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Union’s big tent

Meet the UFT’s private and nonprofit sector leaders
New York Teacher

More than 5,500 UFT members are employed by organizations other than the Department of Education. They are members of the union’s private and nonprofit chapters, and such members encompass some 26 groupings of professionals under 11 umbrella units.

“A notable aspect of the UFT is the diversity of workers it represents and fights for,” said Anne Goldman, the UFT vice president for private-sector and non-DOE chapters.

Goldman leads the union’s largest division in the private sector: the Federation of Nurses/UFT. The federation represents several thousand health care professionals at two private hospitals and two home health care agencies in New York City. Over its 40-year history, the federation has participated in two strikes and regularly achieved on-time contracts with groundbreaking provisions to strengthen nursing care.

The Family Child Care Providers Chapter, organized in 2007, represents about 2,000 child care providers who provide a nurturing and educational environment in their homes for thousands of children, ranging from 6-week-olds to school-age kids.

The 1,100 members from ADAPT Community Network’s schools, residences and day habilitation programs include teachers, teacher assistants, direct care workers, clinicians and other support staff. They work 24/7 with cognitively and physically challenged children and adults, teaching them the academic and adaptive skills they need to be as independent as possible while assisting them with essential activities of daily living.

The UFT also represents workers in a smattering of other private schools and nonprofit organizations: Birch Family Services, the Block Institute, the Consortium for Worker Education, Lincoln Center Education, Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin HS and the Lorge School.

Learn more about the nature and scope of the work these members do.

DOE employees are not the only New York City municipal employees in the UFT either. The union represents supervisors of school security, who work for the NYPD, and per-diem hearing officers, who preside over cases for the city’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. The union also represents workers at 18 charter schools.

Adapt Community Network

Elaine Forrest

Elaine Forrest
ADAPT Network Lawrence Avenue

Susan Sypniewski

Susan Sypniewski
ADAPT Forest Hills West School

Laura Augsbach

Laura Augsbach
ADAPT Harry H. Gordon School

Neyda Hernandez

Neyda Hernandez
ADAPT William O'Connor Midwood School

Edwidge Lyons

Edwidge Lyons
ADAPT Greenpoint School

Venecia Rosanelli

Venecia Rosanelli
ADAPT William O'Connor Bay Ridge School

Andrea Mingola

Andrea Mingola
ADAPT Port Richmond

Ellen Vogel

Ellen Vogel
ADAPT Clearview School

John Damico

John Damico
ADAPT 80 West End Avenue Preschool

Birch Family Services

Arelis Peralta

Arelis Peralta
East Flatbush Early Childhood Center

Robyn France

Robyn France
Springfield Gardens Early Childhood Center

Ira Kaplan

Ira Kaplan
Phyllis Susser School for Exceptional Children

Federation of Nurses/UFT

Kelley Sheffey

Kelley Sheffey
VNS Licensed Practical Nurses

Moncef Righi

Moncef Righi
NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn

Bevin Sullivan

Bevin Sullivan
Staten Island University Hospital South

Raquel Webb-Geddes

Raquel Webb-Geddes
VNS Registered Nurses


Tammie Miller

Tammie Miller
UFT Family Child Care Providers Chapter Leader

Nestor Rodriguez

Nestor Rodriguez
Consortium for Worker Education

Beth Levy

Beth Levy
Block Institute

Belinda Saenz

Belinda Saenz
Lincoln Center Education

Jesse Karp

Jesse Karp
Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin HS

Leadership of these four chapters is pending: 
ADAPT Residences, West 154th Street, Flushing Avenue; Lorge School; The New Jewish Home; and Birch Soundview Early Childhood Center

Related Topics: Federation of Nurses