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Executive Director Steps Down after 21 Years of Service

After two decades of tireless work to further the mission and values of Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)/Prince George’s County, a local nonprofit serving children in foster care due to abuse and neglect, Executive Director, Ann Marie Foley Binsner has announced that she will be departing from her role at the end of October. “As I reflect on my 21 years serving foster children in Prince George’s County, I am reminded of our mission of ‘Changing Children’s Stories’,” Binsner says.   “CASA does that every day for so many children, but I realize that CASA has changed my story as well.”

CASA is a rapidly expanding nonprofit that recruits, trains, and matches volunteers from the community with children who have suffered from abuse and neglect to support them throughout their journey in foster care. When CASA’s Board of Directors garnered grant funding to hire the first Executive Director, the hired Binsner. She served as the leader of the organization from the very first case and has overseen the growth of CASA over 21 years and 800 cases.

During her tenure with CASA, Binsner has been the driving force behind CASA’s growth and success as an organization. Monumental moments include:

  • Spearheading the creation of an LGBTQ+ Task Force, the first of its kind in Maryland.
  • Being named Kappa Alpha Theta CASA Program Director of the Year by the National CASA Association
  • Receiving Prince George’s Community Foundation Bridge Builder Award.
  • CASA receiving the 2015 Governor’s Award for Service for our volunteer program
  • Being named “Champion for Children” by the Child Welfare League of America
  • CASA/Prince George’s County being named “One of the Best” nonprofits in the region by the Catalogue for Philanthropy.
  • Leading 928 CASA volunteers to serve nearly 800 children in Prince George’s County.

“Serving this organization for all of its 21 years is a source of tremendous professional pride and I am grateful to every volunteer, partner, donor, Board Member, and staff who has given 100% in support of the children and youth served. I know CASA’s success is due to each and every one of its supporters, and I am grateful to have been part of it.”, Binsner says.

Binsner’s vision and leadership will be greatly missed by the staff, board, and community supporters alike.

Over the next several months, the Board will conduct a thorough search to find CASA/Prince George County’s next Executive Director. CASA’s Deputy Director, Kara Bundy, will serve as Interim Executive Director until a permanent Executive Director is hired. It is the Board’s priority to find a dynamic leader with a true passion for CASA’s mission to change children’s stories across Prince George’s County.

 

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Exciting news from our Executive Director!

CASA is proud to announce the launch of the new CASA Fostering Opportunities Fund.

This fund will address the unmet needs of our youth in foster care. Speaking on Facebook Live, Ann Marie shares that “things that make another child’s life normal and exciting and fun, those things are not available to our youth. This results in missed opportunities that other youth their age are able to experience. Things like summer camps, sports teams, robotics competitions, an extra pair of glasses, braces, apartment accessories, among many other things, for our youth the cost of those things become a barrier.” The CASA Fostering Opportunities Fund gives CASA/Prince George’s County the ability to distribute funds in order to provide youth in foster care with opportunities that can normalize their childhood and early adult years.

To receive funds, individuals connected to youth in foster care can submit a quick 10 minute request form. CASA will then review the request and transfer approved funding immediately. We expect to be able to approve most requests within 72 hours. In some cases, additional information will be requested and CASA will work with you to acquire the needed information to move the process forward.  

If you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us. We want to distribute these funds and help give our youth a part of their childhood back.  

If you are interested in submitting a referral, please email our Executive Director at ambinsner@pgcasa.org.

To watch the full announcement, check out this video on on Facebook page & be sure to like our page!

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CASA Volunteer Interviewed in Podcast

Volunteer Advocate Tomika Holmes recently joined former CASA/Prince George’s County Board Member Dan Klotz on his ‘Surviving’ podcast. In the episode, Tomika shares her experiences in the foster care system and what continues to motivate her to show up for youth in care. Tomika first volunteered with CASA in 2008 and Dan served two terms on CASA’s Board of Directors. Listen to their conversation in this incredibly moving episode here: https://lnkd.in/gfGmWXE

About “Surviving”

After getting through a recurrence of lymphoma that damaged the base of his spine, Dan Klotz is left pondering the concept of survival and how it’s not as easy as it seems. In a series of interviews with people who have experienced all kinds of life-changing disease and trauma, he explores what it means to survive and perhaps, at some point, live happily ever after.

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CASA/Prince George’s Named ‘One of the Best’ Nonprofits by the Catalogue for Philanthropy

Once again, Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)/Prince George’s County is thrilled to be selected as one of the best local nonprofits by the Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington.

The Catalogue for Philanthropy is the region’s only locally-focused guide to giving and volunteering aimed at creating visibility and growth for local nonprofits that have positive impact for our community. As a selected nonprofit, we have been vetted by 170+ local experts who have agreed that our work is creating real and meaningful impact for our youth in foster care & community at large.

To learn more about the Catalogue for Philanthropy, check out our profile on their page here and be on the lookout for the print edition coming later in the year.

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FY20 Annual Report

Between July 2019 and June 2020 Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)/Prince George’s County served over 200 youth in foster care despite the global pandemic. Our volunteers & staff are proud of the shifts we made to advocate for the best interest youth in care throughout the pandemic. Read more about our accomplishments in Fiscal Year 2020 in our Annual Report.

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CASA Partners with Tech-based Nonprofit, Ruby for Good, to Launch New Volunteer Management System

Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)/Prince George’s County has launched its first-ever online volunteer management system with the help of Ruby for Good, a technology-based philanthropy that creates free software solutions for nonprofits serving critical missions. The open-sourced app, called CASA Volunteer Tracking, seeks to transform the volunteer-hour tracking process by eliminating the additional hassle of physical paper logs and manual data entry.

CASA, a nonprofit that matches children in the foster care system to trained volunteer advocates, has been renowned for its nearly twenty-year legacy of service and family empowerment within Prince George’s County.

CASA Volunteer Tracking is a project initiated by one of CASA’s very own former volunteers, Polly Schandorf. Drawing from her own experience with CASA as reason to return with this new project, Schandorf says, “It’s always been in my heart that I wanted to come back and help more children. And now, instead of being able to be a CASA volunteer for one child, I’m able to help supervisors manage volunteers better so that we have the capacity to help even more kids.”

From humble beginnings last March as a wish for more efficiency in the volunteer tracking system to an eight month-long endeavor that has since gained over 60 contributors from across the world, Ruby for Good has amassed a powerful force that empowers CASA to invest more time in serving youth on the ground and less time in administrative data entry.

“Not everybody can be a CASA volunteer, but everybody can make a difference. We are grateful to Ruby for Good for their partnership and diligent work with CASA to support our youth in a way that makes all our work easier,” says CASA Executive Director, Ann Marie Binsner.

The CASA Volunteer Tracking app is undergoing continual improvements with bug fixes and new features added weekly. If you’re a volunteer with CASA/Prince George’s County, help us streamline this new management system by reaching out to CASA Program Manager, Sarah Bosken (sbosken@pgcasa.org) and testing out this new platform with us.

Ruby for Good is also looking for other CASA programs to help them build more features! If any other CASAs are in need of software for volunteer tracking, please reach out to Polly Schandorf (polly@rubyforgood.org) or see the Ruby for Good website at rubyforgood.org to get involved.

 

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CASA Introduces New Board President, Bruce D. Edwards, Esq.

image of new Board President

Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)/Prince George’s County is proud to announce the election of Bruce D. Edwards, Esq., as the newest President of its Board of Directors. A family attorney and exemplary community member of Prince George’s County, Edwards brings a legacy of service in child welfare and advocacy to the presidency.

In addition to his leadership as a CASA Board member, Edwards is an adjunct professor with Anne Arundel Community College and teaches courses on career readiness to inmate students at the Dorsey Run Correctional Institute in Jessup, MD. When he’s not teaching or working as an attorney, Edwards serves as a Commissioner with the Prince George’s County Commission on Fathers, Men, and Boys and leads a youth male mentorship program with Kappa Alpha Psi’s Kappa League.

Driven by his passion to build positive male influences for young men in Prince George’s County, Edwards came to CASA in 2013 with a personal mission to increase male presence in the child welfare system. “Having positive male representation is something many youths in this system are deprived of. That’s something that pushed me to say, ‘I have to be the change that I want to see’, and I knew I had to get involved,” he says.

Edwards accepts leadership of the Board of Directors at a critical moment for CASA. As a rapidly expanding nonprofit with the goal to advocate for all children in the county’s foster care system, CASA welcomes Edwards to the role as he works with the Board to advance the organization’s strategic plans.

Edwards’ election is a clear reflection of CASA’s current stage of growth: eager to take on the newest challenges presented by the pandemic where CASA’s mission and service is needed the most. Despite the uncertainty that many in the nonprofit sector currently face in their transitions to remote operations, Edwards’ vision for CASA entails clear advances in development, fundraising campaigns, and community engagement.

“One thing I really look forward to doing collectively with the Board is making this virtual format work for us and using this opportunity to collectively increase our visibility [and] funding. There’s so much room for us to be creative with our growth,” he says.

“Bruce’s extensive experience as a family attorney, community mentor, and CASA Board Member allows him to see firsthand the importance of CASA’s mission and the children we serve,” says CASA Executive Director, Ann Marie Binsner. “We are excited to move forward with his leadership as CASA continues to work towards our goal of serving all children in the foster care system.”

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Executive Director Discusses Challenges to Transition Aged Youth in Podcast

CASA/Prince George’s County’s Executive Director, Ann Marie Binsner, was recently featured on the Aging Out Institute’s podcast. In the episode, Ann Marie and the host, Lynn Tonini discuss the challenges of preparing youth for adulthood and the role CASA volunteers play in supporting these young people.

65% of the foster youth CASA serves are older youth who are likely to age out of foster care to adulthood. In 2011 CASA created the Transition Aged Youth Program to improve outcomes for youth preparing for emancipation, particularly ensuring stable housing. Since the institution of the program, CASA has expanded to include a Job Readiness Initiative aimed at ensuring youth are not only employed but have a sustainable career path before aging out of foster care.

Click here to listen to the full episode. 

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CASA Executive Director Named “Champion for Children”

As the Child Welfare League of America celebrates its 100th anniversary, they have named CASA/Prince George’s County’s Executive Director, Ann Marie Foley Binsner, a “Champion for Children.” The Child Welfare League of America is a coalition of partners across the country that work together to protect vulnerable children and families. Champions for Children were nominated by their peers and selected to highlight their contributions to the field of child welfare. The CWLA says they are grateful to Ann Marie and the other nominees for  their role ” in contributing to our shared goals of improving outcomes for children, youth, and families and helping them all to succeed and flourish.”

To read the full announcement, go to the CWLA’s anniversary site.

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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
United States

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