Teddy Gross is the founder and executive director of Common Cents, a national not-for-profit educational organization, which specializes in designing citizenship programs for children and young people, and supporting their work in schools throughout the country and across all demographic divides.
 
The organization started in 1991, and grew out of the desire of a four-year-old child to help a homeless man in New York City.  As the girl’s father, Teddy responded by  developing the Penny Harvest, which has continued to evolve over 17  years, and is now  a robust year-long program that uses philanthropy the service-learning to teach the skills of democratic participation, moral reasoning, and community building to children during their first decade of school.   Under his leadership, a lab at Common Cents continues to pilot new models and programs  in civic development.
 
Teddy's interest in innovating social justice programs is the natural outgrowth of a lifetime's work as a journalist, newspaper editor, children's book author, and playwright.  
 
Under Teddy’s leadership, the Penny Harvest has become the largest child-philanthropy  program in the United States, helping to nurture a new generation of caring, informed and capable young people.