JCLC Leadership
Our Team
Staff

Amy Mitchell
Operations Director
amy@joshuacalebleaders.org
Bio +

Rev. Jerry Mitchell
Executive Director
jerry@joshuacalebleaders.org
Bio +

Katherine Koopman
Communications Manager
katherine@joshuacalebleaders.org
Bio +

Kathie McNeilly
Event Coordinator
kathie@joshuacalebleaders.org
Bio +

Russ Bauman
Provision Partner Consultant
russ@joshuacalebleaders.org
Bio +

Amy Mitchell
Director of Operations
Amy Mitchell is a licensed social worker certified in Child and Adolescent Trauma receiving both her BSW and MSW from Cleveland State University. Amy is extremely passionate about bringing hope to children and families in crisis, focusing specifically on trauma, grief, poverty, refugee resettlement, parenting, marriage, anxiety, ADHD, suicide, and depression. In addition to seeing individual clients, Amy served as the School, Camp, and Support Group Coordinator for Cornerstone of Hope before joining her husband in leading Joshua and Caleb Leadership Center. In addition to individual counseling, she has provided support groups in schools, churches, and counseling facilities, and is a former member of the Western Cuyahoga County Schools Crisis Counseling Team. Amy brings over thirty years of ministry experience with children and families to her JCLC role, having served with a number of churches and nonprofit organizations in Cleveland, Indiana, and Ontario, Canada.

Rev. Jerry Mitchell
Founder & Executive Director
After graduating from Michigan State University, Jerry earned his Masters of Divinity Degree from Concordia Theological Seminary in 1990. As an Ordained Minister, he served congregations in Ontario, Canada, Fort Wayne, Indiana and Cleveland, Ohio. Following a unique career path, he then spent fifteen years in the medical device industry. In 2015, in response to his passion for unfathered and at-risk children, Jerry launched Joshua and Caleb Leadership Center to serve at-risk boys and girls and their moms. Jerry loves spending the best hours of his day helping young people embrace the fact that they are not a mistake, but were uniquely created by God for a Divine purpose and plan.

Katherine Koopman
Director of Learning and Development
Katherine is a founding member of the JCLC staff, having been the catalyst for expanding JCLC’s services to include girls. Katherine holds a degree in Business from Wheaton College and a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management from Cleveland State University. After a brief stint in the corporate world, Katherine followed her heart for underdogs and joined the JCLC staff as Program Director. She has used her administrative and ministry talents to serve and love the preteen and teen girls in the JCLC ministry and has been a key leader in the development and expansion of JCLC’s nine-year discipleship curriculum. In her current role as Director of Learning and Development, Katherine continues to develop and hone JCLC’s services and materials, while also investing her time in discipling and mentoring teen girls.

Kathie McNeilly
Event Coordinator
Kathie brings a long history of serving children and families through education, ministry, and volunteer management. Having earned her Master’s degree in Education, she spent twelve years in the classroom followed by five years working with preservice teachers at a local university. In addition, Kathie served her home congregation for seven years as the Director of Children’s and Family Ministry. For the last eight years, Kathie has served area non-profit organizations by coordinating and managing volunteers. Kathie has been gifted with an incredible servant heart and infuses the love of Christ into all that she does.

Russ Bauman
Provision Partner Consultant
Russ Bauman is a retired financial planner with over 40+ years of service experience in helping people manage their finances and charitable giving. Russ’ heart for the underdog is evident in his years of service to not only the children and families of JCLC, but also his work with newly arriving refugees. Russ has been an active mentor with Joshua and Caleb Leadership Center for over six years and has invested countless hours in the unfathered and at risk boys and girls JCLC serves.
Board of Directors

Julia Ellifritt, MSSAS, LISW-S
Board Chair
Director of Education and Community Engagement, Cornerstone of Hope Bereavement Center
Adjunct Professor, Case Western Reserve University
Adjunct Professor, Case Western Reserve University

Minister Linda Anderson Gaines, MA, PCC-S
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor

Dr. Gerald Juhnke, Ed. D., LPC, NCC, MAC, ACS
Professor/The University of Texas at San Antonio
Author
Author

Chris Steinmann, M.A.
Superintendent & CEO, Cleveland Lutheran High School Association
Van Lunen Fellow in Christian School Executive Management, Calvin College
Van Lunen Fellow in Christian School Executive Management, Calvin College

Emilee Weatherred, B.A.
Consultative Analytics Manager, Broadspire
Partners

Lutheran High School West

Learning for Humanity

Community West Foundation
