Committee Against Domestic Abuse (CADA), Inc.
December 1, 2023
Amount Requested$5,000.00
100 Stadium Ct
Mankato, Minnesota 56001-7028
Kirby Hurd
Grant Writer & Development Associate
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- Engender Dignity, Respect and Equality
- Food and Housing Security
General Operating
Our mission is to provide safety and support to victims of domestic and sexual violence through education, advocacy, and shelter.
$5,000.00
$5,000.00
$2,268,534.00
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 all of Region IX (9 counties) in south-central Minnesota.
1) To provide basic needs items, including food, clothing, and personal care items, as well as assistance with transportation costs, to adult and child victims of domestic and sexual violence.
2) To provide emergency safety shelter for female-identifying victims of domestic and sexual violence and their children, as well as hotel stays for male-identifying victims, COVID-positive victims, and adult and child victims when the emergency shelter is full.
3) To provide other basic needs services related to safety, such as crisis intervention, legal advocacy, lock changes, safety planning, and other unique/individual needs.
The effects of domestic and sexual violence are complex and long-lasting; domestic and sexual violence impacts victims and survivors financially, physically, and emotionally. In addition to a greater likelihood of experiencing hunger and homelessness, research shows that adults and children impacted by domestic and/or sexual violence have life challenges that often manifest in psychological and behavioral difficulties; adults and children who have been exposed to violence suffer depression, anxiety, and symptoms of PTSD, and child victims specifically are at greater risk of physical ailments, such as having allergies, asthma, headaches, flu, and gastrointestinal problems than their peers (Graham-Bermann and Seng 2005).
Working with advocates at CADA who provide crisis intervention, safety planning, emotional support, and legal advocacy can help to address many of these impacts, which helps to create more equitable outcomes for individuals, families, and communities.As the only community-based provider of domestic and sexual violence victim services in the region, CADA is uniquely positioned to make life-changing differences for those we serve through our programs and services. Our organizational goals include increasing survivor safety, promoting long-term well-being with survivors, and helping build safer communities. Defining survivor success is complex, as each person comes to us with a unique set of identities, strengths, challenges, and lived experiences.
In 2021, with the help of consultants from Strategic Coaching and Consulting (SCC), CADA overhauled our program evaluation system. This initiative had two goals - to gather information about CADA’s current impact in our communities, and to create a tool to help us systematically collect, measure, and evaluate our own services. SCC performed a program evaluation of CADA’s current services; they met with program staff to understand how staff feel they help clients and conducted client interviews to understand CADA’s impact in survivors’ lives. After collecting their data, SCC developed an analysis of our impacts and helped us to build a tool to effectively self-evaluate our programs. CADA’s leadership staff and Board have already used the evaluation and analysis results to address identified service gaps, and plan to further utilize the new tool to evaluate our programs individually, beginning with our emergency safety shelter program in summer of 2023. Evaluating our programs consistently and systematically by collecting survey and interview data from clients and staff will help us measure the effectiveness of our programs in both qualitative and quantitative measurements and achieve our goal of continually delivering our services above and beyond best practice models so CADA may sustain, develop, and grow into the future.
07/01/2023
06/30/2024
CADA has longstanding, successful partnerships with local nonprofits, government agencies, and other service providers who frequently work with victims across our nine-county service area. We continuously work with partners from the criminal and legal systems, homelessness service providers, county human services, adult and child protection agencies, healthcare systems, school districts, mental health service providers, treatment facilities, and more. Ongoing communication and collaboration with these service providers ensures consistent, seamless community responses to victims and families in need.
Safe and affordable housing is the most urgent need facing many survivors fleeing violence in their homes. We frequently connect survivors with Minnesota Valley Action Council, Partners for Housing, Blue Earth County Supportive Housing, Section 8 programs throughout the region, and Safe at Home Address Confidentiality Program. We’ve also built a strong relationship with Lloyd Management, a local property management company. All these partners help us daily in our efforts to secure safe and affordable housing for our clients.
Area colleges and universities frequently refer victims and survivors to CADA. Students from Minnesota State University-Mankato, Gustavus Adolphus College, Rasmussen College, and South-Central College utilize CADA services. We also work closely with the school districts across our region, as well as task forces for those schools and community organizations working with children and youth, such as Head Start and The REACH Youth Drop-In Center. These organizations help us support children staying in our shelter with their academic and social skills, and to better assist youth survivors with basic needs and youth-specific programming.
Other agencies CADA partners with to provide emergency relief services to victims include the Salvation Army, ECHO Food Shelf, Day One Emergency Shelter & Crisis Hotline, Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services, and local hotels. All these agency partners provide crucial services to CADA clients, including food, clothing, emergency financial assistance, transportation, hotel stays, and crisis support for clients. We refer clients seeking assistance with housing, welfare, immigration, and protection from abuse to Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services. We count on our partnerships with a myriad of local businesses and organizations to provide food items and clothing, including but not limited to Target, Second Harvest Heartland, Encore Consignments, and Salvation Army.
Funding from the Olseth Family Foundation will support our general operations during our current fiscal year, which spans the time period of 7/1/2023-6/30/2024.
Unapproved