A Look at 2015…..from Executive Director, Cindy Booth
Posted on January 14th, 2015
I’d like to wish a Happy New Year to all our friends and followers. 2015 is going to be a new and different year for us I couldn’t be more excited. We’ve increased in size, as an agency, due to the increase in child abuse cases. We’ve grown from 44 employees to 54 in the last year. We’ve also had an increase of 30% in child abuse cases going into 2015. We’ve started off the year with 1,000 more children in the system than we did in 2014. This is also the reason 2015 will be considered “The Year of the Volunteer.”
With this 30 % increase in cases, we’re in desperate need of more volunteers. Our Volunteer Program has put together a strategic plan for volunteer recruitment. They’re working closely with our board to create a volunteer recruitment task force. We’re looking to significantly grow our volunteer base!
Financially, because we have a cost per child through Juvenile Court, we are stable in our Juvenile Court Program. However, we still have a gap in funding. We need to continue to fund raise with wonderful events like our Superhero Run to help cover that gap. We’re looking at doubling the event participation and revenue this year thanks to our events committee made up of our supportive board members. This year, for the very first time, our lovely Theta ladies are putting together an elegant evening called “CASA Blanca.” We’re grateful to have so much support for our mission in 2015.
What I’d like to see when I look back on 2015, is Child Advocates with 200 new volunteers, fewer children in the system and support for our Custody Program (a program which helps protect children’s best interest in high conflict custody cases). I would like to see continued support for our mediation program (a program designed to mediate cases outside of the courtroom). I’d like to look at 2015 as a successful year because of our awareness in the community. I want our community to know about Child Advocates, so people are talking about all the great work we do thanks to our amazing volunteers and staff.