Meredith Vitaioli named new director of the Children’s Resource Center-South

By Charlene N. Rivera-Bonet | Waisman Science Writer

Meredith Vitaioli
Meredith Vitaioli

The Children’s Resource Center-South (CRC) named Meredith Vitaioli as their new director in April. Vitaioli has more than 15 years of experience supporting families of children with disabilities, the last four and a half of those spent serving different programs within the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) at the Waisman Center.

Vitaioli began working at the UCEDD in 2019, and has divided her time between supporting the CRC and the Wisconsin Care Integration Initiative (WiCII) as a resource guide and family navigator, respectively, and supporting the Waisman Early Childhood Program (WECP). “The bulk of my time is spent helping families with children with disabilities connect to resources and support,” Vitaioli says. As the director of the CRC, she will continue to support all programs but in a different capacity.

The CRC is dedicated to supporting families with children and youth with special health care needs or disabilities and the providers who serve them. Specialists at the center help families and providers get answers, find services, connect with community resources, provide training, and support people through their journey. They are a tool to help individuals navigate the system of care around children and youth with special health care needs.

Children's Resource Center-SouthThe CRC is one of five resources centers across Wisconsin funded by the Maternal Child Health Title V Block Grant. It serves the counties of Adams, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Grant, Green, Iowa, Juneau, Lafayette, Richland, Rock, Sauk, and Vernon.

Having formed statewide connections and through her role as a resource guide in the CRC, and with more than a decade of experience helping families, applying for the role of director of the CRC was an easy decision for Vitaioli. “I’m really excited about this as a way to take my experience and what I’ve heard and learned from families in all of those years, and utilize it at a different level like getting to be a part of statewide discussions about what’s going on for families and children with disabilities,” Vitaioli says.

Vitaioli is also looking forward to doing more outreach on behalf of the CRC, and to get to meet people and families in the community that haven’t connected with the CRC yet. “It’s easy to promote the good work that we do. Because the team that I’m a part of, including all of our outreach, and everyone at Children’s Resource Center, South is such a great, great team,” she says.

The CRC director position was previously held by Tim Markle, MA, MA/CS, who was in the role for 6 years. Markle now serves as the outreach manager for CRC, director of the WI Youth Health Transition (YHTI) and family discipline coordinator of WI LEND.

Congratulations, Meredith Vitaioli, on your new role!