Q&A: Amy Correia on Johnson County's Social Services and Her Plans for "Sabbatical"

Iowa City Patch: When did you become the director of social services in Johnson County? Could you tell me about your background in the social services field?

Amy Correia: I started at Johnson County in 2006. I received my undergraduate degree in social work in 1989 from the University of Iowa, and I started working in social work when I was a student. One of my first jobs out of undergrad was at the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County, and I worked at the United Action for Youth in the teen parent program in the early '90s. I went back to graduate school in 1996 and I became a volunteer at the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, and then was on the board of the Rape Victim Advocacy Program and became very involved in the domestic violence movement. So then I started doing some national domestic violence work, and from 2001 to 2005 I did anti-poverty policy and program development work for the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Iowa City Patch: What are you most proud of accomplishing as the director of social services in the county?

Correia: I’ve been really proud of the work that I’ve done with the Johnson County DCAT board, which is a state-legislated board — communities can have these boards that receive state money to address local needs and issues. I've been trying to implement a Parent Partner program, which is a really great program working with parents who have been involved with the Department of Human Services to become trained mentors to current families to help them get through the system and gain skills and information about how to be better parents and provide safety for their kids. I helped to create a new county program called the Focus On Youth Fund to address the needs of children with mental health challenges, because Iowa doesn't have a system of care for children’s mental health. It’s something that’s really addressing a need that was unmet. I also helped to strengthen programs to provide free tax help for folks in Johnson County through a collaboration with the University of Iowa and volunteer accounting students who have the expertise to file taxes for lower-income households. This year they filed 1,000 tax returns.

Iowa City Patch: What still needs to be done with social services in the county?

Correia: We do have issues in Johnson County with overrepresentation of minority youth and families in some of our services,  such as juvenile delinquency and child welfare. As a community of service providers and other organizations, we really need to honestly look at issues of bias and prejudice and be willing to set aside our defensiveness to really make a difference.

Iowa City Patch: Why did you decide to step down from your position as director?

Correia: I’ve been doing this work since 1989 — 22 years — and I’ve just been thinking that I wanted a change, to do something totally different, to kind of rejuvenate. I've been an avid knitter for a long time and I learned about this opportunity at Crazy Girl Yarn Shop in Coralville, so I decided I would just shift gears for a while. I'm going to be the manager at Crazy Girl Yarn Shop, it's a great little store.

Iowa City Patch: Do you plan on staying at the yarn shop for the long haul, or do you think you'll return to social services sometime in the future?

Correia: I'm just kind of keeping my options open. I think that every profession should have some sort of sabbatical time. I don’t imagine that I’m going to be away from the helping profession for the rest of my life, but I don’t know in what capacity I’ll come back.