Wood, the Coalition's Communications VISTA, creates and adapts communication tools to meet the needs of the Coalition’s member agencies, volunteers and supporters. Frances manages Hunger Headlines, the Coalition’s monthly e-news update; the quarterly newsletter, Beyond the Soup Kitchen; and the Hunger Blog. Frances graduated from Eugene Lang College with a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies. Before joining the Coalition, Frances worked on a Community Sustained Agriculture (CSA) farm in western Washington state.