074. Our "Big Ideas" And Concrete Resources

Hello and welcome to the Casa Connection Podcast. That specifically dives into the world of foster care here at Casa of Somerset Hunterden and Warren Counties. I'm Jeff Warren. And uh we're here with uh I'm Tracy Heisman. Yeah, Tracy Heisler, our executive director. Hope you've been enjoying the content here at the Casa Connection podcast. We're gonna be diving into on this episode, we're gonna be talking about concrete resources because concrete resources are extremely important.

important to our Casa program here at Casa Shaw, especially as we're moving forward in a very, very uncertain world. And uh you d what we are dubbing this really is, you know, big ideas. We need to uh really start embracing and generating these big ideas that we have from our CASA program and how it's gonna affect our families. So I know that we've talked before on the podcast about concrete resources and why we think they're important.

Um in February of 2025 we had our board retreat where the staff came as well and we did a session called the Big Ideas Session. And we had everybody sit around in groups. think about, talk about um what are some areas of of growth for us? What are the things that we are really concerned about and that we want to protect as as there are funding cuts coming down the pipe. So the big ideas really bubbled up in three general groups. The first was supporting parents.

The second was ensuring that we continue to provide concrete resources. And the third was around enhancing supports for aging out. Yes.

So the one that we're talking about today is the concrete resources. And I wanted to share some of the ideas that have bubbled up from the board of what they would like to do. Sounds good? Yeah. So we you know, as we've mentioned, we have a room in the back where we have clothes, we have diapers, we have toys, things like that where if families need them, they could come get So what the board was interested in doing is formalizing that as a mini store.

Um, of having shelves of all kinds of things from लुब लुब लुब लुब Laundry detergent to diapers to school supplies to you know, filling in those blanks for families where they could just You know, call and say, Are you are you there? Can I come get stuff? And then make sure that they have access to those resources. on a m on a more regular basis. Like right now when people bring in donations, I send an email out to everyone, Hey, we just got this in, tell your family

So um like one of the things we're doing today is picking up a crib. Yep. One of our advocates um who's downsized. Um and so when we get those one offs we let people know. But the big idea here is to have a broader, more consistent um base of resources for our families to utilize. Um another one is to expand our um gift card bank because like food insecurity is a big deal. Our gift card bank has been working wonders for folks.

It has. I had somebody come in yesterday, their SNAP benefits they were notified has been cut by four hundred dollars a month. And they have four children. Um, so we were able to help, you know, to to fill in that that bank. Um and it's going to be cut more if, you know, if legislation changes and administration funding priorities change.

Um There are gonna be more families. Yes. In need of What what what's what's important for folks to realize and I'm gonna be rattling off some stats here and there, throughout this podcast episode, according to the Journal of Public Economics in two thousand twenty, a ten percent increase

in minimum wage is associated with nine point six reduction in child neglect reports. And I mentioned that because If people have the ability to be paid even just a little bit more, neglect does go down for families. And that's the same thing. This is scientific. Research. That research has held multiply that the the more access people have to fundamental basic needs. their contact with the child welfare system drops dramatically. Dramatically. Yes. It absolutely does.

And child abuse and neglect, make sure people have what they need. Absolutely. Look, uh according to the U.S. uh Department of Agriculture and the Harvard School of Public Health.

children in food secure households are thirty one percent more likely to do well in school and have better long term health. That may seem like such a quote obvious thing But for a lot of families, for a lot of folks out there who are going through uncertain times right now, quite frankly, due to a lot of policies that have been coming down from the federal government,

Uh th these type of stats are important for people to realize and know and we want to do something about it. Again, big ideas coming from us here at Casa. And and it's it can be a multi layered issue. Yeah. Money is the one thing, but when you don't have money, you can't feed your kids. That increases your stress and your anxiety. The more your stress and your anxiety raise, the less likely you are to be a present engaged patient parent. Right. Um, keeping people out of crisis is really the

the at the core of why we started our concrete resource program. This past year our director of development, Ellen Davis, was able to get us a grant for ten thousand dollars for nothing but families who needed help. Yes. We bought heating oil, we paid electric bills, we paid phone bills, we did car repairs. Things that kept people out of the hole and and let

Yeah. Keeping them out of the hole. Folks, this isn't just us giving money to people for the sake of it. It's not a handout by any stretch of the imagination. It's not like the same families came back month after month after month. These were all different people who had a moment of crisis who needed help. Yep. We were able to provide it and they could go on with their lives and parent their kids. Yes. And uh that's what we want. That's what we want at the end of the day.

And and the way that I've envisioned it, um, is uh like a brick wall where there's a brick missing. Yes. And we can't build the whole wall, we can't cement all the bricks, but we can put that one brick back in.

Absolutely. Absolutely. I I I love the big idea direction that we are going to be going here. it with our CASA program because and and I should probably say, I don't think we said at the beginning of th this podcast, because we know that other CASA programs throughout the United States listen to us, we are serving a hundred percent

of youth who are living in foster care here in our service region. Like we have gotten to that point. So we m not only want to make sure we're still serving those children, But make sure that we are able to facilitate resources to their families as well,'cause it's inevitably going to help the kids at the end of the day.

Oh, absolutely. And one of the other things and I think we talked about this was uh our feminine hygiene products. We're putting together these Kays kits in honor of Kay Mammon, who is one of our advocates who who passed in January. And um So that's our summer project. We're partnering with some women's clubs who are um gathering tampons and um pads and hand sanitizer. So that we have these kits available to put in backpacks for our girls in the fall in preparation for school.

Um, so that's amazing. Um Ellen and I actually were just looking yesterday at a a foundation that you can um ask for products and so that's one of the things that Can we have san uh hygiene sanitizers? Yeah. You know. Can we have hygiene pads? Thank you. Yeah. Um please and thank you. Um we also have had some donors, um who recognize the food insecurity that pops up over the summer and who um put together um

donations for gift cards. And I don't think we talked about it on here. But one of our advocates is a woman named Jane Paradiso. Oh gosh And change Sweet Jesus. Jane was turning seventy this year and she was really ticked off about turning seventy. She was just mad. And so she was like, Yeah, I can't believe it. I'm an old woman. So she s she contacted all her friends, she sent them an invitation and said, I'm gonna have a party. You're not allowed to come to the party unless you bring

diapers or baby wipes for casa. Yep. And so she invited like forty people. Thirty five people came. Yep. They brought seven hundred dollars worth of shopright gift cards. They brought thirty five packages of diapers and wipes. She re she single handedly replenished our bank. Yes. Um but I thought what a brilliant idea of how to engage in that peer to peer support. Yeah. Is yeah, I'm gonna have a party, this is your entry fee. Yes. That's a great idea.

Maybe other concert programs can uh you know take a page out of our book there. Yeah. And and I will just tell you one other thing about Jane that that she does that's amazing. Um, when our kids have birthdays. She has a group of friends that they get the list of the kids, their age, their gender, what they like, and she and her friends go out and shop for these kids and then they wrap them all up. Jane brings them up every month. Um and so it wasn't

It it's n it wasn't a special grant or a hard sell or anything. It's Jane and her friends. Yeah. To help our kids. And and it's beautiful. And the thing that was very funny is when she first started this a year ago now, she randomly paired them'cause she was in a hurry. You get these guys, you get these guys.

So later on when they were a little more established, she was like, Okay, well, now we'll we'll pair you with your friends and they were like, No, we've made new friends. Leave us alone Mm-hmm. So there are ways to do these concrete resources for families that really make a difference that doesn't cost your program any money. Yes.

Yes, yes. Keep that in mind folks. Keep that in mind. New age where we really do have to think outside the box. And I'm proud that we've been able to do that here at Casa Shaw in so many ways. And and another stat that I wanted to really talk about really quick. Tracy deals specifically with housing and how important housing is to our families and the challenges, especially when rent is so high.

Oh, it's When housing costs are so high, the children's health watch back in two thousand twenty one, they uh came out with uh uh some stats that I wanna read here really quick. Families who live in a stable afford who live in stable affordable housing are fifty-two percent less likely to be behind on rent. 43% less likely to forego needed medical care and 19% less likely to experience food insecurity. That's how important housing is because it trickles down into other aspects of life.

other aspects of life that could be neglected. Absolutely. And there's an I I can't speak for other places in the country, but here in New Jersey I live in a rural to suburban community. Yeah. Lots of farms, lots of cows. And there is a chronic housing shortage. And a chronic affordable housing shortage. Throughout the United States, I mean quite frankly. But it's shocking that in a community like ours, it's not an urban community in any way. Right. There's still no place for people to be. Um

And and with you know, things like HUD and section eight being cut, what happens to those families? Right. Exactly. And you end up in your car. And You were you referenced earlier about needed medical care. Um, I think it was Jennifer and I were talking in the office the other day about Dentistry. Yeah. How many people put off going to the dentist because it's just prohibitively expensive if they don't have insurance that covers it and they end up los literally losing their teeth. Yes.

Yes. Absolutely. We see it. We see this happening. Absolutely.

And this is why folks the big ideas that we are doing here and I know I again you know don't wanna be arrogant about it here, but we're in we're in a position in our CASA program where we're able to s really think outside the box here. You know, we have a board that has been supportive of concrete resources, which we are grateful for.

our board of trustees, uh in the leadership have that vision that that we want to take our CASA program to the next level with these big ideas and these concrete resources. So it's uh Uh we we hope you i if you want to reach out to us, info at CasaShaw dot org, you can shoot us off an email and uh Tracy gets those emails and she can respond to you w if you have any questions about anything.

And if you are already doing something that we're not, tell us. Yes. Because we want to we want to do more. There's an initiative out of California called Build Three. that talks about building strong families by the time a child is three. And this is a strong area of focus of theirs as well. And I know that Amanda on our staff, Ellen and I have all gone through a lot of their webinars. Yeah. Um

But I think it's it's really important that we learn from each other. So if you've got a good idea and a way that we can fill bricks, please reach out info at costashaw dot org and let us know and and we're equally happy to share, you know, how we're doing things here. Absolutely. We'd love to collaborate with folks. We do. We absolutely love it. All right. Tracy, do you have anything else uh that you wanted to get into before we uh head out on this episode?

Uh, just to say thank you to everybody who is working in this space. This morning I was at our local grocery store buying gift cards, actually. And uh I I was buying four hundred dollars worth and the lady at the counter was like, Oh, that's a lot and I said, You know, we work with kids in foster care and food insecurity is a big deal and So uh I'm you know, making sure that that we have emergency resources. Right. The guy behind me said thank you. And I was like, excuse me and he goes

Thank you. He said, I grew up in foster care. Oh gosh. He said I was adopted when I was ten. Okay. He said, uh, and I really appreciate people who are working so hard on behalf of kids like me. And he said he was thirty two now and he owns a couple of businesses and he's doing well. No. Nice. But it could have easily gone the other way had he not found his forever family. Yeah. But uh Mm. When um

talking to somebody else on staff this morning. Oh, Cynthia. Cynthia and I were talking about it. And uh she said, you know, that, if nothing else, is a lesson that we don't know all of the people in our community who have been touched in some way by foster care. Right. Either their parents grew up in it or they experienced it or they had a friend or a loved one who was in foster care or who were foster parents. And Yeah.

Sharing each other's stories and sharing each other's best practices of support. Yes. Really go a long way to strengthening the safety net no matter what happens in any administration. It's it's that is beautifully said and just I guess to wrap it up, my final thought is And that's why these little concrete resources every now and again make all the difference in the world. Absolutely.

Make all the difference in the world. If you can give somebody a hundred dollar gift card to just get groceries one week. Because their hot water heater went on'em and they just need that little bit of help to stay afloat, it means everything. And I think that most people who get that help and who get on the other side pay it for Absolutely. Yes, it works. It's cyclical. Yeah.

All right, well that's gonna end this Casa Connection podcast. Head on over to CasaShaw.org, our website. We've got a lot of great resources over there. You can go to our learning center there where you can find our Casa Connection podcast as well as our family video series. as well. We've got some very interesting presentations and TED talk-ish type of videos that you can watch and learn about uh uh about infant uh uh infant uh uh mental health mental health. Yes. Thank you.

Infant brain development, from caring for textured hair, uh what it's like uh in terms of elementary schools and and and uh schools in general here in uh New Jersey and beyond. So uh t again, go on to head on over to Cazashaw.org. org and go to our learning center there. We're on social media too. Instagram at Casa underscore Shaw and Facebook. Facebook.com slash CasaShaw. It's gonna do it for us here. Take care and we'll catch you on the next Casa Connection podcast.