On June 30th, 2023, Literacy Together’s staff said goodbye to Cindy Threlkeld on her last day as Executive Director (LuAnn joined us from New York!). We’ve been so appreciative of her leadership, her kindness, and her sense of humor. All the best, Cindy! Enjoy your retirement and your time with Gracie!

Read Cindy’s farewell message:

“June 30 will be my last day as the Executive Director of Literacy Together as I retire after almost four years in the role. It has been an honor to serve an organization that lives up to its mission of transforming lives and communities through the power of literacy.  

It takes time, patience, and tenacity to overcome the myriad of obstacles that stand in the way of learning a new language or achieving the goal of earning a GED. The synergy between our volunteer tutors and adult learners is inspirational. For elementary students struggling to keep up with their peers, working with an understanding adult or an energetic youth intern builds the confidence and skills to break through the fog towards a world of possibility. For families with children under five, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library provides free books to instill a love of reading from infancy to kindergarten. Literacy Together’s commitment to lifelong learning truly comes to fruition through our core programs.

I’ve been blessed to work alongside an amazing team of staff, volunteers, donors, community partners, and board members—people who are passionate about ensuring that everyone has access to literacy. I’ll miss the excitement and the personal satisfaction of working together to make that happen. 

The Transition Committee appointed by the Board worked diligently to select the right person to become the new Executive Director. Watch for that announcement in the next newsletter! I am excited about what they will bring to the organization and look forward to staying in touch.”

With gratitude,

Cindy Threlkeld

After an extensive search, Literacy Together is pleased to announce the selection of its new Executive Director, Amanda Wrublewski. Amanda is a Western North Carolina native. She was a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia when she powerfully connected with the importance of literacy and the inequity of access.

Amanda says, “As Executive Director, I commit to deeply understanding and evaluating our community’s many barriers to literacy. I will dedicate myself to working alongside the Literacy Together team to dismantle those barriers. It will be an honor to learn from a team of experts already doing this work so well while offering my perspective and guidance.”

Amanda was most recently the Vice President of Programs at Big Brothers Big Sisters of WNC, coordinating an 18-county region. Before that, she was the Program Supervisor at Swannanoa Correctional Facility, developing service plans to support and connect incarcerated women with needed assistance. 

Amanda begins her role in July, succeeding Cindy Threlkeld, who has served as Literacy Together’s Executive Director since 2019. Cindy is retiring June 30, leaving Literacy Together an expanded organization through her experience and guidance.

Literacy Together’s Board Chair, Marilyn Cortes, says, “Under Cindy’s leadership, Literacy Together has experienced tremendous growth as an organization by strengthening the four existing core programs; English for Speakers of Other Languages, Adult Literacy, Youth Literacy, and Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library® and by developing new programs. We are excited for Amanda to join our team and continue with our mission of changing lives in our community through the power of literacy.”

Literacy Together has served Buncombe County for over 37 years providing free tutoring to meet the literacy and English language needs of people of all ages in Buncombe County. Our vision is for a just and equitable community in which literacy is accessible and achievable by all.

David is a beautiful, creative, driven, and rare person in this world that we are grateful to know through our GED tutoring program. In this interview, David shares his experience with ADHD and dyslexia, two commonly intertwined learning disabilities/differences. While ADHD and dyslexia have been significant obstacles in David’s education, they have also been the source of his uniqueness and artistry, which he expresses through drag. You can find him performing as Ophelia Love at O. Henry’s, Asheville Beauty Academy, Miss Gay Latina, and other drag shows in the Asheville area. 

David’s essay explores the role that art, performance, beauty, passion, and PRIDE have played in his life. He chose to write this essay with spellcheck off and completely unedited so the audience can get a small glimpse into how language works in the mind of a dyslexic person. “Ophelia Ballet” is a complicated, liberated work of art — just like David himself:

Ophelia Balla

“I wish that you could see the ballai that in my mind. Each day we all straggle with something. I have learned new ways to adapet to these curstamances. To give you some background this is how I interpret my mind through music dance and performing. My bally is about me reaching for my dreams as a female inpersonater. Lets take a trip through my mind t let you see how beautiful I am. Not to be confused I know that I am beautiful and I love myself and proud of what  I have became as an entertainer. My balla starts with the three people and the main charter as Ophelia love and the struggles from her life that are from the past to present. Ophelia started out dancing as kid. Throughout the years she would learned this was they only thing that help me get through those though times. Then engment between these three people would last a life time though that never happen as we all got older and parted our ways. I think of those days and remember how it impacted me in ways no one would be able to usndertand. I’ve yet to perform this on any stage. But one day everyone will see the inter beauty that has come a long with this understanding. The music is soft a then travels through others people body mind and soal. Then is transfered  into the mind of a dancer that dose not know how to tell anyone of this gift in fear that it would be taken from them. As the music slowly reaches Ophelia she in transvered to  different unitferse and starts to think of what is happen to her. Then she come to the conclusion that maybe she is craxy but that not the true. I once read something that I could alawalys rember this qout “To be Or not to be which was written by William Shakespears. Wow how much this would inspire Ophelia. Ophelia begen to wonder how this would be perceived though the other dancers only to find that she was the only on that would be able to see it. I then beagn to dance as if I was a ballarrina only to have people make fun of me. This didn’t stop me I know that I would on day be able to perform it on stage. That time has come but have to work with dancers that don’t know. This such a scury thing I want people to see the interbeauty inside of Ophelia only to tell her she not any good or that she has talent.”

Would you like to support students like David? Learn how to become an Adult Literacy Program volunteer tutor!

Read more Adult Literacy Program success stories

Great news! The Youth Literacy Program has expanded the paid internship program to include the W. Buncombe Elementary School after-school program run by the Asheville YMCA. Three Erwin High School teens participating in the M.A.N.O.S. program were selected for this internship.

The M.A.N.O.S. program (Mentoring and Nurturing Our Students) offers mentorship, support, and resources to help students achieve their academic and career goals. The program works to cultivate a culture of academic achievement, social engagement, and community accountability among Latino youth. 

Some of the activities and services offered by M.A.N.O.S. include academic tutoring, college and career exploration, leadership development, and community service opportunities. The partnership with the Youth Literacy Program is a terrific avenue to support these goals!

The interns provide 1:1 reading tutoring to elementary-age students in the after-school program. The interns received training on effective literacy instructional strategies and have been provided resources and materials to use with their students. The tutoring pairs meet Monday through Thursday during the Y.M.C.A. after-school program to work on literacy skills, including phonics skills, vocabulary development, fluency, and reading comprehension. In addition, the tutors use literacy games, children’s literature, and engaging lessons to inspire the students to become strong readers. Learn more about the Igniting Superheroes Readers internship. 

Learn more about the Youth Literacy Program

We had a fantastic evening! Silas’ keynote was terrific, and we are so happy we met him in person! So here he’s with some board members. 

In this photo, our ESOL student Dulce is holding author Silas House’s book, and he’s holding Dulce’s first story. Dulce spoke to the audience and shared her experience as a student and her intention to be a writer and a motivational speaker.

There is still time to contribute to our Fund-A-Need auction. You can donate HERE.

 Thank you to everyone who came. We appreciate you! See the highlights of the night generously taken by Jesse Kitt, Jesse Kitt Photography.

Marilyn Cortes and Silas House

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