Ms. FitzGerald earned her MSSW at the University of Texas at Austin School of Social Work in May 2006 with specialization in administration and planning. She has worked extensively with children and adolescents in schools, in residential treatment centers, and in foster care. She also has experience working with and on behalf of family violence survivors. During her graduate studies, Ms. FitzGerald served a year-long internship at Travis County Health and Human Services Research and Planning Division, where she worked with Travis County, the Community Action Network, the Basic Needs Coalition of Central Texas, and other community groups to address the needs of 17,000 Hurricane Katrina survivors who were evacuated to Austin, Texas. Before joining the CHILE team in May 2007, she spent a several months working with community groups to address the needs of elders on the Pine Ridge Oglala Sioux Reservation in Wounded Knee, South Dakota.