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, 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, 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.

Sharon Isensee, Administrative Assistant