CASA 2023 Impact Report
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WE’RE GROWING!
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
Our Mission:
Empowering community volunteers
to connect with and champion
children and youth involved in the
child welfare system, advocating
for equity, resources, stability and
permanency.
Our Vision:
We envision a bright future in which
all children and youth have the
resiliency, consistent relationships
with caring adults, and access to
child welfare, education, health, and
human services they need to fully
experience the joys of childhood
and pursue their dreams.
Core Values:
Authenticity
Collaboration
Compassion
Consistency
Effectiveness
Equity
Volunteerism
Contents
Page 4-5
2023 Achievements
Page 6-7
Your Impact
Page 8-9
Volunteer Impact
Page 10
Youth Voices Council
Page 11
Voices for Children
Page 12-13
Diversity & Inclusion
Page 14
Safer Schools Stronger
Neighborhoods (3SN)
Page 15
Financials
Page 16
Staf & Board
Page 17
Donors
Page 18
Donor Spotlight
Page 19
Looking Ahead
M R
MISSION & VISION
n 2023, CASA continued our path to incredible, sustained growth.
We served 303 children on 190 cases. This represents the most
children and most cases ever served in a single year! We had 149
volunteers active and assigned to cases during the year, which is also a
new record for us.
We celebrated the high school graduation of ten young people
and served as Educational Decision Maker for 145 children, two
achievements that matched our previous records, set in 2022.
Our volunteers continue to be remarkably consistent. Although the
average length of child welfare involvement for children served was 27
months, 79% percent of the children whose cases closed in 2023 had
only one advocate during their entire time with CASA. This consistency
is a critical component in the work we do. Fourteen of our experienced
advocates are participating in our Peer Mentor program, providing hands-
on support and guidance to new volunteers. Fifty of our advocates
celebrated more than 5 years of service – of those, 12 have more than
10 years of service under their belt!
Our Voices for Children team continues the work of engaging with
elected ofcials and policymakers throughout the year, including
holding the first-ever Legislative Education and Advocacy training to
give advocates the tools they need to push for improvement of the
child welfare system. The Safer Schools Stronger Neighborhoods
work, designed to reduce and intervene in gun violence in youth, is well
underway.
We continue to center Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in all of our eforts.
From the big picture to the “little things,” CASA met the needs of our
youth this year. Our CASA Cares fund fulfilled 27 requests for nearly
$7,000 for concrete needs including groceries, transportation assistance,
furniture, phone plans, clothing and shoes, health and hygiene products,
baby gear, senior fees and prom attire, academic/professional fees, bikes
and arts and crafts materials. Our Holiday Gift Drive was our most fruitful
ever and the MLK Day of Service Older Youth Needs Supply Drive was a
tremendous success.
We Celebrated
the high school
graduation of 10
children – tying
our record for the
most high school
graduates ever in
a year.
YOUTH
VOICES
COUNCIL
Youth Voices Council
hit its one year
anniversary in October
2023! Nine former
CASA youth were
engaged last year.
6
Cultural Humility
community trainings
were facilitated by
Tamara Wilson, our Director
of Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion, with over 800
participants.
2023 ACHIEVEM
CASA closed 81
children on 47 cases
were successfully
closed to
reunification/
remain at home
45
45%
14%
were adopted
9%
closed to
subsidized legal
custody
15%
were placed
with relatives
left the system
between 18-21
14%
Courageous Convos ofered in 2023 with topics
including: The School to Prison Pipeline, Supporting
the Sexual and Reproductive Health of Youth;
Gender Afrming Care for LGBTQ youth, Mental Health in
Communities of Color, and The Talk: Conversations with
children and youth about possible interactions with law
enforcement.
180,000 Our 2023 Gala generated the most
revenue ever.
staf members at end of 2023, the largest staf in
CASA history.
18
MENTS
LOOK AT US GROW
e were thrilled that after last year’s record-setting event, our
annual gala once again generated the most revenue ever. The
Bill & Janet Lasko Foundation, which funded our initial lease in
Media, committed to funding the lease of the second floor for two years,
in addition to providing an annual program grant to support one Case
Supervisor. We also raised $70,368 for our CASA Children’s Futures
Endowment Fund with the Foundation for Delaware County. We continue
to seek out grants, fundraising opportunities, and grow our existing
givers so that we can continue to meet the needs of children and youth in
the child welfare system in Delaware and Chester counties.
Our Community of Champions giving circle added 3 new members. We
now have 56 members, with $694,500 in five-year pledges.
YOUR IMPACT
CASACOMMUNITY
of CHAMPIONS
56 members =
$694,500 in five-
year pledges
In 2023 we raised
$70,368 for our CASA
Children’s Futures
Endowment Fund with
The Foundation for
Delaware County.
$180,000
RAISED AT THE 2023 GALA!
EXCEEDING GOALS
Tayler Moots started volunteering with CASA Youth Advocates in 2017.
In the summer of 2021, Tayler became an advocate for Nate, a young
boy born prematurely and living with multiple life-threatening medical
issues. Unfortunately, Nate’s medical condition deteriorated, and he was
hospitalized for a month before his untimely passing in May 2023. During
his hospitalization, Tayler visited him daily, often spending between three
and ten hours at his bedside. She was there with Nate at the time of
his death.
“I was lucky to support him through his last phase of life,” she said. “It
mattered that CASA could be there for him and support him. He was not
alone. I tried to make it as comfortable as possible for him.”
Advocate of the year: Tayler Moots
“I was lucky to support him
through his last phase of life,”
Tayler said. “It mattered that
CASA could be there for him
and support him. He was not
alone. I tried to make it
as comfortable as possible
for him.”
ecause the demand for our services continues to grow, we must ensure we are recruiting, retaining, and
providing proper training and support to our most valuable resources – our volunteers! In May 2023, we
hosted our first local all-day conference for CASA volunteers in addition to ofering continuing education
opportunities throughout the year. Throughout the year, our volunteer advocates completed a combined total
of nearly 1400 hours of in-service training. These investments are key to ensuring that our volunteers are well-
trained and feel supported.
We continue to explore more opportunities for community outreach and media opportunities that can help grow
our pool of potential volunteers.
Without our volunteers, we would not be able to meet the growing needs of youth in the foster system in
Delaware and Chester Counties. We can’t thank them enough for their time and support.
Tayler Moots & CYS
Caseworker, Jessica Bishop
VOLUNTEER IMPA
Advocate of the year: Lily Corzo
Lily Corzo began volunteering with CASA Youth Advocates in June
2021. One of her cases involved an 11-year-old boy named Fredo, whose
case was complex due to language barriers that made it very hard to
communicate with those involved.
Since Lily could communicate with Fredo’s family in Spanish, she was
able to pass along information to his teachers and others on his case.
“They were happy to hear from someone who knew the child,” she said.
“Letting them know English was Fredo’s third language helped them
understand some of his challenges.”
“They were happy to hear from
someone who knew the child,” she
said. “Letting them know English
was Fredo’s third language helped
them understand some of his
challenges.”
Lily Corzo and her
son, Nico
IMPACT
( 9 Youth Voices meetings held since Oct 2022.
(
9 former CASA youth engaged with Youth Voices.
(
Council members reviewed and provided feedback
on CASA’s mission statement and client satisfaction
survey.
(
Council members attended CASA 5k, CASA
Champions events, and CASA Gala.
(
Council members filmed promotional videos for
Gala and stick with it videos.
(
Youth Voices council members presented on several
panels, including the PA State CASA Conference
and CASA Youth Advocates’ local conference.
(
Council members developed Youth Voices
logo and recruitment flyer.
(
Council members learned about the role of the
Board of Directors and a seat was created on the
Board for a member of the Youth Voices council.
YOUTH
VOICES
COUNCIL
DELAWARE AND
CHESTER COUNTIES
“I chose to be
a part of The
Youth Voices
Council because
I believe no
change is too
little. I feel as
though there is
a lot of ground
to cover and I
want to assist
in any way I
can.”
– Kiera D.
10
YVC 2023
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