Program areas at CASA
Casa provides a wide variety of trauma-informed services for thousands of adult and child survivors of domestic violence including a family justice center that is focused on comprehensive specialized support services, emergency residential shelter, expansive rehousing programs, legal and justice assistance, education and prevention programs for professionals, youth, and the Community at large, and more. (continued on schedule o)casa operates the only affiliated family justice center in Florida, earning the 2023 purple ribbon award for the outstanding new service launch in the united states. In the first year of operations, the family justice center served 1,760 persons with survivor case management and comprehensive support services provided by onsite specialized partners.casa's emergency residential shelter provides safe refuge, crisis intervention and advocacy when home is not a safe place. Participants receive food, clothing, and personal items, and during fy 22-23 the shelter provided sanctuary to 554 survivors with 224 of those being children. A total of 23,042 bed nights were provided for survivors. Crisis hotline advocates answered 6,864 calls. Casa provides specialized housing services to 627 survivors of domestic violence and their children in fy 22-23. Legal services provided by casa include Florida bar association attorneys and paralegals who represent survivors in injunction for protection hearings, and provide justice advocacy, invest (intended to reduce the number of intimate partner homicides) and more, receiving 819 referrals in fy 22-23. Additionally, other specially trained advocates accompanied survivors in hearings, helped fill out legal paperwork at the local courthouses, and provided follow-up to law enforcement in over 400 more incidents. Casa works to increase the safety of adult and child victims of domestic violence and helps to reduce the number of out-of-home child placements due to domestic violence. During fy 2023, casa provided 3,733 child welfare services. Through the peacemaker program, nearly 650 preschool, elementary and middle school children throughout pinellas county participate in age-appropriate holistic peace and relationship education during critical times in youth development and provides additional resources for teachers to continue the program in classrooms. Services are available to all survivors of domestic violence and their families, regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military status, sex, marital status, disability, immigration status, education, employment status, residency, legal history, or socio-economic status. This includes male and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and questioning (lgbtq+) persons. About 95% of persons served report coming from pinellas county.casa works collectively to develop a coordinated Community response to domestic violence by collaborating with other service providers, public agencies, planning groups and funding bodies to promote Community education, prevention, and awareness about domestic and sexual violence and human trafficking. Over 400 persons in the Community received training during fy 22-23 regarding domestic and/ or dating violence. Casa also conducts on-going research and evaluation in the areas of domestic and sexual violence and human trafficking to ensure a high quality of service to our program participants as described above.