A Message from Executive Director Vanessa Nordyke 

It is my honor to serve CASA of Marion County as Executive Director. I was born and raised in Salem, Oregon. I began volunteering at age 13, and have now served in various leadership roles concerning homelessness, veterans, criminal justice, mental illness, domestic violence, and more. I serve on Salem City Council, representing the neighborhood that raised me. My other endeavors include co-founding the Marion County Veterans Treatment Court and co-captaining a mock trial team of Latino/a students. Most Oregonians know me as the youngest ever-elected President of the Oregon State Bar, a unified bar of approximately 19,000 lawyers and judges statewide. As OSB President for 2018, I led a statewide mental health initiative for the Oregon legal community. My passion for destigmatizing mental illness led me to develop and conduct mental health trainings all over the state. I am a proud graduate of South Salem High School, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and University of Oregon School of Law.

I am a third-generation Salem lawyer, like my father and grandfather. Up until January 2023, I was a Senior Assistant Attorney General at the Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ). Over 15 years, I handled civil litigation, appeals, and hundreds of child abuse cases. When it came to my child abuse cases, it was my job to keep child molesters behind bars. But at CASA, I can break the cycle of abuse, once and for all. That is why I am here.
 

Since joining CASA, I've worked closely with our staff and volunteers to sharpen our skills in and out of the courtroom through more hands-on training opportunities and other training resources. We launched a YouTube channel to share our training recordings, recruitment videos, and major events. We've added bilingual staff to better serve our Spanish-speaking families. We hired a bilingual Community Health Worker to connect our kids and families with the resources they sorely need, like medical, behavioral, and educational supports. We launched a Fostering Futures program, which provides specialized training to CASA volunteers to best serve our teen and young adult populations. We've enhanced data collection, so that we can better assess the challenges facing our kids. Oh, and we moved our office from Keizer to be much closer to the juvenile courthouse, where we appear several times per week on behalf of the children in care.  We are conducting strategic planning with our board, staff, and volunteers. We are updating our pre-service trainings for all new CASA volunteers. to better reflect the unique lived experiences and culture of the diverse populations who call Marion County home.

 

I’m always happy to meet CASA supporters for coffee, so please reach out anytime! I want to close with words of gratitude. Now then, let’s get to work! Our kids are counting on us.