Busch Williams Tapped As Youth & Rec Director

Gwendolyn Busch Williams, who has worked in youth services for City Hall for over a decade, has been tapped to lead the city’s newly reorganized Youth and Recreation Department.

Mayor Justin Elicker announced the appointment in an email press release last Thursday.

Busch Williams will serve as the inaugural director of the city’s Youth and Recreation Department.

“I pledge to continue prodigious programming to serve the youth of this City and will not be afraid to give up the good to go for the great,” Busch Williams is quoted as saying in the release.

According to the press release, printed in full below, Busch Williams started working for the city’s Youth at Work program back in 2007. Her latest role in City Hall was as program manager in the Youth Services Department.

This fiscal year, Elicker proposed and the alders approved a reorganization of the parks, public works, and youth services departments into two new consolidated departments: the Parks and Public Works department and the Youth and Recreation Department.

The city’s former Youth Services Department was last helmed by Jason Bartlett, whom Elicker fired in February.

See below for City Hall’s August 27 press release about the appointment of Busch Williams to serve as director of the Youth and Recreation Department.

City of New Haven Announces Director of Youth and Recreation

New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker announced the appointment of Gwendolyn Busch Williams as the first Director of the Youth and Recreation Department. This inaugural role will ensure the fluidity of recreation activities from the Parks Department to the Youth Services Department, as entailed in the Approved Budget for FY 2020 – 2021. The New Haven FY 20 – 21 Budget takes the recreation activities from the Parks Department, and it places them under the newly formed Youth and Recreation Department.

“I am so excited for Gwen to lead this newly formed department and serve the youth of the Elm City,” said New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker. ​“Though our City faces many fiscal challenges, we have always maintained services for our youth and populations of need, such as our homeless populations and the elderly. I am looking forward to working with Gwen, serving, leading and inspiring the youth of New Haven,” he concluded.

Mrs. Busch Williams started her career at City Hall in 2007 when the Youth Employment Program was brought back to the City as Youth at Work. Her latest role in City Hall was Program Manager in the Youth Services Department. She will now lead the newly formed Youth and Recreation Department.

“Gwen is a strong advocate, a highly capable administrator, and an enthusiastic leader,” said Dr. Mehul Dalal, the City’s Community Services Administrator, who oversees the Youth and Recreation Department. ​“She is perfectly suited to lead the newly integrated Youth and Recreation Department,” he concluded.

Mrs. Busch Williams has acquired an undergraduate degree in Interpersonal Communications from the University of Connecticut (UCONN), a Masters Degree in Urban Studies from Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), and a Masters of Social Work from SCSU. She is currently completing her Doctorate Degree in Social Work at SCSU. Additionally, Mrs. Busch Williams is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) with her State of Connecticut 071 certification for school social work.

“To whom much is given much is required. I am humbled to have been selected as the inaugural Director for the Youth and Recreation Department. Thank you to Mayor Elicker for this honor. I pledge to continue prodigious programming to serve the youth of this City and will not be afraid to give up the good to go for the great,” concluded Director Busch Williams.