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Meet Our Team
JARED ACKER
Director
Jared spent 13 years as a bilingual educator in Denver Public Schools before founding Craft for Community. He fell in love with the community of El Transito and started a second home there. A fluent Spanish speaker, Jared holds dual Master's Degrees in Educational Leadership and Non-profit management. Jared is also a licensed school administrator in the state of Michigan and Colorado in the United States
JENNIFER COOPER
Program Manager
Jennifer is a ceramic artist with over twelve years of teaching experience in high needs public schools. Jennifer is a certified visual arts and career-technical education teacher who worked with various high needs programs and students in order to promote post-secondary workforce readiness within the arts. Jennifer holds a bachelor's degree from the New York State School of Ceramics at Alfred University and a Masters in Curriculum and Education
EMIR MUNGUIA
Property Manager
Emir was born and raised just a 10 minute walk from Craft for Community and knows the community as well as anyone. One of 12 siblings, Emir is great with people and knows everyone in town on a first-name basis. He loves to talk about El Transito and is a great guide to show students around town
FRANCISCA "FRAN" ESCALANTE
Lodge Manager
Fran moved to El Transito at a young age and her family is well known throughout the village. Fran manages every aspect of The Lodge (La logia) to make sure students and guests are comfortable and enjoying their trip. As Craft for Community’s chef, Fran strives to provide students and guests with the freshest, most natural ingredients in her cooking. Fran greets every guest with a warm smile and loves to chat about life in other countries.
DENIS LOPEZ
Program Coordinator
Dennis' family is originally from El Transito however Dennis was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. After spending his first 20+ years of his life in Canada, Dennis moved back to El Transito with his family where he met his wife and now has two beautiful children that you will probably meet at Craft for Community. Dennis is the in-country coordinator who helps with all logistics and planning for each group.
Luisana is originally from Granada, Nicaragua. She has her Master's Degree in Education and worked for the Ministry of Education in Granada for over 9 years. She is bilingual but loves encouraging students to use their Spanish and challenge themselves to become better Spanish speakers and learners.
LUISANA GUTIERREZ
Spanish Teacher