As the America Reads manager, Juliya supports and facilitates partnership between University of Michigan’s America Reads tutors and local schools, nonprofits, and tutoring centers and programs in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and Detroit. Juliya works directly with tutors, graduate students, school liaisons and literacy specialists, and other education stakeholders. America Reads is a federal program grounded in justice and equity by providing literacy support to K-5 students. America Reads tutors enter community spaces empowered to serve as leaders, build connections, and act as agents of change in systemic inequities.
Juliya holds a Masters from University of Michigan’s School of Education, where she focused on ways that schools stand as pillars in local and global communities for greater equity and peace. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University where she double-majored in English and French and minored in Russian languages and literatures while earning teacher certification. Prior to becoming the America Reads manager at the Ginsberg Center, Juliya taught English for many years to 6th-12th grade students in Illinois, California, and Michigan. She also tutored writing and reading to all ages of students in spaces such as 826Michigan. She believes deeply in the power of community engagement and the notion of “it taking a village” not only to raise a child but also to disrupt harmful and broken systems that keep our children from achieving their potential.
Juliya also is one of the founding members of Ukraine TrustChain, a community-centered and registered nonprofit organization that she and friends started in the early days of Russian invasion. Ukraine TrustChain focuses on evacuations (having helped evacuate over 42,000 people so far), delivering aid and medicines, and rebuilding and community sustaining efforts. Juliya herself is a native Ukrainian, having immigrated to America from Odesa, and dreams of showing her daughters (7 and 10) and her spouse her home – a peaceful and free Ukraine – someday.
- How to become an America Reads tutor
- Ways to support America Reads tutors already at your school or site