About Us

We have one goal; to help strengthen the foundation of child development, by empowering children to read, dream, explore and succeed.

We have a strong belief that reading comprehension skills are the foundation to education and we are committed to encouraging the development of these skills.

Our History

Colleen’s Corner is named after Colleen Ortega, a long-time educator who committed her life (30+ years) to teaching, developing and encouraging, early childhood professionals and children to dream and succeed.

Colleen passed away suddenly in 2016 and her legacy now lives within the many children and educator lives she has impacted and the thousands more to come by way of Colleen’s Corner.

Our Values

The kids are always first and everything we do is with that in mind. We are a non-profit organization who host many fundraisers throughout the year to raise funds in which 100% of the donated funds are put back into Colleen’s Corner.

Our Skills

We are a group of educators, artists, engineers, and business savvy professionals who are passionate about seeing Colleen’s vision for childhood development continue and grow in her name.

Meet Our Editors-in-Chief

Barbara Díaz, M.Ed

Barbara is a recent retiree with decades of experience in early-childhood development, teacher coaching, supervising, curriculum building, and Bilingual/ESL Education. Barbara and Colleen worked closely together for many years and fueled each other’s passion to put children first in every decision they made.

No one understands children, the school system and Passaic better than Barbara Díaz. She started in the Passaic School district 36 years ago as a Bilingual Kindergarten Teacher earned her Masters in Bilingual/Bicultural Education from Kean University. After 21 years in the classroom she worked towards driving an even bigger impact by becoming a teacher coach and eventually Supervisor of Early Childhood Education. Prior to retiring, she worked as the Supervisor of Bilingual/ESL Education with Passaic Public Schools.

Barbara Díaz is now collaborating with William Paterson University as a Professor in Residence, coaching and supporting Early Childhood Education Centers. She is also administering ECERS-3 throughout the state of New Jersey.

Barbara is truly unrelenting in her quest to make a lasting impact on children and we couldn’t be prouder to have her onboard. Her experience in teaching, teacher coaching, supervisory and her extensive knowledge of English Language Learners will assist in providing the foundation of Colleen’s Corner.

Why Colleen’s Corner?

“I’m one of Colleen’s best friends and I’m excited and honored to help keep Colleen’s educational vision alive by being part of Colleen’s Corner.” – Barbara Diaz

Karen Dube Calise, Ed.S.

Karen earned her post graduate degrees from Florida International University and started her career in education as a Special Education teacher in the 4th largest school district in the United States, the Miami-Dade County Public School system.

As her passion for helping and enhancing child development continued, her professional path led her to take a job as a School Psychologist. After 5 years working as a School Psychologist in some of Miami-Dade’s most needy inner city schools, Karen took her talents to Passaic, NJ.

Karen has worked in the educational psychology field for 20 + years and is presently a Preschool Intervention Specialist for Passaic Public Schools in Passaic, NJ.

We are fortunate to have an educational psychology perspective at Colleen’s Corner. Karen comes to us with a wealth of knowledge, experience and energy; we are confident she will play a pivotal role in helping Colleen’s Corner to inspire children to read and be read to.