{"id":4823,"date":"2023-02-23T10:10:00","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T13:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/?p=4823"},"modified":"2025-02-07T19:43:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T22:43:38","slug":"black-history-month-a-message-from-our-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/black-history-month-a-message-from-our-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"Black History Month &#8212; a message from our CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fluid_container casa-text-only self\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"subtitle\">February 23, 2023<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"title\">Black History Month &#8212; a message from our CEO<\/h2>\n\t\t<div class=\"text\"><p><strong>NEWS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>February is <a href=\"https:\/\/blackhistorymonth.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Black History Month<\/a>, when we celebrate the achievements of Black Americans. At the National CASA\/GAL Association for Children, we are grateful for the groundbreaking work of the trailblazers who have worked diligently to improve the child welfare system. These bold leaders include the <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=dQK1cAwV_U0&amp;feature=shares\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Honorable Judge Ernestine S. Gray<\/strong><\/a>, a longtime advocate for children and families and the first Black Board Chair of National CASA\/GAL. Judge Gray has been Chair of the Standards Committee, helping us chart a course of innovation and accountability, and has co-Chaired our Judicial Leadership Council since its creation in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>We also applaud <strong>Dr. William C. Bell<\/strong>, former National CASA\/GAL Board Chair, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Casey Family Programs since 2006. Dr. Bell has spent a highly decorated career advocating for change in the child welfare system. Examining ways we can reduce the number of children in foster care, Dr. Bell\u2019s current work focuses on finding the threads communities can weave together to offer a safety net of services that will help families become more resilient.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond our immediate family of inspiring leaders, we celebrate the work of <strong>Christine James-Brown<\/strong>, President and CEO of the Child Welfare League of America, Inc. Ms. James-Brown has lent her expertise to improving the quality and availability of child welfare and related services by setting higher standards for all. Because of her efforts, all participants in the child welfare system have tougher standards to meet to show accountability and to achieve the quality outcomes children and families deserve.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, we are grateful for the transformative advocacy of <strong>Marian Wright Edelman<\/strong>, founder and President Emerita of the Children\u2019s Defense Fund (CDF), one of the nation\u2019s strongest voices for children and families. Ms. Edelman has spent her entire professional career advocating for Americans who face socio-economic disadvantage, and she has created groundbreaking programs to address that inequality, including the \u201c<em>Leave No Child Behind<\/em>\u201d mission, which ensures every child has a healthy and fair start in their very early years.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Edelman graduated from Yale Law School and is the first Black woman admitted through the Mississippi Bar. She has used her considerable platform to raise awareness of child welfare issues and she is a recipient of a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a Robert F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award for her prolific writings, which include: <em>Families in Peril: An Agenda for Social Change<\/em>;<em> The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours<\/em>;<em> Stand for Children;<\/em> and <em>Hold My Hand: Prayers for Building a Movement to Leave No Child Behind<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>We can all learn from the inspiring leadership of these child welfare advocates as we look to transform a system that will strengthen families, reduce the number of children in foster care, and become more inclusive throughout the network of providers. These visionaries have laid the groundwork \u2013 now we must walk that path.<\/p>\n<p>With deep gratitude,<\/p>\n<p>Tara Lisa Perry<br \/>\nCEO, National CASA\/GAL Association for Children<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At National CASA\/GAL Association for Children, we are grateful for the groundbreaking work of the trailblazers who have worked diligently to improve the child welfare system.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/black-history-month-a-message-from-our-ceo\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Black History Month -- a message from our CEO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We can all learn from the inspiring leadership of these child welfare advocates as we look to transform a system that will strengthen families...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/black-history-month-a-message-from-our-ceo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black History Month -- a message from our CEO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We can all learn from the inspiring leadership of these child welfare advocates as we look to transform a system that will strengthen families...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/black-history-month-a-message-from-our-ceo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National CASA\/GAL Association for Children\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NationalCASAGAL\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-23T13:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-07T22:43:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ExternalSite_BlogImage_2_2023_CEO_message.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"690\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"laurenl@nationalcasagal.org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ExternalSite_BlogImage_2_2023_CEO_message.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@NationalCASAGAL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@NationalCASAGAL\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"laurenl@nationalcasagal.org\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/black-history-month-a-message-from-our-ceo\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/black-history-month-a-message-from-our-ceo\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"laurenl@nationalcasagal.org\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalcasagal.org\/#\/schema\/person\/35608438bb29d0ca1fb3e3da27258bf5\"},\"headline\":\"Black History Month &#8212; 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