Board and leadership

Our Team

Meet the leaders and board members guiding Takoma Park Lunch and Learn and its free summer program for local children.

Shana Fulcher is a dedicated community advocate, policy expert, and the Executive Director of Takoma Park Lunch and Learn, where she leads the organization’s mission to prevent summer learning loss and ensure food security for the city’s most vulnerable youth. A champion for equity and opportunity, Shana has spent over two decades we working to ensure that every resident of Takoma Park—regardless of income or background—has a seat at the table.

As Executive Director, Shana brings the same energy to non-profit leadership that she brought to City Hall. She oversees a program that provides essential academic enrichment and nutritious meals to underserved children, bridging the gap for families during the summer months. Her hands-on approach ensures that the program not only feeds students but also fosters a safe, supportive environment where they can thrive emotionally and academically

Since settling in Takoma Park with her family in 1995 Doris has been a resolute advocate for youth and in 2015 became assistant director of Takoma Park Lunch and Learn. Highly respected as a mentor in the District of Columbia summer youth programs and as an organizer of the Think Tank homework program in Takoma Park, she also arranges food deliveries to the less fortunate, particularly at Hampshire Tower, where she is president of the Tower Tenants Association.

Doris is the site coordinator for the Educare Food Pantry, Kokus Foods (Small Things Matter), the Greater Washington Adventist Community Services food distribution and Difference Makers. She serves on two Takoma Foundation committees, including the Racial Equity Working Group. For her volunteer work she has been recognized with an Azalea Award, a Martin Luther King Unsung Hero Award and other tributes.

A Takoma Park resident since 1983 Cherwanda first gained recognition for her successes as an organizer at the Essex House Apartments, where she lives with her family and previously served as Tenants Association president. Perpetually energetic, Cherwanda works locally as an office manager and assists several service groups, including the MLK Committee, the Village of Takoma Park, the Racial Equity Working Group, the Recreation Committee, Let's Play America, Celebrate Takoma and the Garden Crew.

She is a graduate of the Community Police Academy and is a program specialist with What’s My Bias Inc. In 2013 she was honored with an Azalea Award as volunteer of the year. Cherwanda has earned other accolades for community service, and at the Essex House she continues to serve on the Leadership Group.

In an extensive career with non-profit organizations Jay focused on government openness, peace and arms control, women's empowerment, environmental protections, interfaith partnerships and safeguarding the First Amendment. He also taught English in Taiwan and spent time in the Congo, India, Pakistan and Nepal, which heightened his awareness of racial and religious diversity.

Since settling in Takoma Park in 1985 he has helped organize activities to bring together people of different backgrounds and all ages. Jay served on the Recreation Committee, the City Grants Committee, the MLK Committee, the City Administrator Search Committee and several other volunteer groups, striving to live up to Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s view: "Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need of one another.”

Priscilla has lived in Takoma Park with her family since 1981 and has mentored and tutored children for decades, including one who is now a police officer in the District of Columbia. She volunteers with the Recreation Department’s Let’s Chat program and is a member of the Recreation Committee and the Racial Equity Working Group. She is also vice-president of What’s My Bias Inc. and the recipient of an Azalea Award.

She has been active in the civil rights, tenants’ rights, antiwar and prison reform movements and started Friends of the Takoma Park Recreation Center, advocating for a rebuild of the aging center on New Hampshire Avenue.

Now retired, she began the practice of immigration law in 1973, and the Washington Post and the New York Times have published her writings on immigration issues.

A native of Baltimore, Fred moved to Takoma Park with his wife in 1986 and later was elected to the City Council, representing Ward Six (2009 – 2017). While on the Council he championed creation of the City’s economic development program, a closer relationship with Washington Adventist Hospital, a revival of the Noise Control Board and helped establish the Commemoration Commission. He continues to fight for an expansion of the library and for a new recreation center on New Hampshire Avenue.

Fred is retired from a career in commercial banking and as a planner for the City of Baltimore and Arlington County. Currently he serves on the Police Chief’s Advisory Board, the Commemoration Commission, the Chesapeake Business Finance Corporation board, and the ECDC/Enterprise Development Group board, which makes micro-enterprise loans to area minority businesses.

As a resident of Takoma Park since 2012 and longtime supporter of the fabulous community-based organizations in the area, Melinda is proud to have joined the Board of Lunch and Learn in 2026. Committed to ensuring that every child has the chance to thrive academically while developing lifelong relationships and prioritizing fun, Melinda has seen the benefits that summer program has provided for hundreds of local children.

In her day job, Melinda serves as the US Managing Partner of Hausfeld LLP, a law firm dedicated to securing civil redress for victims of wrongdoing, especially in the areas of antitrust, consumer, privacy, environmental, and human rights.

Taylor Dibbert is a Program Director at the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). Before joining the ICFJ team, he worked at the US Counsel on Sri Lanka, a DC-based advocacy organization. Prior to that, Taylor worked for human rights NGOs in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. He began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala.

Over the years Taylor’s writing and journalism has appeared in a variety of outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Foreign Affairs and HuffPost. He’s author of, most recently, the poetry collection “Takoma.”

Taylor’s board service has included the Takoma Foundation and the Takoma Park Silver Spring Food Co-op.

Our Team

Shana Fulcher

Doris Duarte

Cherwanda Oliver

Jay Keller

Priscilla Labovitz

Frederick Schultz

Melinda Coolidge

Taylor Dibbert