Title: Joseph DiSilvio

Joseph is a rising second-year graduate student in the Global Human Development Program at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service with a concentration in education and human development. This summer worked with the Education Development Center (EDC) in Kigali, Rwanda on a USAID-funded project called Huguka Dukore, which trains out-of-school youth for private-sector jobs and entrepreneurship. He used his background in special education and teaching to build inclusive programming for Rwanda’s most vulnerable youth including girls, youth with disabilities, and LGBT youth. Prior to attending Georgetown, he served as a Teach for America Corps Member and was a special education teacher in low-income and immigrant communities in Brooklyn, NY for 7 years. He also has served as a teacher trainer for Teach for America, and led a variety of initiatives for developing curriculum and improving instruction. An avid traveler, after his fifth year of teaching he took a yearlong sabbatical with his wife to travel to 12 countries, inspiring him to expand his focus to educational issues internationally. He has a degree in International Studies from the University of Washington and an M.S. in Elementary Education and Students with Disabilities from Pace University. Originally from the Washington, DC area, he spends most of his free time playing guitar and banjo or listening to live music.