Ramona Burkey has been the Executive Director of the Russell Library since 2018.  During that time, she has led the library through a bold and inclusive strategic planning initiative, a facilities visioning process, and several major technology upgrades.  Prior to her work in Middletown, Ramona served for thirteen years as the Director of the Cheshire (CT) Public Library, and for five years as the Assistant Director of the Manchester (CT) Public Library. She began her professional career as a children's librarian, and will thus always have a special place in her heart for services to kids and families.

Ramona has served as chair of the Connecticut State Library's Advisory Council for Library Planning and Development, as a leadership mentor with the New England Library Association, and has recently taken on various leadership roles within the board of the Middlesex United Way.  Her passion lies in strengthening her community, whether through education, economic opportunity, or even just breaking bread together.

Ramona is a graduate of Yale University, with a bachelor's degree in Anthropology, and of Southern Connecticut State University, where she received a Master's Degree in Library Science.  In 2010, she was named a "Mover and Shaker" by Library Journal, for her commitment to intellectual freedom.

Justin Carbonella has been serving as the director of the City of Middletown's Youth Services Bureau for the past 9 years. Over this time he has built the department to be the central coordinating hub around youth development, juvenile justice and mental health issues in the Middletown community.

As part of his role Justin chairs a number of community coalitions including the Greater Middletown Community Collaborative, Middletown Juvenile Review Board, Right Response coalition, and the Middletown Substance Abuse Prevention Council. He has also initiated a community wide youth engagement campaign that has been recognized multiple times as prevention program of the year on both the state and local level. Additionally, his work around social media and bullying were featured in Emily Bazelon’s “Sticks and Stones” and a related article in The Atlantic “How to Beat Bullys”.

Justin is a dual graduate of the University of Connecticut holding a bachelors in Political Science and a masters in Public Administration and is a proud product of the Middletown Public Schools system.

Terri DiPietro is the Administrative Director for Behavioral Health at Middlesex Health located in Middletown, CT. She has worked at Middlesex for 29 years. Her passion is on improving how patients connect to care in the community to sustain recovery goals. Terri has worked in collaboration with multiple provider agencies in Middlesex County to revive and enhance care coordination as part of the Community Care Team model. She has been actively involved in community conversation since May of 2014 with a goal of promoting the conversation that mental health disorders and addiction are diseases that people do recovery from. She has recently partnered with research students at Wesleyan University to quantify the impact of homelessness on healthcare outcomes.

Terri has been an Occupational Therapist for 34 years working primarily in Outpatient Behavioral Health. She received her MBA with a focus in Healthcare Management in 2006. She has been an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy at Quinnipiac University in Hamden CT. since May of 1998. Terri is currently the co-chair of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Sub-committee at CHA and the Operations Sub-committee for the Behavioral Health Oversight Committee. She co-chairs the Community Care Team work group for the Partnership For Strong Communities.

Lorenzo Marshall is the Workforce Development Director for the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce. 

Precious Price is a Hartford native who spent her adolescence years in various Connecticut foster homes. Growing up, she became an advocate for youth in foster care and shared her experiences at various DCF Forums. Through this, Precious discovered a natural ability for advocacy and working with children in care. Her passion for advocacy for transforming inequitable systems led her to Washington DC, interning for both Senator Chris Murphy and the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute where she published and presented policy recommendations around overmedicating youth in foster care. Upon her return to Connecticut, Precious worked with the North End Action Team which broadened her lens of community organizing and advocacy to include racial justice. Recently featured as one of Connecticut Magazine’s 2017 Top “40 Under 40” Precious is now the new Director/Community Organizer of the Middletown Racial Justice Coalition, a coalition which began in 2016 under the Middlesex Coalition for Children. Precious holds a Master of Social Work with a concentration in community organization from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work.