
Media Release
January 25, 2007
Media Contacts:
Rosann Doran
Public Information Officer
303.438.6308
Debra
Oldenettel named interim director
of Broomfield Health and Human Services
Broomfield City and County Manager George Di Ciero has announced the appointment of Debra C. Oldenettel as the interim director of the Broomfield Health and Human Services (HHS) Department.
Oldenettel follows Karen Beye, who has resigned to become a member of Governor Bill Ritter’s cabinet, in charge of Colorado’s Human Services Department.
Oldenettel has been with Broomfield HHS since 2001, and assisted with the opening of the department when Broomfield became a combined city and county. As the manager for children and family services, she oversees child protection and ongoing service provision, adoption and foster care, several community-based services, and child care matters.
In Broomfield, she has worked with the community to initiate a number of collaborative efforts, including the Nurturing Parenting program, a substance abuse initiative (B-SAFE) with the schools, the United Families program for adoptive parents, and the annual Child Care Summit for childcare providers. She led the recent collaborative effort which won Broomfield national recognition as one of the 100 best communities for youth and children.
She chairs the Broomfield Collaborative Partnership, a multi-agency group that works to improve services to children, youth and families in Broomfield.
Oldenettel came to Broomfield in 2001 from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, where she managed programs aimed at preventing and reducing juvenile delinquency. These comprehensive programs included mental health services, substance abuse prevention and treatment, after-school programs, mentoring, and gang reduction efforts.
She has also worked for the State University of New York Health Science Center’s Women’s and Children’s Health Care Research Center. There, she managed two child and family service programs, one federally funded, and one state funded.
Oldenettel has co-authored and published articles on community assessment centers, prenatal HIV screening in pregnant women, and a review of literature on physical activity and the risk of preterm labor.
She is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Denver where she earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Public Affairs and Sociology. She earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the prestigious Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York.
Oldenettel was honored with a Presidential Management Internship in 1995. She was recognized with Federal Performance Awards each year from 1997 to 2000. She was named the Syracuse University Graduate Scholar in 1994-95, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received the 1994 OMNI Award for Sociological Contribution in the Area of Public Policy. She was also named the Outstanding Graduating Senior in Public Affairs at the University of Denver.