In Rotary, the theme for the month of September is Basic Education and Literacy, one of the six areas of focus. To help us understand the current state of literacy in our community, we’ll hear from Kathy Stevens, Executive Director of the Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy. (MCAEL). Kathy joined MCAEL in 2012. She comes to MCAEL from Montgomery College, following career and volunteer experience in higher education and nonprofits, including work as a senior executive of an international, non-profit membership organization. Kathy is a fundraiser, lawyer, community organizer, and mediator. An active community member, she is one of three Co-Chairs for Montgomery Moving Forward, a Collective Impact group in Montgomery County.  Additionally, she is Board Chair for the Charles Koiner Conservancy for Urban Farming and a board member for Nonprofit Montgomery. She is a graduate of Leadership Montgomery and Impact Silver Spring’s Community Empowerment Program. Kathy holds her J.D. from the University of Richmond, Ed. M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and B.A. from Swarthmore College.

When she is not at her desk or at a county meeting or event, Kathy can often be found hiking with her dog Blair, finding live music to listen to, and very often hosting dinners to bring friends and family together over a meal.

Jeanne Braha is Executive Director of the Rock Creek Conservancy, based in Bethesda. Jeanne holds a Masters of Environmental Management from Yale University and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology with a concentration in Environmental Studies from Bryn Mawr College. She joined the Conservancy in 2018 after several years serving as Director of Foundation Relations for the Student Conservation Association. She spoke to our club in 2019 and appeared several times on Carla Satinsky’s cable television show, “Montgomery Week in Review.” The Conservancy sponsors the annual Rock Creek Extreme Cleanup, which our club has participated in for more than a decade.  She will be giving us an update on issues affecting Rock Creek and the park, including proposals to widen the Beltway and expanding recreational access.

North Bethesda Rotary’s own Paul Arveson will talk to us about the new images from the James Webb Space Telescope.  He will go into detail to explain what we are seeing in these few images and what is new in them.  

Paul is currently a Director at Solar Household Energy, a nonprofit focused on providing solar cookers for low-income people in sunny countries.   He served as a research physicist at the Carderock Navy lab in Bethesda for 36 years.  He has a BS in physics and an MS in computer systems management.