About The Civic Circle
The Civic Circle is a Silver Spring, Maryland-based nonprofit that brings civics alive for very young children with music and drama shared in assembly and after-school programs. For more information, please contact Eliza Newlin Carney at ecarney@theciviccircle.org.
TEAM MEMBERS
Eliza Newlin Carney
Founder & President
Eliza Newlin Carney is a civic writer and educator. She is a regular contributor to The Fulcrum, and her newsletter The Civic Voice spotlights civic solutions. She previously was senior editor for The American Prospect, and held senior posts at CQ Roll Call and National Journal. She is a longtime advocate of cultural and civic life in in Silver Spring, where she has lived for more than three decades. She is The Civic Circle’s founder and president.
Rio Liu
Program Associate and Teaching Artist
Rio Liu is a professional dancer and actor from Los Angeles. After receiving a B.A. Dance from the University of California, Irvine, he worked in T.V. and film while also working independently as a dance instructor and choreographer for studios and high schools throughout Southern California, including the Momentum Dance Center in Yorba Linda. Rio is committed to mentoring young students to find and nurture their artistic voices.
Erykah Joseph
Erykah Joseph has experience in education, public policy, and civics, and is pursuing a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction at Loyola University. A native Washingtonian, Erykah earned her B.A. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland. She is the CivicCircle’s AmeriCorps VISTA team member, a post sponsored by Transform Mid-Atlantic.
Connie Kramer
Connie Kramer is a recent graduate of Hood College, where she majored in Sociology, and received the Wayne C. Neely Prize for Academic Achievement in Sociology. While at Hood, she also studied Education, and interned in several elementary school classrooms. She previously served as an internat the U.S. Department of Labor. Connie is The Civic Circle’s Maryland Service Corps team member.
Damon Modarres
Program Assistant and Teaching Artist
Damon Modarres is a musician and educator based in Rockville, Maryland, and senior at American University. While a student at Northwest High School, Damon was active in an extracurricular STEAM program called the Secret Society of Songwriters, and returned after graduating as a teaching assistant. A longtime tutor, Damon has also worked with local youth organizations such as SMYAL and DC Teens Action.
Italia Massalla
Teacher
Italia Massalla is a Montgomery College STEM and Nursing degree candidate with a passion for teaching and mentoring young students. She has classroom experience teaching students ranging from 1st to 5th Grades in Reading, Pennsylvania. She is a Civic Circle Teacher.
Jessica Rodriguez
Jessica Rodriguez is a Los Angeles native now living in Virginia. She has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Master’s in Public Health from New York University. She has held a variety of posts in health education, serving low-income and Spanish-speaking youth. She believes in sustained access to education, housing and health care for all children.
Allen Genephat
Web Intern
Allen Genephat is a student at Montgomery College, studying Digital Media and Web Technologies. Born and raised in Silver Spring, he has a love for technology and is planning on a career in web development in the future. He has a passion for building computers and coding.
TEACHING ARTISTS
Marissa Barnwell
Marissa Barnwell is a Texas-based dancer with a focus in hip hop, lyrical, and jazz. She is a dance major at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Marissa started dancing at the age of three, and while growing up was a competitive dancer, and worked with choreographers around the country. She strives to be a role model for young dancers, and to encourage dancers of color to fight for their dreams.
Malachi Byrd
Malachi Byrd is Washington, D.C. author, poet, teacher, songwriter, and arts advocate. An African-American Studies graduate from Princeton University, “MalPractice” gets his name from his commitment to mastering his crafts. He was the inaugural Youth Poet Laureate for D.C., has published three books and four albums, and is founder of the Crowning Too Early Scholarship Fund.
Gayle Danley
Gayle Danley is an acclaimed poet who performs and teaches poetry to children all over Maryland. She is the Maryland Library Association's Poet of the Year, Young Audiences of Maryland Artist of the Year, and Young Audiences National Artist of the Year. She is a former national and international poetry slam champion, and is a Kennedy Center master teaching artist.
Carolina Hernández
A native of Colombia, Carolina Hernández has experience in Middle Eastern dance, Bollywood, Turkish, Colombian folklore, and Latin dances. She is the founder and the director of GET Dance Company (Global Expressions Through Dance) in Rockville, where she teaches Colombian Folklore, Latin American Dances and World Dance. She has performed throughout the United States, as well as in Turkey, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador.
Kelsey Joyce
Kelsey Joyce is a Maryland-based artist who specializes in creating colorful mixed media creations and joyful environments. Joyce uses art and fantasy to transport viewers into an optimistic environment with the hope that her art will relax them,ignite their imaginations, and make them happy. When Joyce is not creating works of art she is teaching, designing, and expressing herself through dance, fashion,and music.
Munit Mesfin
Munit Mesfin is an award-winning Ethiopian singer, songwriter, and teaching artist. Her performances blend her Ethiopian roots with the music she loves–roots, soul, reggae. In addition to touring, recording, teaching and consulting, she is also a cultural organizer and entrepreneur, and performs with her daughters as “Munit and z Lovebugs.” She also serves a teaching artist and project director with Carpe Diem Arts.
Lea Morris
Lea Morris is an award-winning songwriter well known to Washington area audiences. She has worked extensively with students and adults in a variety of settings, from sing-alongs to songwriting workshops. She has performed extensively in the U.S. and Europe, including at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Nick Newlin
Nick Newlin has been entertaining children of all ages for 30 years as NicoloWhimsey with his high-energy super-fun comedy juggling act, including storytelling, poetry and audience participation. He also directs plays at the high school level and has written a book series called “The 30-Minute Shakespeare.” Nick also plays rock and roll accordion!
Shawn Shafner
Shawn Shafner is an artist, educator and facilitator based in Washington, D.C. Founder of The People's Own Organic Power Project (thePOOPproject.org), he has created taboo-busting theater, film, podcasts and educational events since 2010. Shawn’s performances have taken him from the United Nations to Madison Square Garden and singing with the New York Philharmonic.
Gabrielle Zwi
Gabrielle Zwi is a community organizer, educator and musician who advises the local youth organization DC Teens Action, and serves on the City of Rockville’s Human Rights Commission. Gabrielle also serves as a Public Representative on Montgomery County’s Committee Against Hate/Violence, and is a singer, songwriter and recording artist who regularly performs throughout the region.