GEP Contact Page

Grassroots Empowerment Project
PO Box 8683
Madison, WI 53708-8683
Phone: (800)770-0588

*** To send a fax to any GEP staff members dial 1-800-770-0588 and during the greeting dial
"9" and then hit the send button on your fax machine. This extension
is also a voicemail box but it will sense that a fax is sending and go
into receive fax mode.

Meet the Grassroots Empowerment Project Staff
In the past year there have been some changes of faces here at GEP. Some of you know us and some of you don’t. In an effort to make sure you all have names and faces to go with the agency, below is an interview that will help you get to know us a little better.

Click here for information about our Board of Directors.

Click here to fill out our comments form.

Molly Cisco
Position	Office location	Phone Number	Email
Executive Director	Lake Mills, WI	(800) 770-0588 Ext. 1 (608) 206-5094 (C)	mollycisco@msn.com
Hello! I am Molly Cisco and I have worked as the Director of Grassroots Empowerment Project since 2000. During this time, I have seen so much change in the public mental health system BECAUSE of people with mental illness in WI advocating for themselves and uniting together to advocate as a unified voice for change. I am very proud of the work that we, the consumer movement, have accomplished over the years but mostly I am proud to be surrounded by such smart and talented consumer advocates...my comrades! . NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US!!!! While I have worked at GEP I have done a little bit of everything but my heart really lays with advocacy and advancing the human rights of people with mental illness. I see a future where we will no longer be traumatized and discriminated against, where we receive the respect we deserve and have easy access the services and supports that truly help us heal and recover. I will continue to work with my colleagues within the consumer movement and those who support the consumer movement to push for the necessary changes to bring that future to reality. TOGETHER WE CAN AND WILL MAKE CHANGES! I am proud of the work that Grassroots Empowerment Project staff and Board of Directors accomplishes each year. We are truly consumer controlled in every way and strive to be guided by the consumer movement in all that we do. We may be small...but we are scrappy! I live in Lake Mills WI, a small town east of Madison, with my big bloodhound Billy. When not working, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends and fantasizing about my dream of retirement in Panama (I am getting old). And one secret about me is that I was a clown in our high school 3 ring circus in Sarasota Florida!

Lora Ott
Position	Office location	Phone Number	Email
Financial Manager	Madison, WI	(800) 770-0588 Ext. 9 (608 206 2442 (C)	loraleeott@gmail.com
I am the Financial Manager for Grassroots Empowerment Project. I serve on the Board and the Finance Committee of Community Shares of Wisconsin. I love all of my co-workers, the team attitude of GEP staff and the people at the sites, and the energy and excitement of Empowerment Days and the annual conference. I have been working in the accounting field for almost 25 years, mostly in nonprofit agencies. I took a year-long break from working in accounting and drove a semi-truck all over the U.S. some years ago. Now I'm with GEP and also have a part-time business doing bookkeeping & financial consulting with other nonprofit agencies in the Madison area. I am also the very proud mother of two fantastic children.

Sam Ahrens
Position	Office location	Phone Number	Email
Technical Assistance Coordinator	Eau Claire, WI	(800) 770-0588 Ext. 3 (715) 529-4679 (C)	samgrassroots@gmail.com
My name is Sam Ahrens, and I am a Technical Assistance Coordinator for Grassroots Empowerment Project. I provide training and technical assistance to peer-run mental health recovery centers in the northern part of the state. Each of these organizations is run by an amazing group of talented, caring and committed people. I have immense appreciation and respect for the work they do, and for the wonderful diversity of recovery programs and services they offer. My training and experience includes teaching, social work and advocacy in the areas of poverty, homelessness and mental health. I am a certified peer specialist and have co-facilitated GEP peer specialist trainings. Currently I serve on the board of Disability Rights Wisconsin and on their mental health advisory committee. My personal recovery experience and my work as an advocate have taught me that when people are deeply respected, listened to and supported they can transform their lives, and will go on to empower others. That’s what Grassroots Empowerment Project is about and why I am so happy to be a part of it.

Don Pirozzoli
Position	Office location	Phone Number	Email
Technical Assistance Coordinator	Belleville, WI	(800) 770-0588 Ext. 2 (608) 515-6907 (C)	donpirozzoli@aol.com
My name is Don Pirozzoli and I work for Grassroots Empowerment Project (GEP) as a Technical Assistance Coordinator. I provide training and technical assistance (TA) to peer-run recovery centers in the southern and eastern parts of the state. I love working with an awesome staff that are dedicated, caring, and supportive people. My life has been enriched through working with GEP staff, individuals at the peer-run centers, and all those who have touched and continue to touch my life. My experience includes leadership and advocacy work in the cross-disability field at the largest Independent Living Center in FL and the Independent Living Council of WI. This past year I completed Peer Specialist Training and am a state certified Peer Specialist. I am member of the Wisconsin Mental Health Council and a member of the councils Adult Quality Committee. As a member of the Mental Health Council I look forward to advocating on behalf of consumers, like myself, who live with mental illness. I am married to a wonderful woman who is also part of the disability movement and who I met while we both worked at the lndependent Living Center in FL. We share loving and being loved by an awesome Golden Retriever, Lord of Lake Bosse Oaks-Bosse for short. We also enjoy kayaking, hiking, and fishing- she baits her own hook!

Maggie Keneen
Position	Office location	Phone Number	Email
United We Stand Wisconsin Network Coordinator	Wausau, WI	(800) 770-0588 Ext. 7	mkeneen@yahoo.com
As the United We Stand WI Statewide Consumer Network Coordinator, I have the privelege of traveling throughout Wisconsin and meeting the amazing, creative, motivated individuals who will be the ones that future generations thank for making Wisconsin a recovery-oriented, consumer controlled utopia for those living with Mental Illness. Although I only work half-time, with the support of the incredible folks at GEP, I can provide Consumers from around the state with Leadership Training, inspiring events such as Empowerment Days, as well as tools for sharing our successes and challenges such as our listserv. I feel fortunate that my past experience in community organizing, social change and education have given me the opportunity to contribute to the Consumer Movement in Wisconsin. In the past I have worked in a number of social movements including the environmental, women's and anti-violence movements. My contribution has included public education and awareness, media advocacy, technical assistance and training, and organizational management. I am an eternal optimist who beliefs that change is always possible. With hope, unity, resolve and hard work the opportunities to make a difference, no matter how small are abundant. While change can be painfully slow, we must realize that every ripple has a lasting impact that we may never fully realize, but that someone, somewhere, sometime will feel. So...here's to lots of ripples!! Outside of my role at GEP, I stay busy with my 3 year old son, two cats, two frogs and a husband.