Jonas manages the certification process for the Service Year Exchange. His work on the Service Year Exchange also includes developing resources, supporting partnerships, and creating and implementing communications and customer support strategies. Jonas’ belief in the power of service years is tied to his firsthand experiences, which began when he served as a corps member with City Year Philadelphia in 2010. He served a second year with City Year as a Diplomas Now Team Leader, before going on to teach at Baltimore City Public Schools as a 2012 member of Teach for America.
Prior to joining NCoC, Jonas worked in public education as a member of both Teach for America and City Year. He created and taught original units and lessons as a middle school English teacher for Baltimore City Public Schools. While teaching, he earned a Master of Science in Education from Johns Hopkins University.
As a Diplomas Now Team Leader with City Year, Jonas coordinated a team of AmeriCorps members in providing strategic interventions and whole school programming to middle school students in Philadelphia. In this role, he also managed school partnerships, tracked and utilized data to advance student achievement, led trainings for corps members, and facilitated feedback from over 230 AmeriCorps members by administering a site-wide corps council.
Jonas graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science from Villanova University. During his time at Villanova, he was a columnist for The Villanovan and also served as a teaching assistant. Outside of work, he enjoys running, hiking, cooking new dishes, and finding new music to add to his record collection.
He currently lives in Washington, DC.