Prevention and Early Intervention Division Administrator, Connie Bettin
Hello DCDHS colleagues! Welcome to the Prevention & Early Intervention (PEI) Division of DCDHS—where 54 creative, compassionate, and committed team members serve members of the community every day to improve the lives of children and families. Several members of the amazing PEI team are pictured on the following page.
PEI launched as a Division in 2020 with the mission of building community, strengthening families, and expanding opportunities through innovative, inclusive, and collaborative services. PEI is committed to realizing the DCDHS Strategic Priorities with a focus on equity and creating a culture where all employees thrive. Every single day, PEI team members meet the every growing needs in our community. The Prevention and Early Intervention Division includes the Immigration Affairs Office, Joining Forces for Families, Community Restorative Court, Early Childhood Zones, Out of Home Care, the PASS AmeriCorps program, and many contracted services.
Led by supervisor Fabiola Hamdan, the Immigration Affairs Office (IAO) has distinguished itself as the hub of information, guidance, and service for the immigrant community and their stakeholders. Serving over 500 families a year, the IAO team provides advocacy, referral, and case management services to address the immediate and long-term needs of the immigrant community and those seeking asylum and refuge. IAO is constantly striving to provide creative alternatives to meet needs; most recently launching pro se clinics for asylum seekers in partnership with Centro Hispano and the Community Immigration Law Center. IAO held a stakeholder event in December recognizing specific individuals and highlighting the partnerships serving the immigrant community and the important role IAO holds in the network. Fabiola Hamdan’s expertise is valued in the community.
Check out this recent interview If you have questions about immigration or related issues, contact Fabiola Hamdan at IAO.
Supervisor Mike Bruce leads a team of sixteen community-based social workers and two housing program leaders to deliver the Joining Forces for Families (JFF) program. Embedded in communities across Dane County by design, JFF services are accessible to individuals and families seeking referral and guidance to find health, housing, mental health, parenting, basic need, and other vital resources. JFF social workers and program leaders develop deep and valued relationships with community partners resulting in creative problem-solving and capacity building to meet the unique needs of neighborhoods and communities. Recently, the Stoughton Area Resource Team, including JFF, in partnership with the Stoughton Senior Center, developed a program to assist residents with car repairs to help families meet their transportation needs. In Sun Prairie, a JFF and Public Health led effort formed the Sun Prairie Wellness Coalition, a group of compassionate community residents and local partners coming together to improve wellness in Sun Prairie through education to mitigate stigma associated with mental health and substance abuse while advocating for those impacted. In 2022, JFF mobilized residents and stakeholders in a Madison neighborhood to elevate their voices to Madison Metro in response to proposed bus route changes. Collectively, they kept a needed neighborhood bus stops available.
In late 2021, a JFF worker supported a neighborhood resident who filed a discrimination claim with the City of Madison Department of Civil Rights (DCR). Recognizing that developing a stronger understanding of the process would be an asset for our staff and community partners, JFF invited the City of Madison DCR to present at a JFF Info Session. In January 2022, 91 people attended the event. Following the Info Session, we invited DCR to provide an expanded Certified Community Partner training to JFF staff in April 2022.
After this training, an opportunity to collaborate with DCR arose when a new management company bought a large housing complex in the Elver Park Neighborhood. The new management issued nonrenewal notices to all tenants that had Section 8 vouchers. Neighbors contacted JFF, we contacted DCR, who reached out to the management company to explain that Section 8 income is a protected class in the City of Madison and they were prepared to file a discrimination complaint. The management company reversed their non-renewal notices.
Under the leadership of supervisor Stephanie Marino, Community Restorative Court (CRC) delivers a pre-charge restorative justice program for 17 – 25 year olds who have committed a low-level offense. Upon completing an individualized Repair Harm Agreement and participating in a restorative circle led by trained community Peacemakers, participants or respondents are relieved of fines and charges. CRC provides an alternative path for those community members disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system and offers case management, linkage, and referral to those needing additional support unrelated to the issue leading to a CRC referral. In response to community need, CRC added a bilingual position to the team and now offers circles and other CRC services in Spanish to meet language access and best practice needs. CRC offers a monthly Retail Theft Group using the restorative circle model. Respondents meet with the Peacemaker, a representative from the retail outlet, and a law enforcement officer. The benefits include the respondent seeing the widespread impact of retail theft while being held accountable. The biggest benefit is that those participating recognize the humanity in each other and show compassion and support for those affected. Recently, CRC presented its program model to the Criminal Justice Reform Initiatives (CJRI) committee of the county board sharing the program mission, operations, and impact. The team knocked it out of the park. Midpresentation, Chairperson Supervisor Gray requested information on becoming a Peacemaker. At a subsequent meeting, the committee selected CRC to receive CJRI funding to build out the program. Congrats CRC!
The Early Childhood Zones (ECZ), managed by Megan Meinen, serves families with children pre-natal to enrollment in kindergarten to enhance family Protective Factors through home visiting intervention and case management services with housing, employment and education, and mental health services available to families as needed. Zones are strategically located in areas with higher poverty rates, risk of child welfare engagement, and/or fewer resources including the north side of Madison, the southwest side in the Leopold elementary school area, and in Sun Prairie. The Zones utilize a Collective Impact model where the funding and private agency partners engage in a shared planning process and coordinate resources with a backbone organization to create greater impact.
Led by supervisors Sarah Lawton and Jennifer Edds, the Out of Home Care (OHC) unit licenses and supports on average 180 foster homes and 170 kinship care homes to support the children and families involved in the child welfare and youth justice systems that require an out of home level of intervention. The OHC team manages young people in our care who often have acute, complex mental health and other needs. They support kin and foster homes to in-turn, support youth and families. The team is adding a Behavioral Health Project position and respite care to better meet youth needs.
Committed to providing the best support of the children in our care, OHC has developed a “Transracial Parenting Guide” offering foster homes with guidance and resources to best meet the needs of BIPOC children in their care, focusing on skin and haircare. OHC is working with colleagues in Children, Youth & Family colleagues to raise awareness with the State offices that BIPOC youth in congregate care settings need access to hair and skin care resources as a matter of health and wellness. OHC is now turning its attention to revising resources and improving its understanding on the needs of gender fluid youth—from recruitment of homes, to outward facing materials, to seeing and hearing youth needs.
Bonnie Erickson coordinates the Partner for After School Success (PASS) program, a federal grant that places AmeriCorps members at middle schools and community center sites to provide academic coaching and run after school programs to build social-emotional learning skills for youth. Corps members also participate in community service opportunities. Over spring break, Bonnie and five PASS members partnered with AmeriCorps St. Louis and an AmeriCorps NCCC team to join an ongoing project at Greenwood Cemetery, a historical African American cemetery located in Ferguson, MO. Working together, they spread mulch, cut invasive honeysuckle, grapevine, removed vegetative debris, and cleared brush. Members learned about the history of Greenwood Cemetery from organizer Raphael Morris, including his personal account of uncovering headstones of his family members while volunteering in the cemetery. Raphael shared, “The cemetery is over 32 acres with 50,000 burials that have taken place here. The cemetery is severely overgrown and we are trying to restore it to its natural beauty. We have the burial [site of] Harriet Scott Dred Scott’s wife, we have buffalo soldiers, slaves buried here, Spanish-American war veterans, and World War I; you name it we’ve got it out here.”
The PEI leadership team also includes Marykay Wills and Ron Chance who expertly manage OHC and community programs respectively, and Dave Marshall, community programs coordinator, who is the hub of many wheels. The Division Administrator is Connie Bettin who appreciates every day having the opportunity to work with such a committed and brilliant team!
Please see the DCDHS web page for more information:
Community Programs
Kinship Program
Out of Home Care
