CASA Staff Meeting | Minutes of May 13, 2015
Attendance:
Amy / Georgia / Kristin / ScottAnne / Haley / Lindsay F. / Steve
Anne Marie
Betsy
Debi
Dedie / Jane
Jeni
Jim
Kathy / Lindsey K.
Lisa
Lynn
Mamadou / Shenetta
Susan
Trudy
Staff Members Absent: Amy/Anne/Jim/Lindsay F./Lindsey K./Lynn
1. Opening:
Misc:
o Betsy spoke about the amazing success of the Columbia County Benefit Breakfast and about the good financial year we’re having. In addition to the success of our financial year, we have increased the number of volunteers and we are projected to serve 1,000 children. All this was accomplished with a staff of 23 very dedicated and hard working people.
CASA Team News:
o We will be having a staff celebration at Accanto’s (a restaurant owned by a CASA volunteer) on June 8th. The food will be entirely donated by the owner of the restaurant. Betsy hopes everyone be able to attend
o Barbara Exley from UCLA Law will be here at the end of May and she will be working with Lynn on program legal work.
o Natalee Cruz, (Undergrad, Lewis & Clark) will be doing an internship with CASA that is funded by a scholarship from Lewis & Clark. She will be working primarily with Program.
o The interns will be located in the Bermuda Triangle. We are working with Multnomah County to put in two workstations there and move water & coffee to the kitchen.
CASA Story:
Debi: A CASA case where a child suffering with attachment disorder, among other serious challenges, was removed from a loving, caring adoptive home due to issues concerning the adoptive father. The CASA did not agree with this drastic action. There was a willful contempt hearing lasting six hours. DHS ended up taking this child out of the home and the entire family was decertified. The CASA and her team had to bring to attention that there needed to be an appeal opportunity. The CASA was successful in arranging a transitional plan and also in directing much needed attention to the child. The case is being appealed. The CASA is very upset about the way the entire situation was handled but is committed to seeing it through.
Scott shared a story of a youth that he represented for 4 years on a case where the foster father lost his job, ended up in jail and lost his family. Scott never really felt that he (Scott) was accomplishing much or that he was making a difference on the case. However, to Scotts delight, this now young women sent Scott wedding card. She got married, has a job and does volunteer work. This is a reminder that what you do for a child does have an impact on them even though it sometimes doesn’t feel like it.
2. HR/Finance Report:
o CASA has contracted with Zenefits to house a portal with an employee interface for better access to PTO, benefits and payroll information. We should be fully operational by summer.
3. Program Report:
o Dashboard: Program numbers look good year-to date except for the number of new CASAs. That is down due to the summer training we eliminated this year.
o CASA’s Policy and Procedure manual will be updated to clearly spell out our policies and procedures and will be given to CASAs at graduation. This will provide them a solid guide they can to refer to.
o Susan developed an informational brochure for CASA. We are going to develop a collateral piece that is the first panel of the brochure explaining a CASA’s role and add a section for CASA’s contact information. This will be given to CASAs at graduation along with business cards.
Upcoming CASA trainings:
o Daytime training June 2 - June 25
o Flex training starts July 14 – August 16
o ACTION: Kristin will send details
4. Strategic Plan Update:
o Continue to check the strategic plan through the “staff access only” website to stay informed
5. Racial Equity Task Force:
Since the beginning of the year the task force consisting of Kathy, Mamadou, Georgia, Scott, Jim, Steve Lesky (Ambassador Board), and Paula Kinney (CASA Board) have been meeting monthly. Some of the things they’re working on are:
o Proposal for increasing equity
o Redrafting mission statement to include equity
o Draft an informational statement to send to CASAs about the task force
o Scott drafted a document for the Race & Equity Task Force of how CASAs will respond to racism that we will be sending out to volunteers
6. Development Team:
o Auction 2015 raised the most in CASA history
o The largest ever paddle raise was a huge component of the event’s success
o The majority of high level donors were new donors
o Columbia County benefit event raised $11,483 including $5,000 in matching funds from NW Natural
o Save the date-September 6th, Labor Day weekend for the Ponzi Vineyard concert featuring Storm Large.
o Free for staff to attend but you will need to bring your own picnic dinner
o ACTION: Anne Marie will send email with details
o Golf Tournament Monday, September 21st (Already raised over $50K)
o ACTION: Anne Marie will provide details for those who would like to volunteer.
o Opportunity for CASA to apply for an Advantis Credit Union grant for a physical items. Staff suggested Smart Board for CASA Cards for training or iPads.
o ACTION: If you have any ideas for items that would help CASA work more efficiently, please submit along with the cost, and how it would benefit the organization to Jane with cc: to Betsy.
7. New Business:
May Birthdays: Lisa, Georgia, Steve and Amy
o Lisa said that about a quarter of our staff filled out the Trauma Informed survey
o ACTION: Lisa will resend the survey to be completed by Monday 5/18
o Oregon Business Magazine survey. We need 100% participation in the on-line survey to make it into the magazine
o ACTION: Fill out survey by June 26th
Questions/Comments:
o Susan did an outreach event at Generocity
o Susan has recruitment posters for posting in our community. If you’re willing to help distribute them you can get them from her. Please let her know where they’ve been placed when taking some to put up.
o Susan has upcoming recruitment opportunities that she would welcome help with.
o ACTION: Susan will send out details about upcoming opportunities
Other trainings:
o An e-mail will be coming out with the next “Say Hey” event info
Scott is working on a couple of projects to help CASA kids. He is growing food in planter boxes and he is collecting household goods. If you would like to help him with either one or both of these projects please let him know. He will send out an email with details.
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