By Lea Kahn
Penelope Ettinger is a firm believer in the need to give something back to the community, but the trick is to find out exactly how to do it.
For Ms. Ettinger, the new executive director of PEI Kids, it’s working with high-risk children and their families which is what she has been doing most of her life.
PEI Kids, which is located on Lawrence Road, was founded in 1985 to meet the growing need for education, intervention and training programs related to child sexual abuse and personal safety. It is a nonprofit organization.
Ms. Ettinger started out as a nursery school teacher, but after spending some time in the classroom, she decided to switch careers. She went back to school and earned a graduate degree in human services management from Drexel University, which is essentially managing nonprofit groups.
The 54-year-old Bucks County, Pa., resident’s career path took her to the Philadelphia Commission on AIDS as its associate director; to become the principal investigator and director for Family-Centered Services at Hahnemann University; and to serve as a consultant to the Philadelphia Health Department for pediatric HIV.
It was Ms. Ettinger’s experiences working on HIV and AIDS issues that made a lasting impact on her. It was a “turning point,” she said, because she was dealing with public health issues and public policy issues.
”I have a strong passion for doing this kind of work working with high-risk children and families,” she said. She said she is skilled in program development and also in the development of public policy.
Pointing to her nonprofit management background, Ms. Ettinger said she also enjoys the challenge of raising money and putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together and that is part of what attracted her to PEI Kids.
PEI Kids is not focused on AIDS and HIV issues, but its clients are high-risk children and families. The nonprofit group offers programs aimed at first- and second-time time juvenile offenders, and crisis intervention for children who have been sexually abused.
PEI Kids also offers programs that help to nip bullying in the bud. The staff makes arrangements for children who have been placed in foster care to visit with their biological families in a supervised setting, she said.
The Juvenile Offenders Outreach Program works with 11- to 17-year-olds who have committed auto theft or entry-level crimes such as shoplifting. Children are referred to the program by Family Court, police departments and the Mercer County Probation Department. The 16-week program encourages them toward more positive pursuits, attitudes and approaches to circumstances that affect them.
The Crisis Intervention program provides short-term counseling to young victims of sexual abuse and their families immediately after the abuse has been disclosed. The program also offers group sessions for the victims, siblings and their parents or guardians aimed at helping them work through the effects of abuse and to help them to heal.
The Child Assault Prevention program teaches children how to exercise their rights to be safe, strong and free. It teaches them how to recognize potentially dangerous situations and how to respond. They learn about bullying, assault by a stranger and sexual assault by someone that they know and how to deal with those situations.
PEI Kids also brings the No More Bullies, No More Victims program into the schools to help faculty and staff learn how to prevent and respond to bullying. A similar program is offered to parents, and children learn methods to de-escalate bullying behaviors. They also are reminded of their rights as individuals and the rights of others not to be bullied.
”We have seen children (in PEI Kids programs) from all 13 municipalities in Mercer County,” Ms. Ettinger said. “The bottom line is, we see the reported cases. We do not see the children whose cases have not been reported.”
Looking to the future of PEI Kids, Ms. Ettinger said she would like the organization to evaluate its programs and also try to obtain multi-year grants so it can serve more children and their families. Funding is always an issue for nonprofit groups, she said.
”It would be great to see PEI Kids grow in two different ways to take the expertise that we have and train other groups in how to do this really effective work, and to grow to provide family-centered services to the most vulnerable children and their families,” she said.
Ms. Ettinger said she would like to see more collaboration between PEI Kids and other agencies to provide families with the social services and health services that they need, and to do it in a more “seamless” fashion.
”The best news would be the need for PEI Kids not to exist, but the gang lure and sexual abuse are not going away. I think (the work) is important and I am committed to making a difference. I love coming to work every day,” Ms. Ettinger said.

