PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OFFERED TO COUNTY DEPARTMENTS &
LOCAL AGENCIES SEEKING HOUSING & MONEY MANAGEMENT NEEDS

SITUATION
During the spring of 2007 Jackie Carattini with the Marathon County UW-Extension office held key interviews with community partners and agencies to determine community needs. The results of those interviews along with the number of phone calls and referrals coming into the office from other community agencies prompted this agent to pursue professional development offerings for other county departments and local agencies who may see clients with housing or money management needs. 

RESPONSE
In May and June of 2007 Carattini coordinated a 2 part educational series targeting professionals who may be seeing clients for a specific need but those clients also have housing and basic money management needs. The series was offered to give the participating professionals a basic knowledge of rental issues that a tenant may face and also some basic money management tools they could use or pass on to their clients. They were given the resources to be able to address their clients’ needs without having to refer them on to yet another agency or source of help. One day was offered using the Rent Smart curriculum and was offered in partnership with a local attorney specializing in landlord/tenant law. The next program was a one day offering using the Money Smart curriculum. Three UW-Extension family living colleagues who offer the class to others in the state came and presented the program with Carattini.

RESULTS
Carattini coordinated a much needed community training that prepared agencies to better handle the needs of their clients.  Agencies received 12 hours of education and left with the resources to better answer their clients’ questions. There were 50 community agencies that participated in the two trainings including Marathon County social services, the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Central WI., Children’s Service Society, Marathon County Health Dept and the Hmong Association of Wausau. These agencies represent a strong number of our service providers that are now more informed and prepared to answer questions of landlord/tenant rights and money management. As a result of these trainings Carattini has reported a significant decrease in the number of referrals from clients of these agencies with questions in these two topic areas.

EVIDENCE
There were 28 evaluations returned from the Rent Smart training. All of the attendees reported that this new information will greatly increase their ability to help the clients they are already working with. It was also reported that the resources shared will greatly help them in the future and also limit their referrals to other agencies for help. At the Money Smart training 95% of participants reported that they will use the materials to share with their clients. Since the completion of the trainings Carattini has received additional requests from service agencies for materials to share with their clients on both rental and money management issues. One comment received after the completion of the programs from one of the agencies was that they received a comment on their evaluation form stating that the client appreciated the additional help from the staff and that they were not just pushed on to someone else when they asked additional questions. The response from participants’ was so strong that additional topics will be offered to the providers in 2008.

Jackie Carattini, Family Living Agent - 2007 Success Story

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