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.
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Reading the local paper, I learned that 88 Afghan refugees were being brought to Asheville for resettlement after they escaped from Kabul. Wow, I thought, why Asheville?
I was slightly nervous my first time walking into a tiny room at AB Tech to meet my new student. Elaha sat before me, quiet, demure, with barely audible replies to anything I said. However, she already spoke and understood quite a bit of English, and when I asked her how she learned English, she said, “Watching movies on the internet.” “They have American movies in Afghanistan?” I asked incredulously. “No,” she patiently explained, “English subtitles to movies.” I was already impressed. 
I learned how self-centered the independent ethos of America seemed compared to the community family ethos of Afghanistan people. I learned that once you are ‘adopted’ into an Afghan family, you are accepted, just as you are, and then taken care of.