Texas CASA FY 2014 Annual Report

funding the future
Secured more than $1.7 million in private
funding in FY 2014
More than 400 program staff and board
members attended 11 webinars to support their
fundraising efforts
• We cultivated a generous grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Texas and its Healthy Kids, Healthy Families initiative that will help
fund a pilot program focused on creating an effective and scalable
model to serve every child designated under Permanent Managing
Conservatorship (PMC) across the state – children placed in the
permanent custody of DFPS.
• The Meadows Foundation continued their support for a second
year, allowing us to deliver hands-on assistance to another 10 local
programs in addition to the 11 programs currently served through their
grant, and to expand the network’s ability for legislative advocacy.
• We also successfully extended support from RGK Foundation for
another year, which increased both the number of onsite board
trainings and data management assistance provided by the quality
assurance team.
applauding CASA
Beverly Levy,
Former Dallas CASA Executive Director
When I became the executive director of Dallas CASA
in 1993, I recognized how much I needed the insight
and advice of those who worked in the field. Through
its invaluable network, Texas CASA connected me
with the truly remarkable CASA executive and
program directors across the state. Throughout my
21-year career with Dallas CASA, the broader Texas
CASA community was always there for me and the
organization, offering encouragement and support.
Texas CASA helps local programs across the state
provide the best possible environment through their
advocates by offering all of us a forum through
which we can learn from one another
and by encouraging collaboration,
particularly with DFPS, the judiciary
and other professionals in the foster
care system. That collaboration is key
to identifying opportunities that benefit
the children we serve and negotiating
ways of making change possible. As our
advocate in the Texas Legislature, Texas
CASA then helps to ensure that those
improvements are legal and funded.
I don’t think there’s any higher
calling than to be a part of CASA. It’s
quite simply the perfect nonprofit
organization. Whether as a volunteer,
staff or board member, everyone who
works with CASA serves children who
desperately need our help – who are
also caught in a system that needs
our help.
Some people look back on their lives
and say, “Why didn’t I do more to help?”
I was truly blessed by my years at
Dallas CASA, going to work every single
day, loving my job and the people with
whom I worked because I knew that
we were doing extraordinary things for
our state’s most vulnerable children.
What could be better than that?
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