WaCASA funding suspended in the state budget

As I’m sure many of you have heard, Washington’s final state budget came out at the end of April, bearing with it bad news for Washington State CASA; effective July 1, state funding to WaCASA has been suspended. This means that while we won’t be receiving any state funding this year, there is an opening for us to potentially have our funding reinstated in the next few years. I unfortunately don’t have an update for what’s going on with local CASA program funding – there likely will be some level of cuts made, but we won’t know exact numbers for another few weeks.

 Though we may have to temporarily function at a decreased level until we can fill the gap with grants, donations, and other (more creative) funding sources, I want to ensure you that WaCASA and CASA will still exist and will continue to serve abused and neglected children to the best of our abilities.

Thank you so much for the hard work that you all put into advocating for WaCASA to the legislature; though it’s disappointing that we weren’t included in the budget, it’s extraordinary to know that we have such a strong network of CASA advocates who are willing to put so much time and effort into ensuring that abused children in WA have the strongest support system that we can provide.