From the Peace Corps to the Bronx to the World: 20 years of IPED Fellows at UNHP!
2026 marks 20 Years of IPED Fellows at UNHP! University Neighborhood Housing Program has supported IPED Fellows from Fordham University’s International Political Economy and Development Program since 2006. This year marks 20 years since the relationship began, bringing former Peace Corps Volunteers to the Bronx through the prestigious Paul D. Coverdell Fellows Program. The program offers Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCV) the opportunity to continue their service while pursuing an advanced degree. In partnership with Fordham, Fellows are offered a full tuition scholarship and a Bronx community internship. UNHP is one of the partners and has benefited from receiving RPCVs for a 3-semester-long commitment who served all over the world, from Ecuador to Madagascar and beyond. Over the years, Fellows have contributed to UNHP’s work through their commitment to service by providing invaluable skills in data analytics, research, writing, and program management. In particular, they have been instrumental in advancing our advocacy efforts in the Northwest Bronx by using their skills to assist with community outreach events, track energy-conservation efforts, write detailed reports on UNHP’s affordable-housing preservation, and contribute to crucial research and development efforts. Pictured: 2026 class of IPED students, IPEDers, Kendall, Sebastian, and Preston in action, and Jim Buckley, UNHP’s Executive Director, with Dr. Henry Schwalbenberg, Director of Fordham University’s IPED Program and UNHP board member.
This blog was originally written in 2019 and has been updated for the 20th-anniversary celebration of the IPED fellows at UNHP. The IPED program and this milestone will be highlighted at UNHP’s 5-10-20 Milestones That Matter Fundraiser on May 28th at Serviam Hall in the Bronx.
Angel Ventling and Andres Romero were UNHP’s first IPED interns. They are meeting with Cathie Brady to survey multifamily buildings and their renovation needs.
Since 2006, UNHP has welcomed Peace Corps Fellows from Fordham’s International Political Economy and Development (IPED) Master’s program as three-semester interns. Fordham University offers the Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Fellowship to selected returned Peace Corps volunteers. The prestigious fellowship offers tuition for the IPED program and a Bronx community internship; UNHP is one of the internship sites. After proving their dedication to community development abroad through their Peace Corps service in countries as varied as Nicaragua and Madagascar, Fellows have risen to the challenge of working with Bronx organizations while completing their Master’s in Development.
The contributions of these Fellows to the work of UNHP cannot be underestimated; they have supported UNHP through their commitment to community development, their data analysis skills, their assistance with our Tax Preparation Program from its inception through to 2020, and their desire to learn from our advocacy efforts in the Bronx. Thanks to the length of the internship (three semesters), the Fellows can fully engage with our work to create and preserve affordable housing and bring needed resources to the Northwest Bronx.
Josh assists a Bronx resident during the UNHP Free Tax Preparation Program
Each IPED Fellow has shared their unique background and skillset with UNHP. Andres Romero helped launch our Free Tax Preparation Program, Josh Kyller assisted us in tracking our energy conservation efforts, and Angel Ventling assisted us with fundraising. IPED alum, Kristen O’Neil (IPED 2014), helped us manage and update our Building Indicator Project Database. Anthony Cotton, who served in Senegal, supported our work on water and sewer rate reform to preserve affordability in community-controlled housing.
Coverdell fellows have also been major contributors to our research on housing affordability in the Bronx. In addition to helping us update our website and update the BIP, Elizabeth Wisman Strojan (IPED 2013) co-authored our report, Nowhere to Go: A Crisis of Affordability in the Bronx, with Deputy Director Gregory Jost. She stayed on to assist UNHP in forming a collaboration with our neighborhood partners, Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation and Fordham Bedford Community Services. Thomas Zuber served in Benin, West Africa, as a Peace Corps volunteer and assisted us with tax preparation, updating the BIP, and adding videos, blog posts, and photos to our website. Thomas went on to get his Ph.D. in African history at Columbia University. Richie Koch was instrumental in writing and researching UNHP’s “Affordable Water for Affordable Housing Report” in 2015, as well as in updating the BIP. Adam Pearlman served in Namibia for the Peace Corps. He helped with the BIP and developed a survey for home-based daycare providers. Jessica Way assisted with small-business development in Nicaragua during her Peace Corps service. Jessica assisted UNHP with the BIP and housing research and also helped many Spanish-speaking residents with financial services. Donovan Hotz served in Paraguay for the Peace Corps, assisted Spanish-speaking clients for UNHP’s Free Tax Program, and was instrumental in helping UNHP upgrade its Salesforce database to track Northwest Bronx Resource Center program use. Donovan continues to volunteer at UNHP when we partner with other groups to assist with taxes. Megan Madeo served in Tonga, in the South Pacific, for the Peace Corps and increased her village’s rainwater storage capacity. Megan assists UNHP’s Free Tax program by gathering survey data from UNHP clients, creating UNHP’s one-pager, and assisting us with affordable housing research. There is more information about the Fellows who worked with UNHP after 2019 in the captions under their pictures. We are grateful for all our IPEDers.
Matt and Johanna meet with a Rose Hill tenant during a senior housing mobile tax day
IPED Fellows Elizabeth and Kristen join in the fun at UNHP’s Bronx Ale House fundraiser
The combination of volunteer work abroad, a Master’s degree, and community development work in the Bronx has served our Fellows well. IPED UNHP Fellows have found employment with the government (US Department of State, USDA, USAID), International NGOs (Catholic Relief Services), and the private sector. Joshua Kyller was employed with Catholic Relief Services and worked in Greece. In his previous CRS assignment, Josh was a senior manager responsible for their efforts to restore livelihoods and housing in those areas of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan. Josh is back in the States and using his IPED skills with a group called Global Communities. In the private sector, Matt Ladd went on to work at Ernst and Young. Nathan Snyder parlayed his BIP data skills into a job as a senior data analyst at Haver Analytics and is currently with the Kansas Board of Regents. Fellows have also gained employment in community development in the United States. Elizabeth Wisman Strojan continued to partner with UNHP in her post-Fellow life at Enterprise Community Partners and later as a VP for Government Affairs for NYC Housing Development Corporation. Elizabeth and her family moved back to Louisville, Kentucky, where she serves as the Executive Director of the Louisville Metro Housing Authority (LMHA).
In addition to our Coverdell Fellowship interns, other IPED students have worked with UNHP in our Free Tax Preparation Program, namely: Drew Loizeaux, Katie Jaitner, and Michelle Virgin. IPEDer Tyler J. Falish worked with in 2017 on a special blog post series called Views from the Northwest Bronx. We are grateful for and proud of the work of all our IPED interns. Special thanks to Dr. Henry Schwalbenberg, Director of the IPED Program, for his work sustaining the program through the pandemic when the Peace Corps was temporarily halted and through the turmoil of federal funding losses to US international aid programs. The IPED program continues to provide meaningful placements and internships for its students. We look forward to a renewed collaboration with IPED Fellows and Fordham University in the years to come.
Kristen and Thomas, with UNHP Financial Director Johanna, get ready for the UNHP Building Tour
UNHP IPED Fellows Making an Impact*
Angel Ventling, Intern 2006-07, US Department of State
Andres Romero, Intern 2007-08, USDA Foreign Agricultural Service
Anthony Cotton, Intern 2008-09, USAID 2009-2025, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Brian Quinlan, Intern 2009-10, US Department of Homeland Security
Matthew Ladd, Intern 2009-10, The Institute for Western Energy
Joshua Kyller, Intern 2010- 11 Global Communities
Nathan Snyder, Intern 2011-12, Kansas Board of Regents
Elizabeth Wisman-Strojan, Intern 2012-13, Louisville Metro Housing Authority
Kristen O’Neil, Intern 2013-14, NYC Department of Education
Thomas Zuber, Intern, 2013-15, Impact Initiatives
Richie Koch, Intern 2014-2015, Proton
Adam Pearlman, Intern 2015-2016, Tester Construction Group LLC
Jessica Way, Intern 2016-2017, EY
Donovan Hotz, Intern 2017-19, Moody’s Ratings
Megan Madeo, Intern 2018-2019, Catholic Relief Services
Anna Margarita Canero, Intern 2019-2020, Pacific Community Ventures
Preston Anderson, Intern 2020 – 2021, NYC Economic Development Corporation
Ellie Bauer, Intern 2020 – 2021, New York State Department of Health
Sebastian Coronel, Intern 2021-2022, Markets Policy Partners
Kendall Ogle, Intern 2022-2023, International Samaritan
Harrison Yu-Zepeda, Intern 2024, Greater Des Moines Partnership
Aliyah Sahqani, Intern 2024, NYC Comptroller **
Leslie Grullon, Intern 2024-2025, Success Academy **
Tymber Felts, Current Intern
*Not all jobs listed are up-to-date **IPED interns at UNHP, but not Coverdell Fellows
Anthony Cotton served in Senegal during his time in Peace Corps and helped UNHP highlight the need for water and sewer rate reform to preserve affordable housing.
Katie uses her Spanish language skills to assist during Tax Preparation
IPED Fellow Richie Koch is joined by Ariva’s quality reviewer Chris and Fordham student volunteer Kevin at a 2015 UNHP tax day at Refuge House.
IPED Fellow Adam Pearlman mans the student volunteer booth at Lehman College
IPED fellows, Jessica Way, and Donovan Hotz worked with other UNHP staff and volunteers to offer the NYC online affordable-housing lottery enrollment to Bronx residents. Donovan has stayed connected with UNHP and volunteers at our outreach events.
Megan encouraged our free tax prep program users to take a survey, so UNHP could better understand the needs of neighborhood residents.
Anna Margarita trained 29 student volunteers at our Bronxtober Fest Resource Fair. Volunteers helped Bronx residents enroll in Housing Connect.
Anna Margarita Canero served as an educator in Guinea and is pursuing an additional Master’s Degree in Economics after graduating from IPED in December. Anna coordinated UNHP’s first virtual tax prep program and did research on the New York affordable housing lottery. She is a co-author of a blog post series on Housing Connect. Anna stayed on at UNHP after her time as a fellow and made many contributions, including program evaluation, to our work with Bronx residents.
Preston Anderson joined us in September 2020 as an IPED fellow, having previously worked with the Peace Corps in Peru. He helped us connect tenants with rent in arrears to the necessary resources, translated documents, and provided support for our virtual tax preparation services. Ellie and Preston had the extra challenge of interning with us during COVID. The fellows’ high level of technical skills was very useful to our work with Bronx residents during the pandemic.
Ellie Bauer, served as an agriculture extension educator in Ethiopia. As an IPED intern at UNHP, Ellie researched and put together newsletters, resource guides, and blog posts. She now works for the New York State Department of Health.
Sebastian Coronel provided reporting assistance, wrote a newsletter for the Northwest Bronx resource center, and really enjoyed assisting Bronx residents with UNHP housing and financial services. Sebastian is pictured here at UNHP’s West Tremont site office, where he helped local community members apply for Housing Connect 2.0 on their mobile phones. As a Spanish-speaker, he was able to interact with Spanish-speaking immigrants from Mexico and the Dominican Republic and learn firsthand the challenges immigrant communities in the Bronx face.
Kendall here with Cathy and Jumelia came to UNHP with a variety of skills, and her work at UNHP included grant applications and reports, newsletter development, social media management, website maintenance, writing blog posts, and speaking with clients seeking financial services or assistance with housing lottery applications. Kendall served in Ecuador during her time in the Peace Corps and also worked as a teacher in a remote Alaskan village during her summers.
Harrison Yu- Zepeda and Jumelia are ready to greet interested homebuyers at the NWBRC Homeowner Resource Fair with Valley Bank. Harrison worked on updating our BIP database while with UNHP.
Aliyah and Yadhira are all smiles at UNHP’s 2024 annual fundraiser, Here Comes The Sun. Aliyah interned with UNHP in 2024 and now works for the NYC Comptroller’s Office. Aliyah wrote the Sunny Side Up blog detailing our work to install solar arrays in 7 of our affordable buildings in 2023.
Here’s Tymber Felts with her class in Ecuador during her time with the Peace Corps. Tymber has assisted UNHP by gathering information on grants and low-cost loans for solar programs, conducting solar arrays and energy feasibility studies for 11 of UNHP’s affordable buildings, reporting, and grant writing.
Each year, new IPED students take a tour of the Bronx and community development efforts led by Gregory Jost, which includes a stop at Concourse House to meet with UNHP and Fordham Bedford Housing Corporation.