David Levine

David is an educator, writer, musician, and a nonprofit leader with more than 30 years of experience working in a multitude of educational settings, as a teacher, facilitator and systems change specialist. Between 2014 and 2016, he worked for Turnaround for Children in New York City, as a designer and coach. Turnaround works with high-poverty schools in NYC, Newark, NJ, and Washington, DC, facilitating learning environments that meet the physical and emotional needs of all students. David also worked for four years as the chief trainer and facilitator for The Northeast Regional Center’s Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities Program, a Department of Education project devoted to creating emotionally safe learning communities. David has consulted extensively for school districts up and down New York’s Hudson River Valley, including schools in New York City, Poughkeepsie, and the city of Beacon, focusing on creating caring and compassionate school cultures where social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence are foundational practices.



As a musician, songwriter, and producer, David produced a Parent’s Choice Gold Award winning recording of original children’s music for Angel Records, and an award-winning music video documentary, focusing on empathy and social decision making. Using his songs as learning tools, David designed the Music Dialogue process which inspires both children and adults to look within to make a difference without. As a writer, he wrote four books and numerous journal articles that focus on empathy and emotional intelligence practices, as community building tools. He earned an MEd in Creative Arts in Learning from Lesley University, in Cambridge, MA, and a BA in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire.



In March, 2016, he founded Teaching Empathy Institute.

The Teaching Empathy Institute