Committee Against Domestic Abuse (CADA), Inc.
September 30, 2024
Amount Requested$10,000.00
100 Stadium Court
Mankato, Minnesota 56001
Kirby Hurd
Grants and Communications Manager
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- Engender Dignity, Respect and Equality
- Food and Housing Security
General Operating
CADA's mission is to provide safety and support to victims of domestic and sexual violence through education, advocacy, and shelter.
$10,000.00
$10,000.00
$2,657,446.00
Yes
The purpose of this request is to help fund general operations of CADA, the only agency serving victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence across a nine-county region in south-central Minnesota. Our clients are people from all walks of life, most of whom have experienced complex trauma, violence, and abuse, and many who live in underfunded and under-resourced rural communities. We know that victims of abuse often experience overlapping traumas, including generational trauma and abuse. CADA provides critical services to victims of domestic and sexual violence; many of these services address basic needs, such as hunger, homelessness, and safety. Easing the burden presented by unmet basic needs assists victims in making difficult decisions for themselves and their families during or in the aftermath of a domestic or sexual violence incident. CADA is also committed to meeting survivor needs through direct financial assistance, which contributes to a safer and more supportive community for adult and child victims of domestic and sexual violence. These funds give us the flexibility to assist victims in meeting their basic needs, securing or maintaining safe housing, and working toward stability - thus aligning with Olseth Family Foundation's focus area of food and housing security.
All CADA services to victims and survivors reflect a trauma-informed approach, which aligns with the focus area of engendering dignity, respect, and equality. At CADA, we consider being trauma-informed the practice of being survivor-centered, which is one of our core values. The last few years have been a time of tremendous global and social change, and CADA has been growing and changing as well. In 2020, our whole staff assisted in updating CADA’s core values to better reflect our work, our goals, and our commitments to our organization and our communities. Collectively creating and naming the new values – anti-oppression, community, survivor-centered, stewardship, and dignity – was essential to better defining who CADA is and what we do, setting new standards for internal and external accountability, and creating an open and affirming organizational culture.
Our core value of survivor-centered means that at CADA, we believe survivors are the experts in their own lives. We understand that all victims and survivors come to us with complex, often extensive or generational histories of trauma with consequences that manifest physically, psychologically, emotionally, and behaviorally. We provide victims and survivors with options that respect and reflect their trauma histories, and we partner with survivors to honor and center their experiences in our direct service work, our internal and external messaging, and our philanthropy.
CADA serves children and adult victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
CADA serves the nine counties of Region IX in south-central Minnesota.
In our next year of service to our communities, we anticipate:
1) Providing emergency safety shelter to 115 adults and children.
2) Providing information, referrals, and resources related to housing on our 24-hour helpline, which was accessed 2,867 times in 2023.
3) Serving 150 people who identify as homeless or are at risk of homelessness (in addition to those staying in our shelter) in our community advocacy programming, which is provided at six satellite offices throughout our service region as well as at our home office in Mankato.
We accomplish these goals within our three main programs: emergency safety shelter, community-based advocacy throughout our nine-county region, and supervised parenting visits and exchanges. Additionally, as a cornerstone of our mission, we offer community education about topics and issues related to violence prevention. In 2024, CADA celebrates 45 years of service to our communities.
Our emergency shelter is an inclusive, family-friendly, and survivor-centered space for women and children seeking safety. CADA community advocates, who facilitate our largest program, are housed in offices throughout our service region. In addition to providing advocacy services, they help connect victims and survivors to further resources that would benefit their unique situations. Keep Me Safe (KMS), CADA’s supervised parenting visit and exchange program, provides a safe and nurturing place for children to visit their non-custodial parents. CADA’s KMS is the only supervised parenting time center in the region with specialized training in intimate partner violence and is a central facet of many families’ safety plans. CADA also provides support, information, service coordination, and referrals on our 24-hour helpline. As the only provider of programming for adult and child victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence in our region, CADA helps communities effectively address issues of domestic and sexual violence, including intimate partner violence, sexual assault and rape, stalking, teen dating violence, child abuse, and sex trafficking.
At CADA, we use two tools to measure and understand our impact – our client database, which helps us to track pertinent and valuable demographic information about those we serve, and formal evaluation of our programs. Together, these tools help us to consistently and systematically gather relevant information from victims and survivors to shape and guide our overarching organizational goals and measure success toward meeting our goals.
CADA uses an internal database (Apricot by Social Solutions) to methodically gather and record client information as well as track services provided to clients. Staff advocates enter data to the system, which is overseen by our Director of Advocacy and managed by our Assistant Director. Administrative staff utilize the database to analyze data to establish trends and patterns, to create reports to help fulfill requirements to our funding partners, and to compile information to share with stakeholders.
In addition to input and collaborative efforts with community and coalition partners, CADA also measures our impact from the most vital perspective – the victims and survivors we serve. In 2023, we completed a program evaluation of our emergency safety shelter by collecting qualitative survey data shared by residents using CADA’s emergency safety shelter services. Feedback suggested that CADA provides critical emergency safety to our region through our advocacy and shelter services to adult and child victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Survivors felt seen, respected, and validated, and understood their personal and legal options after working with a CADA advocate. Many victims and survivors expressed that working with a CADA advocate empowered them to identify their own needs and utilize resources most important to them.
07/01/2024
06/30/2025
We know that violence can impact every aspect of a survivor’s life – employment, housing, and childcare, to name a few – and that domestic and sexual violence affect entire communities. This means entire communities can also be part of the solution; therefore, we rely on our longstanding, successful partnerships with local service providers who frequently work with victims and survivors across our service area. Healing from isolation caused by violence requires trust and meaningful connection; CADA advocates take great care in referring survivors to other service providers and community resources, such as food shelves, legal assistance, mental health services, emergency financial assistance, and transportation. Throughout our nine-county service area, we work with homelessness and housing service providers, criminal and legal systems agencies, adult and child protection services, county social services, and healthcare systems and facilities. We also work closely with colleges, universities, and school districts across our region, as well as task forces for those schools and community organizations working with children and youth, to better assist youth survivors with basic needs and youth-specific programming.
We also rely on our partnerships with structural and systems providers. CADA is a core member in several multi-disciplinary teams, and has ongoing, strong relationships with the state coalitions in our field, Violence Free Minnesota and the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, which provide our organization with guidance, technical assistance, and a voice at state and legislative levels. In turn, our organization, along with member programs across the state, provide our coalitions with data and information to help shape legislative agendas and the direction of our movement.
Funding from the Olseth Family Foundation will support our general operations during our current fiscal year, which spans the time period of 7/1/2024-6/30/2025.
Unapproved