CASA OF JACKSON COUNTY INC

The Board and Staff have identified through strategic planning that our three year goal is to have a CASA appointed to every high needs case (as identified through our internal triage process) - estimated 850 children by 2026.

In pursuit of this goal we must recruit and train an average of 60 new CASAs a year while triaging the cases of more than 300 children on our waiting list. The CASAs we recruit must match the demographics of the children we are serving, for cultural connections and children's healing and well-being. Simultaneously, we must provide exceptional support and knowledge to our over 250 CASAs who are currently managing over 700 children annually.

We must have culturally diverse staffing and infrastructure in place in order to grow our CASA corps each year while keeping CASA retention high and child outcomes positive.

Increase awareness through a targeted multi-channel, bi-lingual Spanish/English campaign to recruit 60 additional CASAs annually, as identified through market analytics.

Continue to provide excellent training and support to retain at above average rates of current CASAs--44 months average retention. This includes twice yearly equity, diversity, and inclusion training.

Strengthen staff support through trauma informed care training and an employee assistance program, while meeting current salary benchmarks and the remote-working needs of various staff. Work to clear barriers for culturally diverse staff to promote into leadership.

Ensure child abuse prevention activities through providing Darkness to Light training (an award winning Child Abuse Prevention training) for CASAs and the community. Partner with Latino Interagency Committee and La Clinica for outreach and training partnerships.

Experienced and committed staff and board of directors.
More than 250 CASA advocates who have made a minimum two year commitment to ensuring their appointed children remain safe and find permanency.
Excellent and proprietary training (core training is 40 hours including courtroom time and report writing plus 12 additional hours of in-service trainings).
Good awareness of CASA in Jackson and Josephine County to build upon
Current building in Jackson County is paid for.
Excellent support and respect of community partners: Child Welfare, Courts, Medical professionals, Children's Advocacy Center, Juvenile Dept., and more
Good fundraising plans and support, which have grown every year (outside of 2020 and 2021--pandemic years)

We have implemented bi-lingual Spanish/English recruitment along with increased equity, diversity, and inclusion training and planning, and cultural community outreach. This has resulted in increased awareness, cultural humility among staff, board, and CASAs and recruiting seven new Latino/a/x CASAs.

We have increased diversity among staff and board members as well, through a focused outreach plan. Staff retention is high at 3.48 years as well as CASA retention at 44 months (twice the state average).

We have made salary adjustments in 2020 and will be reevaluating the market again in 2022 for possible increases. We are also "shopping" EAP plans and scheduling TIC training for staff and CASAs.

The pandemic and catastrophic local fires diminished our ability to recruit as many new CASAs as we had planned, but we see recovery on the horizon.