Reading Partners SF Bay Area is a nonprofit organization that engages community volunteers to provide students with the proven, individualized reading support they need to read at grade level by fourth grade. We seek to create a more equitable future, one where every child in the Bay Area has the support they deserve to become strong readers and lifelong learners.
Reading Partners SF Bay Area is powered by AmeriCorps, a federal agency for national service. We mobilize AmeriCorps members to recruit and coach volunteers, support students during and outside of tutoring sessions, work on capacity-building projects, and so much more.
Meet our team
Considered a key advisor and subject matter expert on account management, brand visibility, and nonprofit leadership, Hector has established himself as a true bridge-builder in the movement for educational equity. As a fervent pacesetter for mission-driven organizations, his professional efforts have landed him extensive experience in partnering alongside school eco-systems to impact change.
He has over a decade of experience developing, managing, and implementing programs targeted at the advancement of underserved groups. Hector has led partnerships with multiple local and nationwide organizations including BACR, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, YMCA, and City Year. In his previous roles with Revolution Foods, Playworks, and most recently Eye to Eye National, Hector built lasting partnerships with multiple institutions with a shared goal of designing programmatic advancement relating to outcomes, impact, and user experience while enhancing leadership, school climate, and action planning.
He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Oakland, California’s Holy Names University (HNU). Hector is a family man first, spending his free time laughing through life with his wife and four children.
Originally from San Jose, CA, Miiraf briefly moved to the East Coast to attend Phillips Exeter Academy before coming back home to study English Literature at the University of San Francisco (Go Dons!). Throughout her upbringing, she spent time volunteering in literacy education in Ethiopia, where her family is from. Her passion for service and equity in literacy education led her to Reading Partners in 2018, where she served as an AmeriCorps Site Coordinator at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in San Francisco. She then moved to Madrid, Spain where she taught English and American Culture to high school students at IES San Juan Bautista for two years. While in Madrid, she also led the Global Classrooms (Model UN) program at San Juan through Fulbright Spain, adapting the program to surmount the challenges we all faced in the past two years. She is incredibly excited to be returning to Reading Partners in the role of Program Manager in the East Bay! Growing up, Miiraf could be found reading Dragon Rider, the Nancy Drew series, the Underland Chronicles, and of course, Harry Potter, among many others.
Lauren grew up in southern California and studied English at university. While getting her bachelor’s degree, she completed a nine-month study abroad in Florence, Italy to go toward her minor in Italian literature. She worked in psycho-education for three years and completed two years of service in Thailand with the Peace Corps, working in rural schools and communities in the south. Upon returning, she moved to San Francisco to join Reading Partners and served two years as an AmeriCorps member. Now she is a program manager at Reading Partners who is passionate about serving students in the Bay Area. She lived inside the Harry Potter universe as a child yet her favorite children’s book is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry – she currently owns a copy in English, Italian and Thai.
Rebekah comes to Reading Partners as the Community Engagement Director after holding the role of Community Engagement Associate from 2018-2020. She was recently the Director of Programs at a non-profit working on community organizing with local high school students, and is excited to return to Reading Partners with some new perspectives. As someone raised in the East Bay, she is looking forward to continuing to work in an organization that focuses on building strong community partnerships to directly serve the students within the community. Outside of Reading Partners, Rebekah spends her time focused on community organizing, enjoying the outdoors, and watching bad reality TV. While Nancy Drew was her favorite series to read growing up, her favorite children’s book is Amelia Bedelia.
Originally from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Shea graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She gained her passion for service and literacy while serving as an AmeriCorps member and volunteer coordinator at Jumpstart Pittsburgh while in college. Shea joined Reading Partners in 2019, completing two AmeriCorps VISTA terms before joining as full-time staff. Growing up, her favorite books were the A Series of Unfortunate Events series.
Matt grew up in Fresno, California, and has lived in the Bay Area since 2018. After spending four years at Saint Mary’s College of California, Matt graduated with a BA in English and, just a few months later, began his first Americorps service term with Reading Partners as a volunteer coordinator. Two years and two service terms later, Matt joined the Reading Partners staff as a community engagement associate with a focus on recruitment. One of Matt’s favorite childhood books was The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and he shared that he was thrilled to find that same book in several of our reading centers!
Originally from the Chicago area, Mareko is an alumna of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She developed a commitment to getting things done while serving with AmeriCorps VISTA in Kansas City, and later as a City Year San Antonio Program Director. Driven by ensuring young people access the opportunities they deserve to become the change-makers our communities need, she joined amazing teams at The Posse Foundation and iMentor. Mareko most recently served as a director at Moneythink, where she launched a remote coaching program that supported students through texting and apps.
Sam is a community engagement associate in the San Francisco Bay Area and originally is from Los Angeles, CA. They studied Chicanx Studies and Political Science at community college before transferring to UC Santa Cruz, graduating with a B.A. in Latin American and Latinx studies. After graduating, Sam joined Reading Partners as an AmeriCorps member for two terms, serving as a volunteer coordinator before their current position. In elementary school, they could be found on a beanbag in the library reading A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Spiderwick Chronicles. These days, you’ll find Sam at an art show, biking, or a concert!
Born in Hong Kong and raised in Oakland, Hong graduated from Cal State East Bay with a BS in Hospitality, Recreation, and Tourism. He is proud to have come up through Oakland public schools, and graduated from Oakland Senior High School. Before joining Reading Partners, Hong worked at the Oakland Ed Fund where his love of development began, as development manager before transitioning to a major gifts officer, where he qualified, identified, cultivated, and solicited prospects through extensive local work. Working for the Reading Partners is his chance to realize his dream of tying his career to his roots, of giving back to the community where he grew up riding the BART from west to deep east, and attending the very schools he is working to support today. He looks forward to continuing to serve the Bay Area and the opportunity to develop a successful business here. When he is not at work, Hong loves spending time with his wife and two daughters, traveling, and eating out, or cheering on his favorite sports team, the Golden State Warriors! His favorite book to read to kids is Dim Sum for Everyone by Grace Lin.
From Oakland, Akilah’s first term of AmeriCorps service was as a fellow at Public Allies, a non-profit organization that focuses on building capacity and leadership development. It was there that she really got the chance to foster her love of early childhood education after being placed at the Oakland Youth Chorus. Akilah carried that passion with her as she started her second service term at Reading Partners! She was placed at Madison Park Academy Primary and began to form a great relationship with the amazing school community as a Program Coordinator at the reading center! While serving at this site, Akilah was able to professionally develop in the areas of working with a team with different titles and responsibilities which ultimately led her to become a program manager. Akilah’s favorite children’s book right now is, Dragons Love Tacos.
Originally from Seattle, Washington, Veronica grew tired of the constant rain and after getting a bachelor’s degree in Russian at Western Washington University she moved to Denver, Colorado. Here she served for a year as a volunteer coordinator for Reading Partners Colorado. After an intense service year, she packed up again and moved to Budapest, Hungary to teach English to middle school students. Falling in love with central Europe, she stayed in the region and went back to school, earning a master’s degree in Human Rights Law from Central European University in Vienna, Austria. Despite loving her life in that city, the memories of her service year were never far from her mind, and she felt compelled to return to Reading Partners. Wanting to see some sun, she chose to come to the Bay Area and left her heavy winter coat behind. As a child, Veronica’s favorite books were history related, with a soft spot for the “Little House” series. These days she can be found reading, doing needlepoint, exploring the Bay Area, and studying multiple languages.
Our AmeriCorps team
Program coordinators
East Bay
Katelyn Campos, program coordinator, Colonial Acres Elementary
Shay Kerr-Munsie, program coordinator, Grant Elementary
Daniel Skinner, senior program coordinator, Hesperian Elementary
Lucy Augustine, senior program coordinator, Highland Community School
Elena Gomez-Mendoza, senior program coordinator, Hillside Elementary
Gretchen Scholtz, senior program coordinator, Laurel Elementary
Emy Tran, senior program coordinator, Lockwood Elementary
Jessica Sisavath, program coordinator, Lorenzo Manor Elementary
Roberto Herrera Lopez, senior program coordinator, Think College Now
Colleen Henderson, literacy lead
Grant Johnson, literacy lead
Eric Jordan, literacy lead
Michelle Lemaster, literacy lead
Luke Thai, regional program coordinator
Rhishti Shrestha, senior regional program coordinator
San Francisco
Maria Isabella Chingcuango, program coordinator, Cesar Chavez Elementary
Vanessa Alvarez, senior program coordinator, Dolores Huerta Elementary
Joanie Bronzini, senior program coordinator, El Dorado Elementary
Kandee Stewart, program coordinator, Hillcrest Elementary
Nicole Sutton, senior program coordinator, Jean Parker Elementary
Mackio Mennitt, program coordinator, Rosa Parks Elementary
Betty Spradley, program coordinator, Sherman Elementary
Megan Lindsay, senior program coordinator, Spring Valley Elementary
Maximillian Howard, program coordinator, Tenderloin Community School
Owen Hamilton, literacy lead
Duncan Paras, literacy lead
Adelynne Antonio, regional program coordinator
Karin Evertz, senior literacy lead
Volunteer coordinators
Ayanna Davis, senior volunteer coordinator
Charlotte Blum, volunteer coordinator
Board
Tom Low, Chair, managing director, Pivot Consulting
Rochelle Beverage, early childhood educator, Lincoln Families
Kapil Chhibber, managing director, Bank of America
Cathy Cockrum Dean, education philanthropist
Durell Coleman, event production supervisor, Oakstop
Michael Dechert, managing director, Farallon Capital Management
Tamar Draper Mahru, corporate real estate & workplace consultant, Sepia Consulting, LLC.
David Ellis, director of healthcare sales, North America, LinkedIn
Nathaniel Foster, consultant, NJF Consulting
Jennifer Friedland, volunteer chair, Golden Gate Mother’s Club
Michael Gorman, vice president, capital markets, Aon New Ventures Group
Zachary Hill, former social impact manager, Tesla
Stephanie Isaacson, senior director of community relations, Pacific Gas and Electric
Kimberly Mayfield, deputy mayor, City of Oakland
Christine Moll, chief marketing officer, Silver Oak & Twomey
Marc Schechter, co-founder, Square Pie Guys
Evan Schwartz, sr. director of philanthropy, Warriors Community Foundation
Kristin Sverchek, former president, Lyft
Tom White, president and CEO, co-founder, Triact Therapeutics Inc