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Helene H. Kramer serves as Executive Director of Read to Succeed Buffalo, Inc. After many years as a Chief Information Officer and consultant in the healthcare industry, Helene decided to follow her passion for urban public education and changed careers in 2003 to become Executive Director of Read to Succeed Buffalo, Inc. In 1994, Helene was elected to an at-large seat on the Buffalo Board of Education and served a five year term. She chaired the Board's strategic planning committee, was elected Board Vice President in 1995 and President in 1998. Prior to that, Helene was a parent activist who co-founded United Parents, an advocacy group for children in the Buffalo Public Schools in the early 1990's and served as its president. She served on many civic commissions related to improving public education, including the Commission for Quality Education. She also served as a member of the Citizen's Advisory Committee, a group advising the City's elected leaders about how to spend capital dollars. Immediately prior to joining Read to Succeed Buffalo, she was Chief Information Officer (CIO) at St. James Mercy Health System in Hornell, New York. Prior to that, she was director of Healthcare Information Services at Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo for ten years. She is an experienced manager with expertise in strategic planning, negotiating, and building partnerships. |
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Michael Benzin is the Director of Development for Read to
Succeed Buffalo and is responsible for overseeing all fundraising
efforts, grants administration and other activities focused on
raising
money and developing and maintaining relationships with donors and
potential donors.
Benzin has significant experience in development with a record of
more than two decades of success in the education, healthcare and human
services sectors. Prior to joining Read to Succeed, Benzin served as
director of development for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County. He
also served with Aspire of WNY, Roswell Park, Sisters Hospital, and the
University at Buffalo.
Contact Michael Benzin at |
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Deborah Ann Porter is Community Outreach Coordinator. She works primarily with block clubs, civic organizations, faith-based organizations and the community-at-large to raise awareness of the Read to Succeed Buffalo literacy campaign and to build the capacity of community organizations to improve the literacy levels of those they serve. She focuses mainly in the designated literacy zone in Buffalo's Northeast section, primarily zip code 14215. Porter will be responsible for helping to improve community knowledge, establish and increase participation in literacy initiatives, and serve as liaison for the organization on literacy issues.
Contact Deborah Ann Porter at PorterD@rtsb.org or at 716-843-8895
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Dee Ippolito is Project Administrative Manager responsible for reporting to USDOE, managing Early Reading First budget and contracts, developing tracking system for children transitioning from Bethel head Start to Buffalo Public and Charter Schools and, with a committee, implementing an instructional materials project for professional development to sustain the creation of pre-school centers of educational excellence and a symposium on best practices learned from Early Reading First for pre-school education.
Contact Dee Ippolito at |
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Rhonda Bivins has joined our team as our Youth Engagement Coordinator. Rhonda is responsible for developing and implementing after school and out-of-school programs in accordance with Read to Succeed Buffalo's overall strategic plan. Contact Rhonda Bivins at bivinsr@rtsb.org or at 716-843-8895. |
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Lisa McCue is our Operations Manager and is instrumental in making our office hum. Lisa's excellent administrative skills help to support all facets of our programs and our office administration including scheduling, finances, human resources, facilities management as well as handling countless other details.
Contact Lisa McCue at
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Contact Carmen Brown at BrownC@rtcb.org
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Contact Amanda Darling at Darlinga@rtsb.org
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Mindy Ziots-Gerikh is a Literacy Coach on the Early Reading First Grant. The ERF project is a federally funded program with the goal to increase the literacy and language skills of preschool children in the Read to Succeed Buffalo campaign. Before working as a Literacy Coach, Mindy was the Education Director and Pre-Kindergarten teacher at Tonawanda Kidsabilities. She graduated with a Master's Degree in Literacy from Medaille College in 2006.
Contact Mindy Ziots-Gerikh at
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Julia Rosic is a Literacy Coach on the Early Reading First Grant. The ERF project is a federally-funded program with the goal to increase literacy and langiuage skills of preschool children in the Read to Succeed Buffalo campaign. She helps to improve instruction by engaging teachers in intense professional development. She promotes a site based professional community by demonstrating exemplary early literacy classroom practices. She holds a Master Degree in Literacy from the State University of New York at Fredonia.
Contact Julia Rosic at RosicJ@rtsb.org
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