• • •
Staff
Steve Wood, Founder, Instructor
Steve Wood is a founding member, and led as Executive Director of Concrete Couch from inception through December of 2024. He continues his work with the Couch as an Instructor and mentor. Steve received a BA from Colorado College in 1984 and subsequently apprenticed with master muralist Eric Bransby. Steve’s awards include “Community Weaver”, “Public Art Empowering Youth”, and his team garnered the “Project of the Year Award” from the American Public Works Association. Steve is a board member of the Community Built Assoc., a national nonprofit that supports architects, artists, builders, planners, teachers, and others who incorporate the community in their practice. Steve is married to Laurie Wood and they have one son, Jake.
• • •
Sarah Bedell, Program Associate, Public Interest Fellow
Sarah Bedell grew up in Greeley, CO and recently graduated from Colorado College with a major in Museum Studies and a minor in Performance Design. She is excited to learn about nonprofit work and community art with Concrete Couch through the year-long Public Interest Fellowship Program. Sarah enjoys leveraging her range of creative skills including painting, theatre lighting, construction, and curating for collaborative projects.
• • •
Jorge Estevez, Science Instructor
Jorge Estevez leads the Bikes, Citizen Science and Tree Care programs. Jorge has a doctorate in physics, is fluent in Spanish and German, is a total bike fanatic, loves people and learning, and has volunteered with the Couch since 2010.
• • •
Kai Gaynor, Art Instructor
Kai Gaynor is a multidisciplinary artist and community builder with a deep passion for education and creative expression. She earned her degree in Culinary Arts: Baking and Pastry from PPSC while still in high school before later pursuing a degree in Studio Art. Kai’s upbringing has played a significant role in shaping her dedication to education. She believes that art has the power to not only transform an individual’s relationship with themselves but also to strengthen connections within communities.
• • •
Frank Gray, Clay Instructor
Frank Gray started making pots at East Denver High School in 1969 and has never stopped. After studying with Nan and James McKinnell and apprenticing under David Blakeslee, Frank built a studio and made pots for a decade in Brighton, Colorado. Frank and his wife Susan operated the Two Potters studio and store in Littleton, Colorado for 15 years, followed by a 20 year stint running a bed and breakfast in Woodland Park, Colorado. Presently, Frank is the director of the clay program at Concrete Couch.
• • •
Caitlin Hannigan, Operations Director
Caitlin Hannigan grew up in Colorado Springs and has spent many years working with various organizations in the community. She spent 4 years living in China as a history teacher, and traveling to various countries in Asia and Europe. She joined the Couch team in August of 2020, and is excited to bring her knowledge of education, history, and different cultures to the Couch!
• • •
Kendall Kultgen, Grant Writer
Kendall Kultgen grew up in Colorado Springs and started working at Concrete Couch in 2016 as a Public Interest Fellow, after graduating from Colorado College. Since then, she has had various roles with the Couch as Program Director, Special Projects Teacher, Grant Writer, and Supporter. She loves making art, reading, and antiquing, and lives in Denver.
• • •
Terry Martinez, Development Director
Terry Martinez worked for 31 years for D11, most recently as an elementary school principal where he collaborated with Concrete Couch. He joined Concrete Couch after retiring. He is involved in local politics, and serves on the Law Enforcement, Transparency and Accountability Committee for Colorado Springs, and is on the El Paso County Parks Board.
• • •
Thomas Pantoja, Program Manager
Thomas Pantoja is a born and bred native of Colorado Springs. Thomas began his professional career serving youth ages 15-24 experiencing homelessness as a Case Manager at Urban Peak Colorado Springs (now The PLACE), an organization dedicated to transitioning youth safely from the streets to stable housing. Towards the end of his tenure at Urban Peak, he met an amazing Social Worker who he fell in love with and then married in 2019. Thomas and his wife settled in the historic Hillside Neighborhood in downtown Colorado Springs with their two beautiful children. Thomas has a passion for leadership as well community welfare
• • •
Malachi Price, Jam Band Leader
Mal is a lover of all things music and aims to help grow the local music community through collaboration. Mal joined the band in 2019 after moving to Colorado and has since become the band organizer, outreach ambassador, and instrument caretaker. Mal is also a marketer by trade, an explorer of the Rockies, and a dog dad.
• • •
David Reese Cole, Science Instructor
David Reese Cole is an assistant instructor for Concrete Couch who helps run Citizen Science, Tuesday Trails, and other programs. David started volunteering with us in 2017, then became an intern, then Super Intern, and joined the regular staff in the fall of 2020. David is an artist and animator.
• • •
Dee Smith, Outreach Director
Dee Smith is the Outreach Director for Concrete Couch. He is also the Founder and Executive Director of OneBodyEnt. and a life-long member of Colorado Springs’ Southside Community. He was born and raised in the neighborhood affectionately known as “K-Land.” He and his wife, Jennifer, established OneBodyEnt and the K-Land Neighborhood Association.
• • •
Dustin Huth, Executive Director
Dustin is a Colorado native with a degree in Creative Writing from CU Boulder and a minor in Environmental Biology. He has been working with and for and on behalf of nonprofits, since 2002. In 2007 He founded a nonprofit dedicated to helping artists pay for health insurance. In 2009, He founded a nonprofit bus company called Bus to Show, which is very similar to Concrete Couch in its community-building and art-centric spirit, but with the mission of reducing the impaired driving and carbon emissions associated with concerts. He served as Operations Manager for Down Syndrome Association of Central Texas during a year-long stint in Austin. He has also worked as a full-stack software engineer, a business systems consultant, a woodshop instructor, and an essential oil distiller. He loves poetry, literature, art, film, stand-up comedy, sci-fi, and building community through amazing projects as well as spending quality time and avoiding screens with his family.
• • •
Board of Directors
Theresa (Reece) Donnelly, President
After serving eight years active duty in the military, Ms. Reece is ready to put her skills to serving their immediate community. She started her Couch journey by joining the Community Band and ultimately became a board member. She now serves as the President of the Board and is elated to be serving the dedicated staff members of Concrete Couch.
• • •
Mia Alvarado
Mia Alvarado is a writer, teacher, artist, and community organizer. She is inspired by the way the Couch enfranchises children, practices radical welcome, and salvages what others call trash. Local projects she’s led include BREAD, Stories on the Land, a series of murals featuring short poems by women, the Little L Preschool, public read-throughs of “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” and literary events at Mountain Fold Books. She has taught at UCCS, CC, the Seven Hills School (Cincinnati), the University of Iowa, and St. Michael’s Academy (NYC). She goes by her nickname and publishes under her full name, Mary Margaret Alvarado.
• • •
Cathe Bailie
Cathe Bailie has been active with Concrete Couch since 2016, and joined the Board in 2021. Additional local volunteer work has included serving as president of Friends of Boulder Park and as a long-time daily precipitation tracker and reporter for CoCoRahs. She loves that people from all neighborhoods and walks of life find common ground at Concrete Couch.
• • •
Barak Ben-Amots, Vice President
Barak has cultivated community relationships in schools, non-profits, and art communities in the Pikes Peak Region for the last 10 years. He remembers Concrete Couch as an inspiring community project that has grown artists in the springs for his entire life! Currently the Executive Director of Flying Pig Farm, Barak helps students build stronger connections with land through regenerative agriculture programs.
• • •
Diane Dillon
Diane Dillon is a graduate of the University of California, Sacramento. She has previously served as the President of the Cultural Assembly of Sacramento and two terms on the Colorado Springs Art Commision. Diane is a longtime associate of Concrete Couch.
• • •
Belinda Gardner
Belinda Gardner is a long time resident of Colorado Springs, CO. She came to Colorado Springs in 1974 when her father was stationed at Ft Carson. Belinda grew up on the Southside CS in the Hillside Neighborhood, however she has lived in the K-Land neighborhood for the last 25 years. She is a 1978 graduate from Wasson High School and in 2008 graduated from Blair College with a Certification in Medical Billing/Coding. Belinda serves as Vice President for the K-Land Community Cares Neighborhood Association, and is also on the board of the Chinook Center, and OneBodyEnt. In 2022 she graduated from the Neighborhood University facilitated by CONO and the City of Colorado Springs. In 2020 she served as Community Outreach Coordinator for Solid Rock Christian Center and church captain for COSILoveyou. Bellinda volunteers at John Adams elementary school as a Grand friend and art class helper.Community is everything.
• • •
Dora Haslinger, Secretary
Dora Haslinger was born in Colorado Springs and has lived here most of her life. She believes in the importance of environmental and cultural stewardship and is involved with several community-fostering organizations. Being an artist and an avid outdoorsman, along with being a resident of the Hillside neighborhood, she has a unique and vested interest in helping the Concrete Couch and its newest project, the Concrete Coyote, grow and thrive.
• • •
Katherine Mack
Katherine Mack appreciates the ways that Concrete Couch elicits volunteers’ unique talents and perspectives and enables us to contribute to a wide array of artistic, ecological, and practical projects. In doing this work, we nourish our souls and build a more inclusive and empowered community. Alongside her board work for the Couch, Katherine is a professor of rhetoric and writing in the UCCS English department and a supporter of artistic and sustainability initiatives across the Pikes Peak region.
• • •
Uriah Oxford
Uriah Oxford is a Colorado Springs native. He enjoys volunteering with different organizations in the community. In his spare time he likes reading and spending time with friends.
• • •
Josh Rafail
Josh Rafail has lived in the Hillside Neighborhood since 2017. His relationship with Concrete Couch started many years back when he wielded a hammer to help build a park in his own neighborhood. He quickly fell in love with the mission and the people of Concrete Couch. Josh is moved by the work that continues the goal of humanizing our world and hopes to empower those who work for and support Concrete Couch. Josh enjoys serving the community through work with the Pikes Peak Makerspace, Garden of the Gods Rotary Club and Hillside Advisory Team. In his spare time, he enjoys being with his daughter, breakdancing, writing, video games (making and playing), listening to music, and working on projects at the makerspace.
• • •
Rachel Ribich, Treasurer
A proud Couch connoisseur since 2019, Rachel wears many hats: permaculture tinkerer, construction collaborator (thanks to connections at Nunn Construction), and now board treasurer championing financial success. She’s a yogi, strategist, permaculture enthusiast, and supporter of live music, always working to blend passion with purpose!