We asked our extraordinary staff: What are you most proud of accomplishing with Texas CASA in 2023?
Benita Pekkattil, Community Engagement Specialist: I am extremely proud of how far the Social Impact department has come since Collin Acock, Social Impact Director, joined our team. We have been able to redefine processes and provide clarity in our grant and fundraising processes. Extremely proud to be a part of Social Impact and the External Relations Team!
Chris Kelly, Executive Assistant: This year, I am proud to have taken on the additional roles of Vice President of the 1501 Condo Association and Property Manager for all three buildings and our lot. Partnering with the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas, I have created a living maintenance manual documenting regularly scheduled maintenance, city requirements, property taxes, budgets, track repairs and improvements, vendor management and invoicing. This manual has streamlined the processes, the needs of the property and keeps the details in one place, all while saving funds and time handling the property management in-house.
Debbie Dugger, Program Specialist: I am most proud of the Strengthening Core Advocacy training made by Texas CASA’s Vicki Spriggs, Deedra Baker, Sarah Crockett, Margaret Halpin and Sarah Ritch. This phenomenal training is available for all volunteers, staff and board. It has a non-adversarial approach to cultural diversity training that focuses on the needs/obstacles of children in our Child Welfare System.
Linda Coronado, Program Specialist: I’m proud to have joined the team at Texas CASA and getting to work with a great team!
Amanda Arriaga, General Counsel & Chief External Relations Officer: Working with the outstanding External Relations team and using our collective and complementary skill sets to support Texas CASA and the CASA network in the areas of communications, public policy and social impact.
Anna McDonnell, CFE Implementation Specialist: The two accomplishments I am most proud of are the 0-5 resources we were able to develop in partnership with Child Advocates of Fort Bend and the Meadows Foundation, and the Older Youth Program portal which I hope will help volunteers have a roadmap to setting youth up for success with a strong network and knowledge of resources.
Celeste Prather, Program Operations Director: I am most proud of my New ED group. We have met on Wednesdays at 9 a.m. since March of 2020. They are a strong, intelligent, supportive, caring and committed group that I am privileged to be a part of.
Madi Donham, External Communications Manager: As a Texas CASA staff member, I’m most proud of joining this organization this year and broadening my knowledge and understanding of the Texas child welfare system and learning what it means to be a true advocate.
Candice Dosman, Advocacy Initiatives Director: I’m very proud of the collective efforts to track activities in Optima! This was the first year for the network to have a more streamlined tracking plan and system, and even though there were some false starts and changes made, we were able to get such a wealth of information about CFE for fiscal year 2023. It’s exciting to see advocacy happening in each of The 4Cs of CFE, and to know that the more CFE work that happens, the better the outcomes are for children, parents and their families. Thank you to all involved in helping make this tracking possible, and to everyone for their CFE work. It really does take a team!
Frances Lofley, CFE Coach: The CFE Team is most proud about the successful return of our signature event- The CFE Symposium! We are thrilled with the overwhelming positive feedback. This was an exciting time for CASA programs to connect with their CPS/SSCC partners and receive powerful insights from guest speakers, collaborate on forward planning of the CFE Journey in each of our areas and celebrate all of the CFE successes around the state.
Sarah Crockett, Public Policy Director: I’m proud of the hard work of the Public Policy team during the 88th legislative session and that many of our priorities became law or were funded!
Sarah Ritch, Learning & Education Specialist: I’m most proud of the Local Program staff who took time to ensure Strengthening Core Advocacy was true to the volunteer experience, and lent their time and thoughts to the course. Thank you to Highland Lakes CASA, CASA for Kids of East Texas, Child Advocates of Fort Bend, Voz de Niños, CASA of the Trinity Valley, Golden Crescent CASA, CASA of Travis County, Great Plains CASA for Kids, Amarillo Area CASA, Dallas CASA and CASA for Kids of Central Texas. Your efforts made such an impactful learning experience.
Thank you for your support of Texas CASA and the CASA community! We couldn’t do the work we do without you. See you in the New Year!