David Jubitz

Her husband, David Jubitz, worked at the truck stop for seven years, then launched his own entrepreneurial venture.He, too, is drawn to kids, and sells residential and commercial play structures through his business Creative Play Structures.Jubitz describes her husband as not only her mate of 35 years but also her "most trusted adviser."

The Jubitzes have two children who have also chosen careers related to literacy and children.Their 27-year-old daughter Cory is the copy editor for the Aspen Daily News, and 24-year-old son Ben works in the family play structure business.

Jubitz earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education at the University of Oregon, then taught in Utah and Oregon.She realized early on, she said, that "literacy is the key to success in school and life," and so she added consulting in reading and writing to her teaching.

"I was given wonderful opportunities for leadership and training in the literacy field.When David and I started our family, I decided to give up teaching and focus part time on literacy consulting," she said.
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Jubitz also had an opportunity while with Portland Public Schools to help shape the SMART program.Goldschmidt suggested that the foundation's original executive director talk with Jubitz about developing a program to improve life prospects for youth.
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"Their decision to start SMART, after talking to many other educators and community leaders, was brilliant," Jubitz said."It was a winner from its beginnings in eight schools."

She stayed with SMART as an adviser as she moved to a position as middle school vice principal.Before long, she was given the chance to run SMART.It was a no-brainer.

"It was my experience at the middle school that convinced me to accept the position with SMART," she said."As the school disciplinarian, I saw how angry and frustrated young people become when they can't read and write by middle school, and I worried that any intervention at that point was simply too late."

Though raising private funds and running a nonprofit were new to Jubitz, she hit her stride early.Unlike many nonprofit executive directors, she loves the fund-raising component.That's because she knows she can't achieve her goals with the funds to get to where she needs to go.

"It seems fairly simple to me.We can either assure the success of young people today or take care of their problems tomorrow," she said."Children who can't read by the third grade are on track to potential delinquency, early child bearing, and dropping out of school.High school dropouts comprise 79 percent of Oregon's adult prison population, and unfortunately, nearly 16 percent of Oregon's high school students drop out before graduation."

Jubitz said she leans on her board of trustees and even her donors for help in managing the exploding SMART network.
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Jubitz acknowledged that leading a nonprofit provides a special set of challenges.

"The challenge for me is to always tap into people's passion for this work, while leading the foundation with the efficiency of a business.My staff continually strengthens their roles and improves systems; and we hold ourselves accountable for strong, tangible results," she said.

Jubitz is focused, energetic and organized.She expects the same from her staff, and they deliver.