2023 was a year of incredible growth for CASA! We broke all prior records
serving the most children and managing the most cases with the most
volunteers in one year than ever before. This was possible through thoughtful
planning, foresight, and strategic expansion of our staf and partnerships.
Thanks to our board, our staf, and our volunteers, we have been able to
remain mission focused and increase the number of children we serve during
a time of extreme system stress and partner challenges.
We expect to see continued demand for our services in the coming years. In
2023, we set the stage to engage and retain our volunteer advocates, ofering
our first local all-day conference for volunteers, updating and upgrading our
pre-service training curriculum, and creating a comprehensive, new volunteer
on-boarding tool. Our volunteer retention rate remains high, and we have
seen an increase in volunteers taking on new CASA cases after their initial
case is closed. We honored Tayler Moots and Lily Corzo as our Advocates of
the Year.
We continued our advocacy on behalf of child well-being in Delaware County
with the Voices for Children Coalition. We welcomed Shakira Hansley Ellerson
as our new Policy & Advocacy Coalition Director this year, conducted outreach
to lawmakers, and provided advocacy training to partners and individuals. We
also launched our new child well-being database and a legislative tracker on
Voices for Children’s website. We continue to strengthen our relationships in
the community by serving as the lead agency for the Safer Schools Stronger
Neighborhoods coalition, which is designed to reduce gun violence among
youth in the City of Chester.
Our Youth Voices Council reached its one-year anniversary in October of
2023. They are a mighty team of former CASA youth who provide invaluable
insights, trainings and presentations, and help to ensure our work remains
youth centered.
Even with all the growth and demands we have faced in 2023, we continue to
keep an eye towards the future. We remain committed to our mission, newly
updated this year: Empowering community volunteers to connect with and
champion children and youth involved in the child welfare system, advocating
for equity, resources, stability and permanency. That’s the essence of who
CASA is and we’re honored to have your support of our work.
Leigh Anne McKelvey, MSW LSW
Executive Director
2023 WAS A YEAR OF INCREDIBLE GROWTH FOR CASA
Diversity, Equity, &
Inclusion remains at
the core of everything
we do as we continue
our work to ensure that
staff and volunteers
are culturally informed.
LETTER FROM
THE DIRECT0R