Happy New Year, Canopy Center Community! 

New year, new look - same journey to strengthen families and support children and youth impacted by trauma and adversity in South Central Wisconsin! In addition to our newsletter looking a little different, you *may* have noticed that we also made some updates to our website. If you haven’t, check it out here! 

Before we get into it - we wanted to once-again share how grateful we are to everyone who supported our year-end giving campaign, all of our 2024 volunteers, donors, grantors and everyone who liked or shared our social posts. Your support is more important than ever. Truly. 

This month’s update includes: 
🎗️ January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month | Read about the impact of trafficking on the children served through our CASA and Oasis Programs and how we are responding. 
🪩 Save the Date for Stand Up for Kids | Join us for some Dolly-inspired fun! More to come… 
💻 Help us Hire | Apply or share to help us find our next CASA Case Coordinator.
😉 Our Best Social Moments | Some things never change… sharing our best social posts is one of them. 

* If you are a CASA Advocate or foster parent who is reading this - don’t miss your chance to register for our second annual Advocate Summit. This year, we will hear from experts on and discuss how you can better support neurodiverse children and students facing mental health challenges, as well as how to navigate disclosures of abuse. *

January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month

“The media often portrays trafficking as involving international kidnapping and smuggling, but it’s more likely to happen at home and online. Just like other abusers, traffickers strategically target and groom their victims. They look for children who are vulnerable and easy to isolate, such as those who lack support at home or school, don’t know digital safety practices or have experienced previous trauma. Between 70-90% of sex trafficked kids were sexually abused in a non-commercial manner prior to being trafficked. This link shows that if we can prevent or intervene early in child sexual abuse, we can interrupt the path to trafficking.”

Darkness to Light, a non-profit committed to empowering adults to prevent child sexual abuse shared the above on their Instagram page. 

Canopy Center Staff took the Darkness to Light Stewards of Children training as part of a comprehensive plan to educate ourselves on how to better support the increasing number of children we serve who have experienced or are at risk for sex trafficking. Currently, more than 25% of the children our Court Appointed Special Advocates of Dane & Columbia County Program serves fall into this vulnerable category, a stark increase from just 5% two years ago. This alarming trend underscores a pressing need to address the gaps in service designed to protect and support these at-risk youth.

Save the date for some Dolly-inspired fun!

Mark your calendars for our annual fundraiser and help celebrate the work we've done to advocate, be a safe place for and help heal children who have experienced abuse and neglect!

Sponsorships are available and registration is open - save your spot today! 

Help us Hire

Do you have (or do you know someone who has) five years of experience or a degree in a social service-related field; and a passion for leading teams? 

✨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.