Meet the Denver staff
City Year Denver’s team is made up an amazing group of idealistic and passionate individuals that are committed to growing City Year’s impact throughout Denver Public Schools and the community. We truly believe our work is part of the national effort to help students and Ƶ succeed.
John Wolfkill serves as Senior Vice President and Executive Director. Prior to City Year Denver, John served as the Executive Director of the Community College of Aurora Foundation, leading strategic fundraising and partnership development to expand student access and workforce impact. In 2026, the Foundation awarded more than $1.3 million in scholarships and emergency assistance to over 500 students and completed an $18.3 million capital campaign for CCA’s Center for Applied Science and Technology, the college’s first new building in 25 years.
John holds a Master of Science from the University of Southern California. His career spans urban planning, youth and family development, community philanthropy, and public K-12 education leadership. He previously held senior roles with Tulsa Community Foundation and KIPP Tulsa, where his team achieved a 97% high school graduation rate and helped more than 80% of students enroll in college. His career has focused on aligning education, employers, and community investment to create upward economic mobility and long-term community vitality.
Prior to joining City Year Denver in May 2026 as Senior Vice President and Executive Director, John Wolfkill served as Executive Director of the Community College of Aurora Foundation (CCAF) in Aurora, Colorado, where he was responsible for leading the Foundation’s strategic fundraising plan and activities to support the Community College of Aurora (CCA). His primary efforts focused on the foundation’s scholarship program which provided over $1.3 million in scholarships and $70.000 in emergency assistance to more than 500 students attending CCA. He also led fundraising initiatives for CCA’s academic departments, recently completing an $18.3 million capital campaign for the Center for Applied Science and Technology, the college’s first new building in 25 years. John completed his Master of Science degree in International and Intercultural Education and Development at the University of Southern California and became keenly interested in community development. He worked as an urban planner for the Watts Labor Community Action Committee (Los Angeles, CA) and then became the Associate Director of the P.F. Bresee Foundation, a faith-based youth and family development center. He spent nearly seven years as the Director of Administration and Donor Partnerships at the Tulsa Community Foundation, one of the largest community foundations in the country. After learning that only one to two percent of Tulsa’s African American and Hispanic youth were graduating from high school prepared to begin college without remediation, he left the foundation to become Executive Director of KIPP Tulsa, an open-enrollment college-preparatory, public charter school from 2011-2016. At KIPP Tulsa, over 90% of his students qualified for the federal free or reduced lunch program and 97% of students were African American or Hispanic. More importantly, 97% of his students would go on to graduate high school, with over 80% enrolling in college. In his spare time, John enjoys date nights with his college sweetheart and wife, Julie; mountain biking, skiing, playing pickleball, and bagging 14ers with his two sons. John and his 17-year old son have bagged thirteen 14ers together with plans to climb 3-5 more this summer.
Flavia Zarcula serves as the Managing Director, Development at City Year Denver. She has over 10 years of nonprofit development and leadership experience supporting local, regional, and global organizations in raising the funding needed to reach their vision, all the while strengthening organizational capacity to measure and describe impact. Some organizations where Flavia has served include the OMNI Institute, Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. In all her roles Flavia has enjoyed the opportunity to think creatively and strategically to continuously increase organizational revenue while strengthening relationships with team members and supporters. Flavia loves the nonprofit sector and has a deep commitment to equity and social justice. Fundraising is a wonderful way to have a tangible impact and connect donors with missions they are passionate about. Flavia holds a Master of Science in Sociology from the University of Oxford and is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). Outside of work, Flavia enjoys cooking, skiing, exploring Colorado’s beautiful outdoors, and travelling to her home country of Romania.
Tin, a social development worker and strong advocate of children and youth development and empowerment, proudly joins City Year Denver as its Impact Director. Coming into this role, she brings a wide range of experience of performing varying roles from direct one-on-one, face-to-face casework, group work, and organizing to indirect macro-level related roles such as capacity building (individual and organizational), program management and administration, staff supervision, research, policymaking and networking. She believes that, given the proper support and opportunities, young people will rise up to become empowered and active agents of change.
She is also personally invested in programs focused on volunteerism and service. She attributes a part of her success as a person and as a professional to a Peace Corps volunteer she worked with in her first job. This positive experience with a Peace Corps volunteer motivated her to work with Peace Corps in the Philippines and another AmeriCorps-funded non-profit organization serving Higher Education Institutions. Working with City Year melds together two of her passions, young people and national service.
Tin has a Bachelor's and Master’s Degree in Social Work and a Master's in Political Science from the University of Colorado – Denver. In addition to English, she is fluent in Filipino/Tagalog and Bicol (a regional dialect in the Philippines). In her free time, she enjoys reading, baking, exploring the outdoors, and watching a D&D-based role-playing game called “Critical Role."
Jessica Pisano serves as Individual Giving Director at City Year Denver. She has over 25 years of nonprofit development experience, engaging volunteers, building strategic partnerships and fundraising for organizations committed to supporting underrepresented and diverse communities. Jessica has held national and regional roles with organizations including the Foundation for Colorado Community Colleges, the SCORE Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and the National Kidney Foundation. Prior to her nonprofit career, Jessica worked in sports marketing, which included collaborations with the NBA, NFL, the New York Yankees and WFAN sports radio.
Jessica is passionate about bringing people together around purpose and has always been drawn to organizations where she can create meaningful, equitable opportunities through her fundraising efforts. Outside of work, she leads the Executive Committee for Being Better Neighbors and previously served as Board Secretary for the National Association for Multiethnicity in Communications, Denver. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a Certificate in Fundraising from New York University. In her free time, Jessica enjoys yoga, hiking, travel, and time with family.
Kathryn, an expert in youth development, is a Senior Impact Manager. With a long history of staff development and supporting young professionals, Kathryn joined us from the YMCA in January of 2021. She served as an AmeriCorps Vista and with state programs in 2016 and 2017. When not engaged at work, Kathryn enjoys hanging with her dogs, mountain biking, rock climbing and pursuing all the nature the Western United States has to offer.
Sydney is the proud Impact Manager at George Washington High School. They attended George Washington University and Knox College and hold a B.A. in International Affairs and Educational Policy. They spent their senior year conducting independent research on the equity of education structures after regime change in Greece and Bulgaria. Sydney is originally from Chicago, IL and served with the Chicago City Year Corps for two year before coming to Denver. They enjoy spending their time reading and making homemade treats for their cats.
Brenna is from Arvada, CO, and received her B.A. from the University of Colorado in Boulder. In 2011-12, she served her corps year at City Year Boston, working with her favorite age group-- middle schoolers! After living in Boston and then Spain, she returned to her home community and remained in education. Brenna has worked with 14 City Year sites and currently supports onboarding the Denver corps as well as other sites in the West Region. She is also a proud NOLS alum and loves connecting other AmeriCorps alumni with opportunities to use their Segal Education Award in non-traditional ways.
As an equity-driven educator, school designer, and professional learning facilitator, I bring nearly two decades of experience coaching emerging educators, leading adult learning, and designing equity-centered systems that help young people and professionals thrive. I earned my B.A in Political Science and History from Northwestern University and my M.A. in Education with a focus on Culture, Language and Diversity. I now proudly serve as the Impact Director at City Year Denver.
Jake Drollinger hails from Sheboygan, Wisconsin - also known as the Malibu of the Midwest. After graduating from high school, he decided to take a gap year and joined City Year in San Jose as an AmeriCorps member. He spent that year in service leading high school students learning curriculum and community-based projects. Feeling such a deep connection to the impact, he spent the following twelve-plus years working to share service through education as a pathway for young adults. Jake took on a variety of roles in the Corps Talent Acquisition department at City Year branches in San Jose, Milwaukee (Start-Up), Los Angeles, Denver, and remotely as a part of the national team. Some of Jake’s proudest accomplishments from his time at City Year include establishing CY Milwaukee’s first alumni board, developing a nationally implemented database management system, leading the effort in paperless admissions, and elevating operations strategy department-wide. Jake is excited to continue growing the university campus connections throughout Colorado.
