National CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate)Association Advocating for Abused and Neglected Children
The National CASA Association has been a Jewelers for Children Legacy Charity since 2003. JFC has provided $ 5,875,000 in support to CASA since the relationship began. Those funds have been used by National CASA to make grants to local CASA programs in 479 communities which has provided for advocacy to more than 4,772 children in crisis situations. Funds have also been used to produce two different public service announcements that are used to recruit volunteers and funds have been used to enhance and re-launch the National CASA website. With JFC's generous 2009-10 award to National CASA they began a new round of grants to local CASA program to support advocacy for abused and neglected children across the nation. Already, National CASA has distributed JFC funds by awarding grants to 75 local CASA programs. Grants of $25,000 each were awarded to six programs (San Bernardino, CA; Lonoke, AR; Bridgeton, NJ; San Antonio, TX; Richmond, VA; and Green Bay, WI) and the remaining programs received grants of approximately $10,000 each. Visit the National CASA Website: nationalcasa.org “To give a child a CASA is to give them a voice. To give them a voice is to give them hope, and to give them hope is to give them the world. I believe that with all my heart.” – Pamela
This year’s supportIn addition, the CASA program in Houston requested and received a $25,000 emergency grant after the devastation and disruption in services caused by Hurricane Ike. As in the past, each local CASA program to receive JFC funds also received a toolkit to help them make best use of JFC's funding support, strengthen their relationships with local JFC participants, and spread the word about the important support the jewelry industry provides to abused and neglected children. The toolkit includes a press release and an article template that programs can personalize and distribute to local markets. Many programs generate local media interest as a result of this distribution every year. "JFC funding has helped this organization thrive. We have drastically increased our volunteer force which has allowed us to advocate on behalf of more children so that we may help them to secure a safe, permanent home as quickly as possible." -- CASA of Genesee County, Flint, MI During this grant year, National CASA will use10% of the JFC funding to support CASA Connects, a strategic redesign of National CASA's multi-faceted website. The website is a vital tool for communication between National CASA, its 1,018 state and local offices, nearly 70,000 volunteer advocates, court judges throughout the U.S., and thousands of prospective donors and volunteers. This redesign will also give them better oversight and tracking of the flow of volunteer requests. The CASA Connects project will help CASA organizations around the country achieve our ambitious nationwide goal of serving 25% more children by 2013. Forgotten Children Campaign National CASA has a long history of helping its member programs with capacity-building efforts and it is the heart of what we do as the national organization. Our support of our membership, whether through funding or technical assistance, helps provide critical services and gives a unified voice to the CASA cause. To increase volunteer recruitment, National CASA launched in 2009 Forgotten Children: Stand Up for Foster Children - an innovative volunteer mobilization initiative. While the economic downturn significantly impacted JFC's funding pledge to National CASA, we were thrilled to continue our commitment and recognize JFC as a national sponsor of the Forgotten Children campaign in 2009. This included prominent recognition of JFC on event banners, collateral and campaign promotions in more than 204 community events across the country. JFC was also recognized as a national sponsor on the popular online fund and friend-raising tool using the "friends asking friends" web technology. Each participating program received a campaign template which then was customized with local event specifics. Please see CASA of Cook County's example (with active link) in the attached supplement. More than 60 local programs activated this tool to engage volunteers and supporters to visit the site and donate and/or register as a supporter. They in turn appealed to their friends, family and co-workers to "give a child a CASA volunteer." The campaign has been further promoted through the participation of Dr. Phil and Robin McGraw, bestselling authors and hosts of the talk show Dr. Phil, who signed on as the campaign's official spokespersons. By dedicating time on their show to promoting the CASA cause, they helped triple the number of volunteer inquiries on our website last year. Support for Local Programs We are extremely grateful to Jewelers for Children for allowing us to use our 2009 funds to strengthen our annual grant cycle to member programs. The National CASA Grants program is one of the most significant ways we support our network of 1,018 program offices. In 2009, CASA/GAL programs struggling from funding decreases brought on by the economic crisis turned to National CASA for help. With your support, we were able to respond by offering a funding category for sustainability during our annual grant cycle. National CASA received more than 160 Sustainability Grant applications representing $2.6 million of need. Through the support of JFC, we provided funding to 63 programs. Thank you for partnering with us to strengthen our network. In these difficult economic times, JFC funding ensured that CASA/GAL programs continued providing high-level advocacy for abused and neglected children. We hope that you will continue to fund this category, and we look forward updating you on the progress of our Sustainability Grant recipients. JFC Support Gives Abused and Neglected Children a Voice Since 2003, JFC has brought hope and stability to thousands of the children we serve, and National CASA and the CASA network are grateful for your ongoing support. Your investment has enabled CASA programs to provide advocacy for more than 4,772 children in 479 communities. The generosity and commitment of your members help to safeguard the interests of our nation's most valuable resource: our children. We are honored to hold the title of "Super Legacy Charity" and look forward to upholding this tribute in everything we do on behalf of the children and families we serve, every day, and though the coming year. Thank you. "We are truly thankful for the funding provided by Jewelers for Children. Rural funding is challenging and we rely on donations from individuals and from corporations in our community. The jewelers in the nation are to be commended for their gift to the children who benefit from the advocacy CASA volunteers provide to them." -- CASA of South Central Missouri, Rolla, MO "New York City CASA like so many other non-profits in the United States has been hit hard by the economic downturn. JFC funding has assisted NYC CASA at a most difficult time in our history. Thank you." -- Peggy Grauwiler, Executive Director The following local CASA programs have received JFC grants in the 2009/2010 cycle:
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The National CASA Association is dedicated to making the world a safer and more nurturing place for the nation's abused and neglected children. Highly trained CASA volunteers are matched one to one with children in foster care and work to ensure that they are placed in stable, caring homes where they can thrive. CASA's national network of local programs in more than 1,018 communities provides a strong voice, one child at a time, to more than 200,000 children each year. Nearly 70,000 caring, trained volunteers serve children every year; yet tens of thousands of children go without an advocate to speak for them.
