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Our Staff:
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Karen Koenigsberg is Program Coordinator/Family Navigator for the Get Connected Family Resource Center. She was born and raised in Connecticut, joined the Marine Corps when she was 20, moved to Maryland in 1986, and is a single mom with two children with Fragile X Syndrome, a daughter and a son both in their twenty's. Karen worked as a volunteer at Infants and Toddlers when it first began in Carroll County, visiting doctors in the area to explain the program. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience working with the school system on individual education plans (IEP's), transitioning, the Post Secondary Program, day programs and employment. Other positions she has held has been as a special education secretary, after which she worked for six years with the Community Learning Center after school programs. She worked and volunteered with C.H.A.N.G.E. Inc., and served on the Carroll County Therapeutic Recreation Council for about eighteen years in a variety of capacities--secretary, vice-president, president, and coordinator. Karen has worked with Special Olympics Carroll County as a volunteer and a coach. She is current member of Kiwanis and on the board for Voices for Children.
Karen's goals for her children are for them to be independent and happy at what they are doing in life. |
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Betsy Ensor is a Family Navigator for the Get Connected Family Resource Center. She became passionate about assisting parents and children with educational, mental health and substance abuse resources over 22 years ago after her son was diagnosed with ADHD at an early age, and later with Asperger’s Syndrome. Along with her personal experiences, Betsy has over ten years of expertise working with children and adolescents in the support room at Robert Moton Elementary School. In her free time, Betsy enjoys spending time with her six grandchildren, reading, quilting and volunteering at her church in Westminster.
Betsy’s vision is to “start a child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not turn from it.” |
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Sharon Glass is a mom and advocate for her son whom she homeschools, a devoted wife, and a lifelong advocate of individuals seeking to obtain and secure basic human rights. Over the past seven years, her efforts have been directed in the area of disabilities, particularly autism, and she advocates at the county, state and federal levels for the rights of individuals with disabilities and for inclusive education and communities.
In 2001, Sharon began FOCAS, Families of Children with Autism Support Group, Carroll County, Maryland. She serves as a member of Maryland's Special Education State Advisory Council (SESAC), the Carroll County Local Management Board (LMB), and the Carroll County Special Education Citizen's Advisory Council (CarrollCo-SECAC) where she had previously served two consecutive two-year terms as co-chairperson. She is also the convener for the Carroll County Interfaith Council Previously, she has served on the Maryland State Department of Education Parent Involvement Sub-Committee of the Maryland Parent Advisory Council.
Sharon is a graduate of several state-wide training programs including Leaders in Disability Policy, The ARC's Partners in Policymaking, and The Family Works Parent Leadership Institute (PLI). Additionally, she has worked as a peer trainer helping to foster the personal and collective empowerment of individuals and family members in the state of Maryland. For ten years she volunteered as a home-leader and hotline volunteer on a 24-hour suicide prevention, befriending hotline.
At Grace Lutheran Church, Sharon began the FIT (Faith and Inclusion Together) Ministry to educate her congregation on disabilities. She has served on the church council and Call Committee, and she currently chairs the Christian Education Committee.
Prior to moving to Carroll County, Sharon worked for over eighteen years at Washington National Cathedral in our Nation's Capital where she worked with senior clergy in developing, organizing, coordinating and monitoring adult education and spiritual refreshment programs and conferences, as well as working closely with individuals in the homeless community. Her time at the University of Maryland, with concentrations in psychology, sociology and philosophy, prepared her with a solid foundation to serve her community as she moved into the workforce. |
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Rhonda Johnson is married and has two children, a daughter age 16 and a son age 13. Rhonda has been a stay at home mom and says "I will never regret spending all those years taking care of my children and watching them grow."
As her children grew older, Rhonda decided to join the community as a hotline volunteer at Rape Crisis Intervention Services (RCIS) in 2001. This required many hours of carrying a pager in the evenings and on weekends, responding to phone calls, and going to the hospital or police department in order to give support to victims of sexual abuse. Within a few years, Rhonda was asked to join Rape Crisis as an employee. She was quoted to have said, "When I stopped working after my daughter was born, I vowed that if I ever went back, it would be to do something that I felt good about. I feel better than good about my work with RCIS - I'm proud of myself, I'm fulfilled."
Rhonda started out as a first responder and moved her way up to the volunteer coordinator position before she resigned in Spring 2006.
From there she thought she might want to get out of crisis work and do a 9 to 5 job. That did not meet her internal needs to nurture, help, and support others. So joining Get Connected Family Resource Center as a Family Navigator was a great fit. "This is where I belong, working with people and supporting others."
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