Meet our three newest staff members. We’re excited to have them on our team, and can’t wait to see all the great work they’re going to do for literacy in Southern Arizona.
Jessica Lenchitsky – Reading Seed Program Coordinator
Jessica is new to Tucson and is enjoying exploring the desert surroundings- a drastic change for a life-long Oregonian! She is a recently returned Peace Corps Volunteer where she served as a Literacy Advisor in rural Jamaica for two years. As an avid traveler, Jessica loves learning about culture and language. Her experience in coordinating supplemental reading and after school programs for grade schoolers has brought her to Literacy Connects and the Reading Seed team. Jessica has always had a passion for service and is inspired to work with an organization that is doing so much good for the community.
Dawn Curry – Infusion Project Director
Dawn grew up in rural Ohio where her love of reading opened a world of ideas and possibilities. This curiosity resulted in her being the first in her family to attend college. Her interest in global social inequity and a passion to understand the “why” behind these issues ultimately led her to the field of Anthropology in which she received both a BA and MA from the University of Arizona. This integrative perspective and a belief in the value of people’s stories came together in a career in program evaluation. For more than 20 years she has worked in both non-profit and academic environments conducting research and evaluation in the areas of public health, food security, behavioral health, and literacy.
The proud mom of two brilliant and beautiful daughters, Dawn enjoys writing poetry, hiking her favorite Mt. Lemmon trails, and traveling anywhere, whenever possible. And of course reading remains a source of inspiration, escape, and hope. She is delighted to join the staff at Literacy Connects and share in their mission to change lives through literacy.
Sarah Buss -Reach Out and Read Southern Arizona Program Manager
Sarah grew up in small town Vermont, moved to Boston to study Industrial Design and began working in the publishing world. After a few years, ready to see the world, she joined the Peace Corps. She served in Ghana where she learned ASL and local indigenous crafts that she integrated into her visual arts teaching at a school for the deaf. Her Peace Corps experience inspired her to pursue a career in Public Health and she recently graduated with a Masters in Public Health from the University of Arizona. She has a love for all things creative including figure drawing, throwing pottery, and photography.
She has a seventeen-month-old son, Oliver, who already has a passion for reading. His favorite books are currently Sheep in a Jeep and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. From observing a young child develop, she’s inspired to see firsthand how, given the opportunity, children gravitate towards books. She is excited to get books in the hands of children through the Reach Out and Read program– instilling in them a lifelong passion for reading.
