Meet Bethany, CEDAM’s economic initiatives manager! Bethany started at CEDAM in June and brings more than a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector. Prior to joining CEDAM, Bethany served as the VITA Interim Associate Director at United Way of South Central Michigan. A passionate advocate for economic justice, she draws from her personal experience as a single mom to encourage and further her work helping Michigan families and communities. Our communications manager, Jennifer, sat down and talked with Bethany to get to know her better.

Jennifer Lareau-Gee, Communications Manager: Can you give me a brief overview of what you were doing before joining CEDAM?

Bethany Broom-Dombrowski, Economic Initiatives Manager: I was working at United Way of South Central Michigan (UWSCMI) as a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) specialist. I was responsible for running the free tax preparation program out of three different counties (Montcalm, Ionia, and Gratiot) and providing free tax prep to households with an income below $67,000. I also oversaw the partnering with different community organizations, as well as a community college and a university, to implement a VITA class.

Jennifer: You seem very passionate about VITA. What made you decide to work with VITA for so long, and how did that become a passion? 

Bethany: I really enjoyed the program because I know how essential those programs are to families. I’ve qualified for every free program there is to qualify for, where you have to be at or below poverty level, and VITA is one program where you can have a moderate income and still qualify to use that program. Another reason is because of the volunteers; I loved working with the volunteers. This sounds cliché, but they did make me want to be a better person, and especially evaluate how I want to spend my time. A lot of the volunteers are retired, and it made me analyze what my ultimate goals are in life and how I want to spend my time. Their dedication showed me the importance of community. I also enjoyed educating, not only taxpayers but also the students at the community college. To be able to participate in the program, teaching students about simple personal income tax and then educating the taxpayers to ensure they have the knowledge to make those decisions about their personal income tax, was so rewarding.

Jennifer: What are you looking forward to most in this role, working at CEDAM? 

Bethany: I’m looking forward to working on and creating processes that make implementing grant funding more streamlined. I like to take something that’s maybe a little bit chaotic or a little bit unorganized and make it streamlined. If you have a really messy room and it needs to be organized, I don’t mind organizing it. I enjoy organizing, so that’s what I’m looking forward to most in this position. Besides also working with Madeleine; I think she does a great job, so I’m looking forward to working with her as well.

As far as specifically working for CEDAM, I feel like I have a unique advantage because I was once the VITA associate at UWSWMI. So I’m looking forward to working with all of the free tax programs throughout the state of Michigan.

Jennifer: What excites you most about community development as a field?

Bethany: Taking the ideas that some programs have and spreading those to other programs across the state. For example, the UWSCMI just got a VITA bus, and it’s able to reach rural areas. It has its own WiFin so it’s able to go to places and provide free tax prep to those who can’t do it on their own. When we brought it up at a Michigan Economic Impact Coalition (MEIC) meeting, where free tax professionals attend, there was a lot of interest in how it was funded, and there were a lot of general questions around it. It doesn’t have to be a big idea, like a bus, but it can be something great, like a new tracking sheet for clients or doing their appointments a different way. Being able to take those ideas and share them with multiple programs improves services and access to communities across the state.

Jennifer: What do you want to get the most out of this role?

Bethany: I am hoping that we are able to grow both the Children’s Savings Account program and the free tax preparation program to reach a wider audience. There are so many communities in Michigan that want or would benefit from these programs, and they may not know they exist or don’t have the means to implement them. The grant funding that CEDAM awards communities to create these programs in their communities or improve/increase the longevity of the current ones does wonders for families in Michigan. My goal is to continue and increase grant funding to continue advancing communities across the state.

Lightning Round: Get-to-know-you questions