Hello, Canopy Center Community! 

If you’re reading this from the midwest - we hope you’re enjoying the heatwave! 😎

This month’s update includes: 
📣 CASA Advocate Summit Recap| Don’t miss out on all the details from this event that brought together advocates, foster parents and volunteers from our supervised visitation program (click through to our blog for the whole story!)
💥CASA Year in Review | CASA Advocates met with children, caregivers and social workers; attended court hearings, school meetings and more, over 3,000 times in 2024! Best-interest advocacy means showing up!
💙 Show Your Support with Pinwheels, Buttons & More | For $25, you can help us spread the word about child abuse prevention and promote safety in our community! 
📝 We’re Hiring | Do you know someone with strong administrative skills? 
📲This Month’s Best Social Posts | Like, follow and share… please! 

CASA Advocate Summit Recap

Earlier this month, we hosted our second annual CASA Advocate Summit! The Advocate Summit is an opportunity for our volunteers to hear from experts on topics that have been particularly relevant over the course of the last year and connect with others on how best to support the children and teens we serve. This year, we heard from a father-son duo on navigating their experience with neurodiversity; a service coordinator from Building Bridges, which provides short-term, intensive, crisis-stabilization mental health services and a social worker from Safe Harbor about best-practices around disclosures of abuse. 

In addition to our own Advocates from Dane and Columbia County,  we invited our neighbors to the south: CASA of Rock County, to join us, as well as foster parents from Dane and Columbia County and volunteers from our supervised visitation program (Parent to Child). This really helped everyone see outside of the service they provide and gain a better understanding of the challenges children and teens under the protection of the courts face.

Before we jump into the full recap, we wanted to say thanks again to our sponsors: Beans N Cream Coffeehouse and Jimmy Johns! Jimmy Johns sponsored our inaugural CASA Advocate Summit and we are so grateful for their continued support of children and teens in our community. So, if you’re in the DeForest area, check out Beans N Cream Coffeehouse’s new location and after - make a day of it - and grab yourself a sub at Jimmy Johns! 

Here are some highlights from each of our speakers:

Show Your Support With Pinwheels, Buttons & More

Help us spread the word and stand up for kids with a Child Abuse Prevention Month Awareness Kit! Kits are $25 and all proceeds help support our programs - which serve children and youth who have experienced abuse and neglect. 

What’s in the Kit?

💙Pinwheels for Prevention - Put them in your yard, arrange them in a vase near a window, or share them with a child in your life! Pinwheels are a symbolic representation of child abuse prevention. Each April, Canopy Center fills our lawn (along International Lane in Madison) with blue pinwheels - each pinwheel represents a child we served the previous year. 
💙“Stop Child Abuse, Stand Up for Kids” Buttons - Who doesn’t love a button? Show your support and reduce the stigma around child abuse. “One of the first steps in practicing abuse prevention is establishing a culture of communication with the kids in our lives.” 
💙Child Abuse Prevention Month Window Cling - Display this 5”x5” window cling in your home or business or gift it to your child’s school, daycare or other extracurricular to remind people that it is everyone’s responsibility to protect the children in our community. 
💙“See Something, Say Something” Child Abuse Prevention Month Flyer -  Know what to look for and who to contact if you suspect a child is unsafe. 

Lets paint the town (with pinwheels, buttons and window clings😉), this April, and disrupt cycles of abuse in our communities.

We're Hiring

Canopy Center is hiring for three positions: CASA Case Coordinator and two administrative positions: Executive Assistant and Oasis Client Coordinator? Know someone who is looking for their next opportunity - please share with your network! 

✨Our Best Social Moments📲

Here's what got the most attention, since the last time we were in your inbox.

Are you following us? Your engagement increases awareness of Canopy Center in the community and helps us serve more people. 

Canopy Center is registered as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Contributions to Canopy Center are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Canopy Center tax identification number is: 51-0211908.