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Court Appointed Special Advocate to Partner with Prince George’s County’s first Guaranteed Income Program

Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) is proud to announce that we will be a partner in Thrive Prince George’s, a two-year, $4 million guaranteed-income pilot that seeks to provide greater economic stability and mobility for families in the region. The program, which is spearheaded by the Greater Washington Community Foundation, Prince George’s County Executive and Council, and the Meyer Foundation, will provide monthly payments of $800 to 50 youth (age 18-24) who are aging out of foster care and 125+ seniors (age 60+) for a 24-month period with no strings attached and no requirements tied to employment.

“Studies have shown that modest guaranteed basic income pilots can decrease poverty by as much as 40%,” said Tonia Wellons, President and CEO of the Greater Washington Community Foundation. “We strongly believe that this program will improve the lives of many in Prince George’s County and will reduce the racial wealth gap in a way that makes it viable for the county to consider providing guaranteed basic income for years to come.”

While several pilots are currently operating around the region – including in Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax, DC, and Montgomery County – this is the first guaranteed income program to exclusively serve residents of Prince George’s County. The $4 million pilot is funded using both public and private philanthropic resources, with participating partners each contributing $1 million to the program.

“This initiative is an innovative example of how we find solutions through public-private partnerships,” said Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. “Thanks to this collaborative pilot program, we’re weaving a stronger social fabric and empowering people to pursue their aspirations with dignity and resilience.”

Guaranteed income programs have proven to be one of the most promising approaches to increasing financial stability. The positive impact of guaranteed income has been studied for decades, with evidence indicating that monthly cash payments can reduce income volatility and support recipients in attaining full-time employment, greater housing stability, improved health outcomes, and more.

“I’ve championed the guaranteed basic income program for years because I know it provides an opportunity to tackle poverty and create better quality of life for our residents,” said County Council Member Krystal Oriadha. “My hope is with more jurisdictions moving to implement programs like this, we will see an investment at the state and federal level that will allow these pilots to become permanent.”

The Community Foundation will administer the pilot program as part of its Together, We Prosper Campaign for Economic Justice, which is focused on investing in economic strategies that will increase economic mobility to help close the region’s racial wealth gap. In addition to Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)/Prince George’s County, it has also partnered with United Communities Against Poverty (UCAP). Our organizations will lead the recruitment, selection, and onboarding of participants, distribute cash payments, and provide optional benefits counseling to ensure existing safety net services are not compromised by participation in this income-boosting pilot.

For more information about Thrive Prince George’s, visit www.thecommunityfoundation.org.

Please note that the application period has closed.

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Executive Director Serves on Expert Panel

CASA’s Executive Director, Ann Marie Binsner, served on an expert panel regarding the challenges of foster care, hosted by the Many Hands giving circle. During the panel, Binsner and the other panelists described to the audience the reasons children come into care, the current state of foster care and the trends and challenges currently facing child welfare professionals. One of the trends impacting youth is the high number who are aging out of foster care after essentially growing up in out of home placements.

“Take a minute and think about the greatest young person you know…maybe your own child,” she challenged the audience. “Now imagine that same young person and take away all the supports. No one to make sure they achieved those major and minor milestones. Goals and dreams are never even set. Then they turn 21 and are emancipated, on their own.”

CASA recently received a grant from the Many Hands giving circle to help youth as they prepare for adulthood by improving their employment outcomes. As the panel shared, the needs of youth in foster care are intense and it is essential to walk hand in hand with them to provide the support necessary to build a path towards a successful future. 

For more information on the panel, see the full article. 

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CASA/Prince George’s County Receives Donation from the Kiwanis Club of Prince George’s County

We recently received a donation from the Kiwanis Club of Prince George’s County. Kiwanis empowers communities to improve the world by making lasting differences in the lives of children. We are thankful for their recognition and support of the services we provide to youth in foster care. 

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CASA Awarded A DCTV Capacity Building Grant

We are pleased to announce a new grant partnership with DCTV! The grant will help us powerfully expand how we connect with you in the coming months. DCTV’s Nonprofit Capacity Building Grant program, which was designed with input from nonprofit leaders across the District, gives CASA/Prince George’s County a dynamic platform and new strategies to tell the story of how we support children and youth in foster care in Prince George’s County.

Created by and for Washington, DC residents, DCTV fosters a 24/7 community media forum to amplify local voices in the nation’s capital and the neighboring metropolitan area. Using the power of meaningful media to connect DC residents, DCTV cultivates a premier nonprofit platform to examine local issues and interests across the District’s three cable television providers and digital streaming channels.

As part of the grant, we will bring you quality stories and vital conversations about child welfare. We’ll also appear on DCTV’s new weekly television series, District Life, which will explore the nature of living in Washington, DC and share important and compelling stories with people all over the District.

You can find that and more dynamic programming on DCTV’s three dedicated cable channels, which broadcast on Comcast, RCN, and Verizon, as well as DCTV’s streaming platforms at dctv.org/live. We will be sure to let you know when we’re on!

To see the full list of local impact makers who received the grant, please visit dctv.org/grantawards. We are excited to join them in our collective effort to uplift communities in the DC Metro area.

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CASA Celebrates Selection as a Giant Food Community Bag Program Beneficiary

Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)/Prince George’s County has been selected as a beneficiary of the Giant Food Community Bag Program for the month of September.

The Giant Food Community Bag Program, which launched in July 2019, is a reusable bag program that facilitates community support with the goal to make a difference in the communities where shoppers live and work.

Court Appointed Special Advocate was selected as the September beneficiary of the program by store leadership at the Giant Food located in Hyattsville, Maryland.  We will receive a $1 donation every time the $2.50 reusable Community Bag is purchased at this location during the month of September, unless otherwise directed by the customer through the Giving Tag attached to the bag.

“We were honored to be selected for this new program, and particularly to be recognized by the store leadership for our impact in the child welfare community,” said Ann Marie Binsner, Executive Director of Court Appointed Special Advocate. “Court Appointed Special Advocate has a goal of serving every child in foster care and it is only through public-private partnerships like this that we can achieve that goal.”

For more information on the Giant Food Community Bag Program, visit giantfood.bags4mycause.com

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CASA Receives Tom Marmet Memorial Job Readiness Grant From Many Hands

CASA is proud to announce that we are the 2019 Tom Marmet Memorial Job Readiness Grant From Many Hands. CASA will utilize this grant to create a job readiness initiative to improve outcomes for older foster youth preparing to transition out of foster care to adulthood. Through one-on-one support from their CASA volunteer and being connected to appropriate workforce development and employment opportunities, CASA will help youth attain and sustain employment and build a career path that will foster a stable adulthood.

CASA staff will work with youth and their CASA volunteers to conduct assessments, develop goals around workforce development and job seeking; coordinate meetings and provide training and support volunteers to ensure goals are actualized. CASA will create and maintain relationships with stakeholders, community resource providers, potential employers and stakeholders. CASA will make connections with different opportunities based on the needs and interests of the youth to ensure tailored plans for each individual. CASA will provide support to youth ages 14-21 and ensure that their individualized plan becomes reality. To learn more about these efforts or provide workforce development or employment opportunities to youth in foster care, please contact Phil Lartigue. 

Please see the press release below for more information. 

Many Hands Inc. Announces 2019 Grantees

At its May 16th annual meeting, Many Hands members heard from four Washington, DC area nonprofit organizations which will receive grants totaling $275,500 in four focus areas: Education, Health, Housing and Job Readiness.

Many Hands is a women’s grant making organization committed to collective giving which benefits local women, children and families in need. Each year, Many Hands grants $100,000 to help one area nonprofit expand its mission. This year we awarded three additional grants of $58,500 each. Fundraising has increased steadily each year since Many Hands was founded in 2004, resulting in over $1,678,000 in grants to area nonprofits.

$100,000 Many Hands Grant

$100,000 Education Grant: Access Youth
Access Youth works to keep at-risk Washington, DC youth in school and out of the criminal justice system by reducing chronic truancy and suspensions, and promoting restorative justice as an alternative to punishment. Access Youth addresses behavioral problems and student disputes through individual mediation and by teaching life skills and conflict resolution.

Access Youth served 555 students this year at Ballou, Eastern, and Anacostia high schools in the District of Columbia, and is in the process of expanding from a one year to a four year model, and from three to ten Washington, DC schools. With the 2019 Many Hands $100,000 grant, Access Youth will develop its first peer mediation program, training student leaders to serve as peer mediators for their school communities.

$58,500 Health: The Greater DC Diaper Bank

The Greater DC Diaper Bank provides basic baby and personal hygiene products to families in need. Supplies like diapers are distributed by partner organizations and serve as gateway resources to introduce hard to reach families in DC, Maryland, and Virginia to medical, mental health, housing, and employment services. The Diaper Bank helped over 9,000 families this year, with 7.5 million diapers, 436,000 hygiene products, and 185,712 eight-ounce bottles of infant formula.

$58,500 Housing Grant: New Endeavors by Women
New Endeavors by Women runs seven transitional and permanent housing programs, providing shelter and support to approximately 200 formerly homeless women and children. Clients include seniors, HIV Positive women, survivors of domestic violence and women with mental illness and substance dependency. Along with housing, New Endeavors offers education, life skills, employment, substance abuse and counseling support.

$58,500 Job Readiness Grant: CASA/Prince George’s County
CASA, Court Appointed Special Advocates, of Prince George’s County partners with the juvenile court to improve the lives of abused and neglected children living in foster care. CASA serves 35% of Prince George’s County’s foster children through a network of 150 volunteers, who spend, on average, 10-15 hours per month with each child they represent, often becoming the primary source of stability in that child’s life. Within five years, CASA hopes to serve 100% of youth in the county foster care system.

Job Readiness Grant to honor Tom Marmet
This year, Many Hands will honor Tom Marmet, the son of one of our founders, Betsy Marmet, by awarding the Job Readiness grant in his memory. In October of 2018, Tom, who was only 22 years old, tragically was shot and killed by a stray bullet while driving home from his work with So Others Might Eat’s one-year Volunteer Corps. Tom was serving as a Volunteer Employment Specialist, working one-on-one with formerly homeless clients at a SOME transitional housing site and focused on job readiness. Tom was remembered by all who loved him as a loyal friend, committed to a life of service and to making the world a better place. We cannot think of a better way to remember him than to name this year’s grant the Tom Marmet Memorial Job Readiness grant.

For more information, or if your nonprofit organization is interested in applying for a Many Hands grant, please visit our website, www.manyhandsdc.org. Many Hands will not accept letters of inquiry for 2020 grants before September, 2019.

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Yatisa Montre Dupree: A ‘Horton’ to Kids in Foster Care

The Maryland CASA Association, interviewed our very own Yatisa Montre Dupree about what motivated her to be a CASA volunteer. “Montre’ is a mother of a son who was born 1 lb. 10oz and three months premature, an experience she says impacted her decision to become a CASA volunteer. ‘I was his first advocate,’ Dupree says. After her son was born, she ensured that he received proper care and his specific needs were addressed while being hospitalized. ‘I feel this experience ignited my desire to help others in addition to participating in church, family and missionary activities’”.

Yatisa, better known in the office as Tre, was so inspired by her experience as a CASA volunteer that she joined our staff as Outreach Coordinator to encourage others to step up to be a ‘Horton.’  Click here for her full story. 

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Malca Giblin: Longest Serving Volunteer

Malca Giblin, a retired federal employee who earlier worked at the Prince George’s County Department of Social Services, is our longest serving volunteer. She first signed up in 2003, two years after we opened our doors as a powerful voice for foster children.

Malca is now in her second tour of duty as one of our Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), having represented a total of four foster children over 12 years. Between her CASA stints, she’s handled a variety of administrative tasks at our nonprofit.

“I’ll do whatever I can to help,” Malca says.

“People say to me, ‘Oh, you’re so wonderful,” Malca says. “I say, ‘No I’m not that wonderful.”

“I do it because I know of the many problems in the (child welfare) system, and I know it is useful to have a person who can be above the day to day stuff” and monitor the overall welfare of the child, she says. “I never feel I have to be best buddy with youngster. It’s more important to be helpful to them and be able to report back to court what you are seeing and what the child needs.”

“It never stops,” she says “There are always youngsters whose lives are in turmoil. I don’t see myself as saving a child. I see myself as someone trying to make a difference. Sometimes the small victories are the ones you have to be happy with.”

It’s often tough.

“It gets to you when you see the inequities that these kids have to contend with and you wonder sometimes what motivates their foster parents,” Malca says.

While most foster parents are dedicated, she tells of one who seemed more motivated by money than love. Ultimately the girl was removed from the home after the youngster and another foster child accused the woman of hitting them.

The child was then placed with another foster mom. But the new foster mom decided she didn’t want her. So the youth was moved again.

Malca’s current youth is a teenage boy who was born HIV positive and now lives at a residential treatment center. Another youth with whom she worked also had multiple problems that were compounded when her foster parents divorced.

One of Malca’s cases, however, showed that a foster child can succeed – big time. The youngster beat the odds, overcame health issues, graduated from high school and college and then began a company of her own.

“She had a lot going for her,” Malca said. “She was determined and took advantage of the opportunities that we helped provide her.”

Malca first helped at-risk children as a DSS case worker in the 1970’s. After five years, she left and joined the National Institute of Health. After 20 years at NIH, during which she and her husband raised their two children, she retired, and decided to again help troubled youth, this time as a CASA.

“I knew I could do this,” Malca said.

Ann Marie Binsner, Executive Director of CASA/Prince George’s County, said, “Malca represents who we are and what we do and why we do it. Regardless of what Malca says, we all agree: She’s wonderful.”

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Nathaniel Wallace: Takes ‘Tough Cases’

As a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for foster children, Nathaniel Wallace likes to take the “tough cases,” the ones fellow volunteers prefer to avoid.

“I believe it’s my calling,” says Nathaniel, a grade school teacher and active church goer. “I think God tells me to take these tough cases because no one else wants them.”

Since becoming a CASA in 2014, Nathaniel has accepted two highly difficult cases. Both involved teenagers, a female and a male, who had been abandoned by their families and suffered from behavioral problems.

For three years, Nathaniel advocated for the young woman in court, met with her teachers, therapists and caregivers, and repeatedly reached out to her father to attempt to establish a connection with his daughter.

The young woman ended up aging out of foster care at 21 – homeless, jobless and confined to a wheelchair as the result of being paralyzed from the waist down in a shooting.

“I was there in court when she aged out,” Nathaniel said. “It was sad.  I told her to keep in touch with me. And she does. She has my number. I still try to help when I can.”

After her case closed, Nathaniel was offered a far easier one, that of a 1-year-old girl and her 3-year-old brother who, because of their young ages, were prime candidates for adoption.

Nathaniel was tempted. But then he heard about a troubled 13-year-old boy who had been abandoned by his parents and has significant behavioral issues.

“The young man had been waiting for a CASA for nearly a year,” Nathaniel said. “No one wanted him. So, I took him. He deserves to be helped, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

Cheryl Richards, his supervisor at CASA/Prince George’s County, said, “Nathaniel is fearless. Nothing scares him. He lives to help others.”

Nathaniel knows first-hand about foster care. His mom was in foster care from age 3 until she aged out at 18. Without a CASA, she received limited help. But she managed to graduate high school, get a job and have a family of her own.

 “I contacted CASA because I want to help,” Nathaniel said. “Being a CASA is tough. You can feel burned out. You got to take care of yourself. You got to stick to your beliefs. You have to want to make a difference.”

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Foster Child, Volunteers Urge Increased Funding

A former foster child who was told she wouldn’t amount to anything testified in support of increased public funding for a nonprofit that helped turn her life around – Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)/Prince George’s County.

“Being in foster care was not easy,” Victoria said in appearing before the Prince George’s County Council at a packed hearing on Monday night. “Going from foster home to foster home, feeling unloved and unwanted.”

“I was even told I would never be anything,” Victoria said. “But I proved them wrong. I’m now in my third year of college” at Bowie State, preparing for her career. “Without CASA and Ms. Charlean, I wouldn’t be half the person I am today,” she said.

Charlean, Victoria’s CASA volunteer, along with a second CASA volunteer, Elaine, and Ann Marie Binsner, Executive Director of CASA/Prince George’s County, also testified in support of the nonprofit’s request for $100,000 for the next fiscal year, up from $75,000. Overall, the council heard from scores of groups and speakers on their respective funding proposals.

CASA/Prince George’s County is part of a network of nearly 1,000 nonprofits nationwide that recruit, train and supervise CASA volunteers who serve as a voice for foster children by advocating for their medical, emotional, educational and housing needs.

CASA/Prince George’s County generally provides one volunteer per foster child. It now has enough for about a third of the county’s more than 500 foster children. Its goal is to eventually have a CASA volunteer for every foster child, noting that those with a CASA do far better than those without one.

Standing before the council, Binsner said: “support from the County Council has allowed CASA to grow and improve outcomes for some of our county’s most vulnerable youth- abused and neglected children living in foster care.”

Charlean explained that she served as Victoria’s CASA volunteer for six years, ending when the young woman turned 21 in September and aged out of foster care. “I was devoted and determined to make sure she had what she needed,” Charlean told the council. “I believed in her.”

Elaine, a CASA volunteer for three years, said her foster youth faced numerous challenges after bouncing in and out of 11 foster homes in four years. But now that she has Elaine by her side, she knows she has someone to turn to. However, Elaine said, her youth’s brother, “who desperately needs and wants a CASA, is spiraling down.” Unfortunately, she said, “We don’t have the resources and volunteers for him.”

Looking ahead, Elaine told the council, “This critical funding that CASA is seeking will help give children the voice they need to ensure they receive the services that will put them on the path toward becoming productive citizens.”

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About us

Change a Child’s Story

Children in foster care who have aCASA volunteer are more likely to succeed in school and adjust to change. And they’re half as likely to re-enter the foster care system later. By getting involved with CASA, you can make all the difference for a child who has experienced abuse or neglect in you community. Get involved, and change a child’s story.

Contact

Phone : (301) 209-0491
Email: staff@pgcasa.org

Address

6811 Kenilworth Avenue
Suite 402 Riverdale,
MD 20737
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