History:
Partners in Literacy incorporated as 501 c3/nonprofit in 2011. We incubated at the Odyssey School of Denver. That is where its staff spent the eleven previous years reading with all students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade, from struggling to accelerated readers. We bought books for classroom libraries, created a wide variety of resources, assembled a library from scratch and developed a reading volunteer program where every child in the school read with an adult once a week.
In 2011, we replicated our reading volunteer program at a nearby failing middle school with great success.
In 2012 and 2014, we remade the libraries of two at-risk elementary schools.
In fall of 2020, we were able to give our volunteers all the skills they needed to read with students remotely.
In March of 2022, we returned to reading in returned to reading in-person and piloted a reading volunteer program in our eighth school.
In 2021, we reimagined the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award.
Our Team
Julie Neitz Wielga brings all her experience from being a community organizer, classroom teacher and reading specialist to make Partners in Literacy a unique organization. She believes that books and libraries are the perfect center of any school. Over and over again she sees teachers, volunteers, and students, together and independently truly engaged with literature and content that broadens deepens and challenges them. Julie is founder and director of Partners in Literacy. Julie Neitz Wielga is an Odyssey School Educational Hero and a Denver Channel 9 Everyday Hero.
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Lisa Damm works in the Odyssey library organizing and reorganizing the spaces so children and adults can find exactly what they need to fulfill their reading souls when they need it. She loves reading…being read to, reading to others and talking about what books she’s about to read. Besides being the mom of two kiddos at Odyssey, Lisa says working with Partners in Literacy is definitely her favorite job.
Tessa Arons: I am a lifelong lover of books. As a kid I read voraciously and these days I always have at least one audiobook from the Denver Public Library in my Libby app to plug into my ears. Currently it’s Don Quixote which has been a mind trip! Since the beginning of last spring semester, I have been volunteering with DPL, reading in the ECE program at Gust Elementary. It has been the most fun thing I’ve done in years. I love building relationships with the kids through the fun of books and it’s just adorable how excited they are about it every week.
Sara Hanum: Sara has always enjoyed reading ever since she was a little girl! She has fond memories of snuggling up with her mom before bed and smoothing over the day with a good story. To this day Sara smooths over every day with a good book. Reading is habitual, a lifelong gift and an absolute pleasure! As a first-grade teacher she and her students would get lost together in numerous good books. The energy was palpable when her students had found a story that took them away to another time or place! As a parent she thoroughly enjoys reading stories with her two elementary aged children. Reading in her family is the cohesive glue that brings them together every day, for a moment to: relax, laugh, get lost, get spooked, imagine, grow, relate, grieve and be loved. Her kids love to read and be read to! As a Co-Coordinator with Partners in Literacy she is passionate about finding books that are just right for each student. Books that captivate their imagination and spark a lifelong love for reading and learning!
Our Board
Ann Christensen Ann is a career educator currently providing Professional Development in Literacy Acquisition in Denver Public Schools. Her interests are in children who are difficult to teach and expanding teachers’ ability to teach them.
Mary McNeil Cheever Mary has spent many years as an active fundraiser, organizer and volunteer working on behalf of children attending public schools in Colorado. The mother of two daughters who attended Denver Public Schools, Mary enjoys reading, travel, movies, and hiking in the Rocky Mountains.
Shirley Stafford Shirley has written a number of picture books which began as stories she told to her kindergarten students over the years and, now, to her grandchildren. Shirley has been a teacher for 40 years. She is a gifted storyteller and educator. Her debut children’s book, Sammy, is now available.