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Wisconsin Child Care Improvement Project Staff

 
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Meet Our Staff!

Lilly Irvin-Vitela,M.A. 

Lilly Irvin-Vitela, Executive Director  - Welcome Lilly Irvin-Vitela, the new Executive Director of Supporting Families Together Association.  Beginning in September 2008,  Ms. Irvin-Vitela comes to Supporting Families Together Association with a proven track record and diverse background in community development. Lilly’s passion for SFTA's mission, communication skills, nonprofit and budget management experience,  fund development experience, knowledge of community development and quality improvement systems change, dispute resolution skills, and track record of working collaboratively with a diverse array of organizations and individuals make her well-positioned to serve as the Executive Director of SFTA.  Most recently she served as Project Manager of the WI Initiative to Promote Healthy Lifestyles through the Department of Family Medicine at UW-Madison.  She also worked as a Training Manager providing technical assistance, training and program evaluation at Health Care Education and Training, a regional nonprofit organization focused on the health of women and adolescents.  She has had extensive experience in the field of dispute resolution and mediation as Executive Director of a nonprofit organization and consultant in her home state of New Mexico.  Her educational background includes a Masters Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of New Mexico.  Please feel free to contact Lilly with questions, comments, or ideas about SFTA’s efforts to support and promote quality care, resources and education to enrich the lives of children, families, and care givers at lilly.irvin-vitela@dpi.wi.gov

 

Kelly Borchardt, Technical Advisor — Kelly brings a variety of early childhood experiences to her work with WCCIP. She has a BS in elementary education and a WI Registry Level VII.  In her 15 + years in the field, she was an assistant and lead teacher; she was a recruitment specialist at the child care resource and referral agency in Wausau and also worked for CCR & Rs in Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids. She teaches the family child care course for NorthCentral Technical College and she is an NAEYC validator. Her areas of expertise are transitions, family communication, SIDS risk reduction, family child care, budgets and Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards.

Barb Evensen

Barb Evensen, Technical Advisor, Training and Consulting Services Coordinator  Barb has an early childhood education degree from UW-Stout, and has done graduate work at Wheelock College and the Merrill-Palmer Institute. She has been with WCCIP for 15 years. She was the Executive Director of a child care program in Ripon for 10 years. She also worked for the Work Place Child Care Clearing House in the Lt. Governor’s office. She has taught various courses at the Technical College and continues to update and improve the training that she has developed. Her areas of expertise include employer-sponsored child care planning and development, infant and toddler programming and environments, the process of art for children and helping teachers focus on literacy. “But my passion is curriculum,” says Barb, “helping people understand how to define their curriculum and making a commitment to using it effectively is a powerful move toward quality improvement.” She also believes in helping teachers learn to advocate for themselves as professionals “because they know best what they need. ”Barb recently became the Training and Consulting Coordinator for WCCIP.  She is committed to making training events for early care and education programs “special events” customized to meet their unique needs. 

Sandy Garski

Sandy Garski, Technical Advisor, Grow in Quality Coordinator — Sandy has worked for WCCIP since 1990. Prior to that she was an early childhood administrator and preschool teacher in the Madison area for 17 years. The program she administered was the first NAEYC accredited program in Wisconsin. She now enjoys assisting other programs through the process by doing training and consulting on accreditation. She also teaches at MATC in Madison in the Child Development Associate Degree Program.  Her training and consulting areas of expertise include Literacy, Quality Enhancement, Observing & Recording Children’s Behavior, Adult/Child Interactions, Building Positive Family Relationships, Curriculum Development and more.  She has a degree in Preschool/Kindergarten Education from UW-Madison.  Sandy is an approved trainer for the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards.

Sue Heilman
Sue Heilman, Planning & Communications Manager — Sue is also the Planning and Communication Coordinator for WCCIP. She has been with the agency since May of 1997, and brings a wealth of management, organizational and journalism skills into her position. She has a pragmatic approach to tackling agency projects, and supervises her staff with quiet encouragement. Sue spent ten years working as the referral coordinator for a large Resource and Referral agency, a position which grounded her belief in the need for quality child care, and tangible support systems for child care providers.
 

Sharon Isensee, Administrative Assistant

Barb Karlen, Technical Advisor (Pre-Licensing) Coordinator, Technical Advisor — Barb has been in the early childhood field for 28 years, eight years with WCCIP. During that time she has served as a parent/officer of a parent cooperative preschool, a teacher, and a director/administrator of a NAEYC accredited group center. She has a masters degree in Library Science with an emphasis on children’s literature. She is an NAEYC validator. She has attended national seminars with Alice Honig, Magda Gerber and Diane Trister Dodge. She has also trained at Wheelock College’s Infant/Toddler Curriculum intensive. Her areas of expertise are infants and toddlers, family communication, brain development and personnel issues.
Toni Kutner, Technical Advisor  - My name is Toni Kutner and I have been working in the early childhood field for over twenty years. My experiences have been both challenging and rewarding. As a preschool teacher I helped children to build skills and discover their potential as life long learners. I have served as a mentor to child care providers as they implement quality practices into their programs. As an academic instructor I have taught classes in the early childhood bachelor program at UW Whitewater as well as supervision of student teachers in their field placements. I have a bachelor of Science degree from Alverno College in Early Childhood and Elementary Education and a Master of Science degree in Curriculum and Instruction from UW Milwaukee. When I am not teaching or mentoring prospective child care providers I am spending time with my grandson Thomas, which allows me to keep myself grounded in what is really important, children.
Peggy McMahon, Technical Advisor Peggy lives in Ladysmith and works in northwestern and northern Wisconsin.  She has a BS in Early Childhood Education from UW-Stout and 25+ years of experience in early care and education (worked for WCCIP since 1992).  She works with group and family child care providers, assisting in the start-up/licensing process in 24 counties. Peggy has a wonderful husband and 4 great kids.  
Anna Ramirez, Technical Advisor Anna Ramirez has been working on a degree in Early Childhood and Community Education at MATC. She has been working in the field of Early Childhood since 1988. She was a Family Child Care Provider in her home for 6 years prior to her employment with 4C.  She was employed at 4C Community Coordinated Child Care for over 4 years. Her responsibilities there ranged from Field Representative for the Child & Adult Care Food Program, Resource & Referral Phone Line Specialist to Family Child Care Home Certifier and training specialist for Family Child Care Providers in Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha Counties. She worked for Guadalupe Head Start for over 7 years once she left 4Cs and her job titles have ranged from Family Support Specialist, Parent Involvement Coordinator, Site Supervisor, to Family Resource Ctr. Coordinator.   She has served as a Board member for the Wisconsin Early Childhood agency (WECA) and for the Wisconsin Child Care Improvement Project (WCCIP). Anna is fluent in English and Spanish and began the first Hispanic Support Group of Family Child Care Providers in Milwaukee over 16 years ago. 
 
 

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