Our Team
Meet The Talented People Who
Bring Our Work To Life.
Team
Amanda Dahlin
Data & Design Specialist
Amanda Dahlin is a Data & Design Specialist with The Liber Institute. Before joining the team, she consulted on developing age-appropriate, prosocial behaviors in school districts and homes across Rhode Island. She has helped children, youth, and young adults with a range of developmental abilities to reach goals using principles of behavior.
Amanda supports program development and data tracking with The Liber Team, but her favorite responsibility is partnering with the team and community members to write and share their stories.
Amanda is a wife and homeschool mom to two, a homesteading enthusiast, and a proud bookworm.
Heather Dahlgren
Cultural Integration and Education Specialist
Heather Dahlgren is the Cultural Integration and Education Specialist at The Liber Institute. Having experienced an education based on compliance and memorization while growing up all over the US and Canada, she derives significant satisfaction in dismantling the standard education model. Heather is deeply motivated to support adults in creating systems and spaces for children to feel seen, safe, creative, valued, and appreciated for their unique gifts, identities, cultures, and perspectives. She has worked many years in the education field, from teacher's aid to school teacher, from school board member to teacher coach. She is the recipient of several honors and awards for engaging learners and creating culturally affirming spaces. She has received degrees from Grossmont, and U.C. Berkeley, holds a K-12 teaching certificate and is a Teach for America alum.
Heather is also a recovering nomad, a mother of two curious, empathetic, and delightfully opinionated children, and a budding mycophile.
Jorge Ibarra
Policy and Advocacy Fellow
Jorge is a Policy and Advocacy Fellow for The Liber Institute. He began his career as a Language Arts/ELL teacher in Miami-Dade. This past summer, he began transitioning from the classroom into the policy field through Leadership for Educational Equity fellowships. Jorge first completed a summer fellowship with The Liber Institute and is now completing a 9-month fellowship with the Texas Education Agency. He is currently serving with The Liber Institute as part of his graduate school capstone. Jorge received a B.A. in Communications from Wheaton College (IL) and is finishing up an M.Ed. in Community and Social Change from the University of Miami. Additionally, he is a Teach for America alum.
Jorge lives in Miami, FL, and enjoys staying active with martial arts and strength training.
Kara O’Connell
Strategy and Implementation Lead
Kara leads implementation and strategy work at The Liber Institute, and she collaborates with the team to design and implement innovative programming for Liber partner schools. Kara's career spans 30 years as a classroom teacher and educator. Over the last ten years, she has worked with schools and districts to tie school-community vision to classroom practices.
Kara lives in Southeastern Massachusetts and spends her free time exploring the world with her partner and pups.
RoseMary Clairmont
Sicangu Lakota
Partnership and Outreach Lead
Professionally, RoseMary is an educator and Indian Education equity advocate with 16 years of K-12 teaching and administration experience. Her responsibilities include supporting local area schools, supporting the tribal education code, and leading a task force on education with local area partners. She is completing research in a doctoral program. One space of interest is the affinity space she hopes to build up for Indigenous educators.
"I love the work I do to build better experiences for our Native students. My previous experiences have led me to my current work of support and advocacy. partnership, and collectivism to attain impact for education that is reflective in a good way of our Indigenous children”
RoseMary Clairmont (Wo ihan ble ito kab mani win) has two beautiful Lakota girls, ages 12 and 14, and is a pack leader to 3 dogs. She loves yoga, mud runs, and hiking. As a family, RoseMary and her daughters enjoy traveling, fishing, camping, and binge-watching K-dramas.
Tara Seibel
Program Design Lead
Tara comes to The Liber Institute after working alongside The Ministry of Education in Nicaragua, Sinte Gleska University, Teach For America, and Design for Change to capture and support youth-led innovation and responsive instruction. Now at The Liber Institute, she has the opportunity to elevate youth and community voice and promote agency through liberatory design processes - towards learning experiences for Indigenous education leaders.
“I envision a world where we are all - collectively - spiritually, emotionally, and physically free. I believe in the power of community-based leadership, elder and land pedagogy. And I commit to innovating and co-creating a future that honors the dignity of all relatives.”
Tara lives and learns on Sicangu Lakota land on the Rosebud Reservation with her family - tending to chickens, picking tomatoes, and training to be a doula.
Jonathan Santos Silva
Founder
Jonathan Santos Silva is the Founder of The Liber Institute and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Cambiar Education. He is also the host of Changing Course (a podcast with Teach for America’s One Day Studio) and Chairman of The Bored of Ed. This podcast amplifies the voices of inspiring BIPOC educators who are changing the face of education. Jonathan’s K-12 education career began at Little Wound School on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where he taught secondary math and called play-by-play for Mustang Athletics. Since then, he has served as a school founder, high school principal, instructional coach, education consultant, and an on-the-ground technical support provider under South Dakota’s Native American Achievement Schools Grant.
He lives with his family in Rhode Island, on the traditional territory of the Narragansett, where he is a devoted soccer and dance dad/driver.
Board
Sage Fast Dog
Sicangu Lakota
Founder - Wakanyeja Tokeyahci (Children First Learning Center)
Sage D. Fast Dog Sr. is Sicangu (Burnt Thigh) under the Titunwan Oyate (Prairie Dwellers People) of the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires). He was raised on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, home of the Burnt Thigh people, and attended elementary and secondary school there. He graduated from St. Francis Indian School and received a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, Lakota Studies, and a Master’s degree in Education at Sinte Gleska University. He taught Lakota Studies at Todd County Middle School for 11 years before applying for a fellowship with NISN in 2016.
Sage successfully completed 13 years as an educator for Todd County School District and left the district in 2019 to become the first-ever Director and Head of School for the Wakanyeja Tokeyahci Wounspe Tipi (Children First Learning Center) on the Rosebud Reservation, which opened doors virtually in the fall of 2020. He is active in the community and serves on the Todd County School Board. Sage is a traditional singer and dancer on the powwow trail, takes part in the Lakota spiritual way of life along with his 4 children, and proudly shares his home with his wife in Mission S.D.
Josie Green
Oglala Lakota
Wa’awanglake (Head of Region) - Teach For America South Dakota
Josie Green is the Waawanglake - VP, Head of Region for Teach For America – South Dakota. In this role, Josie works alongside tribal education leaders, school administrators, and first & second-year teachers to reimagine systems that have historically underserved Indigenous young people and their families. Josie's leadership expands educators' perspectives and knowledge, enabling them to go beyond westernized schooling expectations, honor Indigenous ways of knowing, and advance the academic and personal growth of their young people in partnership with communities and families.
Dr. Robert Goodman
Founder - RGoodman Associates, LLC
Dr. Robert G. Goodman Ed.D. has over thirty years of professional experience assisting organizations and leaders to perform effectively across business, healthcare, and educational settings. As founder of RGoodman Associates, LLC, he helps leaders and teams reach higher levels of performance through leadership coaching at all levels.
Bob began his career as a classroom teacher and then moved into the Special Education space as Director of a day treatment program for children with moderate to severe disabilities. Bob also founded and maintained a clinical psychology and psychotherapy practice for children and families for eighteen years.
Bob has served as a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In his past role as Ed.L.D faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, he collaborated with the Harvard Kennedy School, and the Harvard Business School. Bob maintains involvement, providing leadership development, teaching team effectiveness, and developing the personal mastery portion. Bob also advanced Myers-Briggs Type Inventory certifications and is certified in the Leadership Circle 360 assessment.
Bob enjoys being with his grandson, gardening, writing poetry, and open water swimming.
Dr. Rasheed Meadows
Founder & CEO - Rasheed Meadows & Associates, LLC
Dr. Rasheed Meadows is the founder and CEO of Rasheed Meadows & Associates LLC, a national education leadership, equity, and innovation company. His K-12 education experience ranges from being a public school teacher to leading a highly successful school transformation as principal to leading a network of schools as assistant superintendent. He’s been Vice President of a nationally renowned organization for education reform and most recently was the Chief Executive Officer of the High Tech High network of schools.
In all his roles, Rasheed has worked to challenge and equip others with the skills and resources necessary to propel themselves forward academically, intellectually, and professionally.
Rasheed holds a bachelor’s in biology from Yale University, a master’s in teaching and curriculum, and a doctorate in education leadership from Harvard University.
Rasheed shares his days with his wife, nine-year-old son, and their beautiful Rhodesian Ridgeback, Jalib. In his downtime, he moonlights as a grill master and saxophonist with the occasional bike ride through San Diego canyons.
Sarah White
Oglala Lakota
Director of Education Equity - NDN Collective
Sarah White is Oglala Lakota from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. She has 8 years of experience working and advocating for Title VI Indian Education Programs, working at Rapid City Area Schools in South Dakota and Omaha Public Schools in Nebraska. Sarah holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a master’s of education degree from Creighton University, and a PK-12 Administrator endorsement from the University of South Dakota. She leads NDN Collective’s education equity campaign work, expanding opportunities for Native American students to access culturally relevant and culturally responsive learning environments.