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About Tennessee CASA Association
Our Mission
The mission of the Tennessee CASA Association is the start-up, support and continuation of local CASA programs across the state of Tennessee. Local agencies recruit and train volunteers to safeguard the best interests of abused and neglected children brought to the attention of the juvenile courts. The state organization supports these agencies through training, a grants program, coordination of program expansion and development, monitoring legislation affecting children and agencies, and providing strategies for raising public awareness of child abuse and the need for volunteers.
Our Goal
The most important goal of the Tennessee CASA Association is to provide a CASA volunteer for every child in Tennessee who needs one by the year 2020.
Strategic Goal #1: Communicate effectively throughout the state with decision makers that impact CASA activities
Strategic Goal #2: Develop, grow and continue high-quality, cost-effective CASA programs
Strategic Goal #3: Grow Tennessee CASA to effectively advocate for and with CASA programs
Strategic Goal #4: Create a comprehensive plan to assure that every child who comes before the court for abuse and neglect in Tennessee are served.
History of the Tennessee CASA Association
The first local CASA agency was started in Nashville in 1984. During the following three years, Chattanooga, Memphis and Knoxville started programs. The Tennessee CASA Association began in early 1986, when the directors of these local CASA agencies began to meet informally to share ideas and discuss concerns. Later that year, the Tennessee Legislature appropriated the first state money for CASA programs, which helped to strengthen the CASA network across the state.
In 1988 the Tennessee Bar Foundation awarded grants to several CASA agencies in Tennessee through its IOLTA fund. The time was right to officially form a state organization, and the Tennessee Court Appointed Special Advocate Association was chartered as a 501(c)3 nonprofit membership corporation.
Today 24 CASA programs serve 41 counties across Tennessee, from Bristol in the Northeast corner, all the way down to Memphis on the Mississippi River. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, more than 1,334 CASA volunteers advocated for 4,749 of Tennessee's abused and neglected children, a 7.6% increase over the previous year, and provided more than 97,202 hours of volunteer service.
The Tennessee CASA Association is a member in good standing of the National CASA Association.
Tennessee CASA Staff
For more information contact:
Cheryl Hultman
Executive Director
(615) 220-3990
(866) 498-1864
tncasa@bellsouth.net
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