Rita Caldwell Email and Phone Number

Rita Caldwell was born in Denver, Colorado. As a young girl, her interest in Art led her to find joy in many different mediums over the span of 30 years. Although her passion for creativity has expressed itself in rare creations of the Botanical nature, Rita has also developed a sense of design that shines through in all of her handmade beaded jewelry, multi-media masks, and outdoor garden landscape compositions. With the help of her Husband, and two Welsh Springer Spaniels, Rita has amassed a body of work that is diverse and heart-felt in the mediums she works with. Inspired by the reunion with her Native American (Penobscot) son, artist C. Walker Chorvat, whom she lost 39 years ago, Rita has begun a collaboration with him; employing C’s experience as a well published working artist of 20 years. The blending of these artists skills creates a dynamism of expression; an intrinsic beauty manifested from a lifetime of painful separation, and the joy of reunion.Favorite materials to work with include Leather, Glass Cabochons, Porcelain Cabochons, Glass Beads, Feathers, Bone, Delica Beads, Peyote Stitch, Embroidery Beadwork, Native American Inspired Patterns, Laura Mears, Penobscot Bead Patterns .

Develop and coordinate all aspects of housing, education and employment activities for Family Tree Housing participants including affordable and subsidized housing search, landlord recuritment, participant application and placement assistence, employment training, search, placement and employer follow up. Collaberate with the Managing Director for housing programs billing information to include reconciling program expenditure expenses, tracking and reporting match requirements and approving final program billing reports. Promote and manage ongoing relationships with community partners and employers. Create educational opportunities based on partcipant needs. Provide one-on-one assistance to partcipants to assist them with obtaining housing, employment and education services, and expand community landlord base.

Provided direct management and oversight of federally funded Transitional and Permanent housing programs. Directly supervised case managers and provided overall management of the Transitional and Permanent housing programs. Assisted the Managing Director with the development of the annual budget for housing operations and oversaw the expenditures for housing operations. Recruited, hired and trained case management staff. Reviewed program policy and procedures to make necessary program changes. Managed collaborative working relationships with service providers, landlords, funders and other community and faith based organizations. Monitored all partcipant files, logs and statistical data.

Provided home-based case management and counseling to formerly homeless youth and families in a transitional housing/self-sufficiency program. Conducted assessment interviews with potential clients. Linked clients with community resources and advocated for needed services. Assisted domestic violence victims in obtaining restraining orders. Worked closely with other service providers, including landlords, parent educators, and human services caseworkers. Compiled statistics for grants and completed annual reports. Assisted families and individuals in obtaining Permanent housing.

Facilitated a Restraining Order clinic at Jefferson County Victim Witness. Answered legal calls and questions. Accompanied victims to court, explained court procedures, and assisted with paper work. Documented legal process for statistics. Provided legal referrals.

Assisted victims of domestic violence in their interactions with the Judicial Justice system, crisis intervention, group and individual counseling, 24 hour crisis line, referral phone calls, intakes and assessments. Extensive case management and documentation of shelter residents, objectives and goal- setting with shelter residents. Computer data entry and compiling statistics for grants.