Get email alerts on the Child Welfare topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Local CASA program seeks $13,060 from county after state grant cuts
Summary
Whitney Pennington, a Guardian ad Litem and local CASA director, said the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute cut funding, leaving the program $44,100 short statewide; she requested $13,060 from Jefferson County to sustain a new paid staff‑advocate position that will help cover payroll beginning September 2027.
Whitney Pennington, who serves as a Guardian ad Litem in Indiana and as the local CASA executive director, asked the Jefferson County Council for $13,060 to help sustain a paid staff advocate position after state grant awards were reduced.
Pennington said the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute reduced the award that once provided $10,000,000 across programs to a lower amount; locally her program received $85,000 less than requested this year and faces a $44,100 deficit. "One of the things that we're asking for is $13,060…which I know is a lot more than I've ever asked for from you guys," she said, explaining that the funds would be used toward payroll to sustain the staff advocate who can serve up to 30 lower‑triage children.
Pennington described local volunteer gains — the program currently has volunteers available to serve all assigned children — and noted guaranteed county funding streams (a state allocation of $22,000 this year and a $30,000 set‑aside from the judge’s budget). She asked the council to consider the county contribution as part of a mix of grants and fundraising to close the funding gap.
AI generated
The text on this page is AI generated. Summaries, highlights, analysis, and video transcripts are all produced from the original source material.
AI can make mistakes, so if you spot one, and we will fix it for everyone.
Note: the source content is unaltered by us. Any content source we link to, be it a video, an audio recording, or a document, is presented exactly as its publisher released it. That publisher is usually a government body, sometimes an individual official or another organisation.
