E Nebraska CASA Struggles With Funding Cuts And Lack Of Volunteers

By Gordon HopkinsThe Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Southeast Nebraska is in dire need of both funding and volunteers, particularly male volunteers.CASA recruits, trains and supports community volunteers who advocate for abused and neglected children in the Seward, Saline, Thayer and Jefferson court system.FundingExecutive Director Shelby Pedersen gave an update to Jefferson County Commissioners at a meeting Tuesday morning, August 5, when she made the annual request for funding. She told commissioners, “We are requesting the same amount of funding as the last two years, which was $24,000.”Pedersen advised commissioners that CASA has lost funding from VOCA (Victims of Crime Act), a US federal law that established the Crime Victims Fund to support state and local programs that assist victims of crime. She also noted that, “We just found out this last week that Seward county is lowering the amount that they’re giving as well, which we, I don’t want to say expected that counties might be giving less, but we just know there’s a lot going on with funding in general right now.”Seward County funding was reduced from $41,400 to $35,000.Volunteers“So, we had three advocates in Jefferson County, which I would love to see that number go up. But they served 11 kids, which is incredible for only three individuals,” said Pederson.Pederson noted Jefferson County volunteers worked nearly 400 hours and drove approximately 1,763 miles in the past year, “I think that’s really important, because most of our volunteers don’t request mileage reimbursement. They just do that out of the goodness of their heart.”With only three volunteer advocates, that meant eight children were left unserved.In the entire Southeast Nebraska CASA coverage area, 21 volunteer advocates servec 55 children, leaving 59 children unserved.Of those 21 volunteers, only one is a male.“We need male volunteers,” Pederson said. “And there’s a lot of boys in care who could use a positive male role model.”For more information about volunteering visit www.southeastnebraskacasa.org.GoalsDespite the struggles, Southeast Nebraska CASA has set some ambitious goals for the 2025-2026 program year: Recruit and train at least 10 new volunteers, Serve at least half of the children in care in the four-county region, Expand CASA program into Butler County, Recruit board members from Jefferson Saline and Thayer counties, Host at least one new fundraiser, and Diversity funding with an emphasis on finding recurring business donors.

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