Stephen Grimaldi (right), with board member Roland Woodland.
Stephen Grimaldi serves as Executive Director of YCP. He represents the Pantry on advocacy issues at the city, state and national level, working alongside the Board of Directors to implement policies and procedures as well as coordinating all fundraising activity. Previously, he was the Deputy Executive Director of Urban Pathways, where his duties included promoting and maintaining quality programming, supervising agency-wide operations, writing grants, and assisting with development activities.

Grimaldi has also served as the Shelter Director, Homeless Services at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House; the Director of Social Services, Housing Department, of the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizen Council, Inc.; and a Homeless Outreach Team Social Worker, Homeless Outreach Project, at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House.

Grimaldi received an M.S.W. from Hunter College School of Social Work and is a Licensed Master Social Worker. He has recently completed all but his dissertation on his Ph.D. in Social Welfare at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Abigail Franklin is the Director of Development at YCP and is responsible for defining and executing fundraising strategy and for implementing communications plans. Until 2006, she was Vice President for Endowment Resources at the Ms. Foundation for Women, bringing leadership and strategy to its historic $35 million campaign.

Before joining the Ms. Foundation, Franklin had a long association with Columbia University, where she held several positions including Director of Development for the School of the Arts, Director of Development for Columbia College and Senior Development Officer for the Arts and Sciences both during and after the University’s $2 billion capital campaign.

Franklin also served as Associate Director of Development for the internationally renowned Brooklyn Academy of Music and was an Off-Broadway theater producer, winning Obie and Drama Desk awards for her work. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and holds a graduate degree from Yale School of Drama.

Daniel Reyes has worked at Yorkville Common Pantry since 2003, coming on board then to launch 24|7 YCP, New York City’s only acute emergency food pantry that never closes. In 2006, he became the Director of Programs, managing all programming and building operations at YCP.

Reyes started his professional career as a high school teacher before transitioning into the social service sector. Prior to YCP, he worked in other community based organizations managing programs in supportive housing, youth development, and family services. He is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minnesota) and holds a graduate degree from Roosevelt University (Chicago IL).

Gladys Ortiz serves as Yorkville Common Pantry’s Volunteer Coordinator. She has spent the past nine years at YCP recruiting volunteers through businesses, schools, and religious organizations, as well as building a network using YCP’s website. Ortiz trains and directs volunteers for our pantry, breakfast and dinner programs, toy drives and turkey drives, and she oversees pickups and drop-offs of various donated items to our programs.

Before joining Yorkville Common Pantry, Ortiz worked in administration for New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development.