Washington D.C. Staff
The Power of Play
Bring Play To Your City
Recent News
The key to our success is the incredible enthusiasm and dedication of the Playworks staff. Meet some of the people who are bringing play to Washington, D.C. Please note: Our direct school programs are led by the efforts of our program coordinators in each school in each of the cities we serve. While they are too numerous to list here, they are essential to the success of the program.
Paul Zimmerman
Paul Zimmerman, a Brooklyn, N.Y. native who has lived in D.C. for 17 years, joined the Playworks team as executive director in April, 2010. A happily recovering lawyer, Paul has held senior positions as in-house counsel at The Nature Conservancy, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the Peace Corps. He founded and directed a non-profit organization that supports law students working in public interest law. And he has coached elementary-school aged kids in baseball, soccer, and basketball coach for several years. He loves games of all sorts.
Deon Cooper
Deon Cooper is a program manager in Washington, D.C. Born and raised in Columbia, TN, he moved to the DC Metropolitan area to attend school at George Mason University. He joined Playworks in 2007 as program coordinator. Daon is looking forward to using his experience to give support to our program coordinators and assisting them in running their great programs. There is no greater feeling then the one you get when you can put big smile on a kid’s face, which is what he loves about Playworks. The program increases the opportunities for kids to play, have fun and SMILE.
Rachel Hustedt
Rachel Hustedt, program manager, is a native Iowan and a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She spent a year as a program coordinator and AmeriCorps member in Washington, D.C. before becoming a program manager. Aside from recess, Rachel enjoys running and is an avid college football fan (Go Big Red!). Rachel is excited to continue to spread the power of play to DC students and bring Playworks into schools in every ward of our Nation’s Capitol.
Kailyn Jones
Kailyn Jones, Office Manager/Program Associate, came to Playworks from the University of Michigan. She spent a year as a site coordinator in Washington, D.C. and has now moved to the Playworks office in Dupont Circle to assist in program logistics and aid in the planning for the AmeriCorps program. She feels Playworks not only instills the core value of inclusion in our students, but also models it well as an organization.
Ayanna Rutherford
Ayanna Rutherford, AmeriCorps Program Manager, comes to Playworks after serving Maricopa Association of Governments through the AmeriCorps programs. In her current position Ayanna is responsible for staffing the regional Advisory Councils, grant writing, and administrative work. Ayanna is eager to help Playworks reach more kids and is excited about the inclusive culture that Playworks breeds within the schools.
Sherry Spence
Sherry Spence, program manager, came to Playworks from Just Us Kids where she spent four years as an early childhood developer facilitating activities that focused on the emotional, cognitive and physical development of children. As a program coordinator and now program manager, she is tremendously happy that Playworks has met and even surpassed her expectations with revolutionary methods and seriousness in recognizing the importance of PLAY for the healthy development of kids in the D.C. area.
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Playworks Washington, D.C.
1875 K Street, NW
Fifth floor
Washington, D.C. 20006
(202) 822-0097
(202) 747-5880 fax
