As we settle into the beautiful fall season, I’m excited to share my Quarterly Update for July-September 2024!
It was wonderful seeing so many of you at Imagine! on September 21 to honor the achievements of our community’s youth. What a thrill it was to recognize, for the first time at the event, a youth who had experienced probation and displayed tremendous resilience. As we heard from the youth’s Advocate at Imagine!, having a CASA for justice-involved youth is truly life-changing. With support from their Advocate, the youth was able to graduate high school, find employment, secure housing, complete their terms of probation, seal their record, and so much more. We are so grateful to our dedicated community volunteers, who step up to support youth on probation like this remarkable young person.
And thank you for believing that these kids deserve our support. We couldn’t have built this program without you. When we embarked on building our Juvenile Justice Program, this community supported us in ways we could never have dreamed. Thank you for allowing us to lift up those who need and deserve support to change the trajectory of their lives. Your investment in their support makes a lasting impact!
In August, we welcomed Kalya Raymond to CASA of Santa Cruz County Board of Directors. Kayla brings a wealth of experience in supporting youth involved in the Dependency and Juvenile Justice systems. And in September, we said goodbye to community award-winning Andrea Willy who termed off the board after six years of dedicated service. We thank them both for their time and willingness to help guide CASA.
This past quarter, members of our staff, board, and community council legislative advocacy team had the opportunity to advocate for the needs of the youth and families we serve. We met with several of our local elected officials, including state representatives and county supervisors. It was great to share the mission of CASA and inform our elected officials of our work.
Our fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, and we are compiling our annual impact report, which will be mailed early next month. As predicted, our expenses outweighed our revenues last year due to the timing of when grants were received.
Now for some numbers:
This quarter, we served 123 children, 11 children of whom were newly assigned, waiting only an average of 24 days from referral to match.
- 25 were aged 0-5
- 17 were aged 6-12
- 66 were aged 12-18
- 15 were over 18 years old
- 55% of children served this quarter were Hispanic or Latino.
- 67% were in Dependency Care, 31% were in Juvenile Justice, and 2% were in both (dual status)
As the calendar year draws to an end, more opportunities to provide a gift to CASA to support our community’s most vulnerable youth are coming soon.
We thank you so much for your continued support of our community’s youth. We hope to see you soon.
