What's Inside

    📝 From our Executive Director

Teaser

    🤗 2025 Impact

Your support helped Canopy Center show up for 237 children providing advocacy, safety, and healing, in 2025.

    🫆 Human Trafficking Prevention Month

Child exploitation is closer to home than most realize – learn how our CASA program is stepping in.

    🧑🏾‍⚖️ Advocacy Update: VOCA Funding

A major step forward on VOCA funding could help protect services children rely on – here's what to know.

    📅 Save the Date

Advocacy, cocktails, a Dean Martin impersonator and baseball – join us to support kids and have fun doing it!

    📲 One Last Thing...

How you can help and the stories that inspired the most attention.

From our Executive Director

Looking back, 2025 was a year of transition. It was our first full year navigating significant federal funding cuts. A shift we prepared for, but one that still left a real gap to fill. We knew the path forward wouldn’t come from one source alone, but the care, generosity and partnership of people like you. 

So, we stayed focused on our mission and continued to show up for children, while inviting the community more fully into our work. Because of your support, individual giving grew, community events were well attended, and our relationships with the community deepened. In 2025 alone, our staff spent 611 hours connecting with the partners, building trust and strengthening our

shared impact. 

At the same time, we made painful but necessary decisions, including cuts to staff, as we adjusted to major funding changes. Every decision was guided by one priority: protect direct services for children and families. At Canopy Center, our staff is the work - there is nothing extra to cut. Your support ensured that services continued through a challenging year.

2025 Impact

With your support, Canopy Center showed up for 237 children who experienced abuse and neglect in 2025. Here's what that looked like:

CASA of Dane & Columbia Counties 

• 102 Children Served | Most of the children we work with are in foster care, but some are with their family of origin.
•  880 Visits with Children | Showing up matters. A CASA Volunteer is often the only consistent adult in a child's life – building trust through regular visits.
• 20,936 Miles Driven for Advocacy | That's the equivalent of 33 round trips from New York to Los Angeles.
• 23 New Volunteers Trained | CASA Volunteers are regular people from all walks of life who want to make a difference. Each volunteer is trained and supported by our staff.

P.S. Are you curious about what a CASA volunteer does?
Watch this three minute video!

Oasis Mental Health Clinic

• 83 Children Served | Oasis provides therapeutic treatment for children who have experienced sexual abuse and their supportive family/caregivers.
• 955 Hours of Therapeutic Treatment | Therapy may look different for each child - our approach is client-centered and strengths based. Sometimes it looks like play, sometimes art and sometimes talking.
• 218 Hours of Childcare Provided | Childcare allows parents to check in with their child's therapist or join one of the child's sessions, without needing to find childcare for their other children.
• 422 Instances of Transportation Assistance | Not having a vehicle or being able to afford gas shouldn't be the reason a child doesn't receive treatment, each week.
• 82 Instances of Interpretation Provided | When children can speak in their own language, their voices can be clearly heard.

Parent to Child (Supervised Visitation)

• 52 Children Served | Parent to Child provides opportunities for children who have been separated from their families to have safe interactions.
• 574 Hours of Safe Visits | Most visits are provided on-site in a family-like environment, but visits may also take place in the community or (when approved by the court) in a family's home. 

January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month

The reality is this is an issue that is closer to home than anyone wants to believe. 

• At least 24% of the children served by our CASA program in 2025 had experienced or were at significant risk for sex trafficking.
• In 2024, the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received nearly 11,000 tips, many tied to sextortion, a dramatic increase from just a few years ago. 

We provide stabilizing services for children who have experienced trafficking – but are also actively working to prevent trafficking. 

• Read more here about how our CASA program is ensuring youth who may be experiencing trafficking do not fall through the cracks.
•  All children are at risk for exploitation, which is why prevention matters. We offer workshops focused on healthy relationships, boundaries and online safety. Interested in a workshop for your school or group?
  Contact us: info@canopycenter.org. 

Advocacy Update: Victims of Crime Act Funding

If you’ve been a subscriber for awhile, you’ve likely heard us talk about how the cuts to Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding have affected our work. If you need a refresher, we summarized it here. VOCA is important because stable funding keeps services available for children. 

There’s good news. The Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives with over 300 co-sponsors and now heads to the Senate. If passed, the bill would help stabilize funding through 2029 – while preserving the fund’s original intent of being supported by federal legal fines and fees, not taxpayer dollars. 

More details shared here by the National CASA/GAL Association for Children:

Save the Date

Advocate Summit

February 21 | 9AM - 3PM

DeForest Area Community Center

A day of learning and connection for CASA volunteers, foster parents and others who support vulnerable kids. Attendees will hear from experts on timely topics – including youth substance use, hard reduction and anti-trafficking – while gaining practical tools and inspiration to strengthen advocacy skills. 

Last year’s Summit welcomed more than twice as many attendees.
Sponsorships start at $100 and help keep this event free for volunteers, which ultimately supports better outcomes for kids! 

Stand Up for Kids

April 30 | 5:30 - 9:30PM

Goodman Community Center

This year, we’re bringing Las Vegas to Madison’s east side for Canopy Center’s signature fundraising event, Stand Up for Kids! This will be an event you don’t want to miss – Madison’s very own Dean Martin impersonator Joe Scalissi will
be performing.

Ticket sales opening soon! ✨

Playhouses for a Purpose

June 11 | 6:05PM

Mallards vs. Pit Spitters Game @ Warner Park

More information coming soon!

One Last Thing

None of this happens without you. 

Donate, volunteer or share this newsletter – awareness is the first step in prevention! 

And be sure to follow along on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn for more regular updates. Here’s what got the most attention, since the last time we were in
your inbox. 

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.