Our Team
Our team is made up of a talented group of staff and consultants who bring a unique skill set to the work. With decades of experience in the early learning, facility, finance, funding and management fields, our team is well-positioned to support you in all aspects of your facility projects. RICCELFF staff are part of the Rhode Island LISC team and can be reached at the Rhode Island LISC office:
Jeanne Cola
Senior Executive Director
Jeanne Cola serves as Senior Executive Director of the Rhode Island office of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a position that she has held since 2011 when she moved to that role from Board Chair and President of LISC's Local Advisory Committee. Cola brings nearly 30 years of experience in housing and community development to her work at LISC Rhode Island.
Kayla Arruda
Program Assistant
401.519.5698
Erin Cox, AIA
Senior Program Officer
401.519.5684
Nati Taveras
Assistant Program Officer
401.519.5683
Claudia Rodríguez Arrieta
Assistant Program Officer
401.437.5963
Staff Biographies
Kayla Arruda, Program Assistant and Technical Assistant Specialist:
Kayla joined the LISC and RICCFF team in August 2022 to provide technical assistance to child care providers. As a former member of the Nation Association for the Education of Young Children’s Young Professionals Advisory Council and currently serving as board secretary of the Rhode Island Association for the Education of Young Children (RIAEYC), Kayla is committed to increasing quality and access to quality early learning and child care for all children. Prior to joining LISC Kayla was a Teacher and Program Coordinator for The Children’s Workshop in Warren and HR Assistant for BJ’s Wholesale Club. Kayla holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a concentration in Child and Adolescent Development from Southern New Hampshire University.
Erin Cox, AIA, Senior Program Officer and Technical Assistance Specialist:
Since joining the RICCFF in 2015, Erin has worked to provide technical and design expertise to child care and early learning programs to improve the safety, quality, and capacity of their physical space. In addition to managing the Child Care Facilities Fund, Erin also coordinates between centers and design consultants, develops and implements training workshops, seminars, meetings, special events, and resource materials, actively advocates for investment in high quality facilities for Rhode Island’s children, and also works closely with the LISC Rhode Island Executive Director to administer special projects. With her dedication to utilizing her skills and experience to assist the early learning community, Erin enables the RICCFF team to provide over 1,000 hours of specialized technical assistance annually to child care providers across the State seeking to make changes to improve their space. Erin currently serves as an appointed member of the Rhode Island Governor’s Early Learning Council.
Prior to joining LISC, Erin worked as a Project Architect at Brewster Thornton Group in Providence, RI and as a Project Architect at Hartman-Cox Architects in Washington, DC for over eight years, specializing in historic preservation and adaptive reuse of existing buildings. Erin holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Architecture and a Master’s Degree in Architecture from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Erin, a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), is a registered architect in Virginia and Rhode Island and is a Certified Playground Safety Inspector (CPSI)
Natividad (Nati) Taveras, Assistant Program Officer, Program and Office Operations and Management:
Nati first started working with LISC as an AmeriCorps member in 2000 as a project coordinator for the Southside/BroadStreet organization. In this role, she served as a liaison between the organization and the business community, focusing on neighborhood concerns such as safety, litter, and economic development. She was hired as a full time employee at LISC in 2002 at which time she assisted in launching the RICCFF. During her tenure at LISC Nati has performed a variety of critical administrative support functions, including her role as the Program and Office Operations Manager. Nati focuses her energies on supporting the work of the RICCFF with particular focus on supporting technical assistance to home-based child care providers, program and consultant billing, and overall administration. Nati was educated in the Providence Public Schools and is a graduate of The Sawyer School. She is fully bilingual and very knowledgeable about Rhode Island’s nonprofit and early learning communities.
Claudia Rodríguez Arrieta, Assistant Program Officer:
Claudia (Clau) has extensive experience in public service. Prior to joining LISC Rhode Island in summer of 2023, Claudia worked in Bogota, Colombia, as advisor for economic and international affairs at the Executive Office of the President, the Central Bank, the National Congress, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Environment, and the British Embassy. Clau will be supporting the child care team’s grants and contracts management. Additionally, Clau’s first language is Spanish, allowing her to serve a vital role in providing technical assistance for our Spanish speaking providers.
Clau received a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in International and Global Affairs from the Harvard Kennedy School. She received a Master’s Degree in Economics and a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics with a minor in International Relations from Universidad de los Andes (University of the Andes) in Bogota, Colombia.
The staff team is augmented by a pool of consultants with specialized expertise in early learning facility design and development. To access these consulting services, please complete a technical assistance application, which can be found HERE.