LAKEPORT – The newly formed Lake County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Steering Committee will hold its next meeting this week.

The group will meet at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, March 20, in the Community Room of the Mendo-Lake Credit Union, located at 963 11^th St., Lakeport. The public is invited.

The CASA program is meant to provide stability and hope to abused and neglected children in the court system by providing them with a volunteer who will advocate for them.

The committee has appointed Susan Thompson as interim director.

Thompson's first official duties have included recruitment for a Board of Directors and the completion of a grant application for a new program funding from the National CASA organization

Thompson, who is currently the Community Development Manager for Lake Family Resource Center (LFRC) in Lake County, brings impressive credentials in nonprofit management, program development, and fundraising to this position.

She has served as chair of the Board of Directors for the Women’s Crisis Center in Tillamook, Ore.; executive director for the Women’s Violence Intervention Program in Lincoln County, Ore.; and director of Gaia House, a recovery-based group home for juvenile delinquent girls through Oregon Youth Authority.

In addition, she has served as a member of the Commission on Children and Families in both Tillamook and Lincoln counties in Oregon, on several boards including the Lincoln County United Way and the Children’s Advocacy Center, and the CPS Domestic Violence Advisory Committee at the state level in Oregon.

In California, she was the Prevention Coordinator for the DELTA (Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancement and Leadership Through Alliances) programs at the state level through the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.

For more information about Lake County CASA call 263-4599.

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