Virgil Sheppard is a proud West Philadelphia native, passionate youth advocate, and seasoned educator. He caught the education bug while serving as a coach, mentor, and tutor for the Panthers Youth Development Corporation, a community-based organization that provides year-round programming for 300 students in West Philadelphia. This led to a career in education that began with the School District of Philadelphia's Behavioral Team, overseeing the Comprehensive Student Assistance Process for 40 schools, and serving as a Middle School Administrator in the most diverse and second largest middle school in Philadelphia. Additionally, Virgil oversaw the first Response to Instructional Intervention (RTII) pilot for the school district. Just prior to transitioning to City Year six years ago, Virgil served as an RTII Specialist assigned to the School District of Philadelphia's Turnaround network. He was charged with overseeing student support services for all ten schools and writing social-emotional learning curriculum for the schools in the network.