Therese Miller Finalist for Torchbearer Award
Therese Miller, executive director of Advocates for Children, recently was selected as a finalist for the Indiana Commission for Women’s annual Torchbearer Awards. Initiated three years ago, Torchbearer Awards are given to women who have made Indiana a better place to work, live, and raise a family.
 
Therese began her work in 1989 with our organization, then named The Bartholomew County Youth Advocacy Commission. Her annual budget was $30,000 compared to today’s $450,000. In 1990, CASA of South Central Indiana expanded into Decatur, Jackson, and Jennings counties, and in 2001 added Shelby County. In 2004, the name of the organization was changed to Advocates for Children.
 
“Therese’s selection as a finalist was no surprise to our Board of Directors. She has demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the abused and neglected children of our five-county region. She has always been directed towards helping children and families,” said board member Susanne Riehle. “She has dramatically grown this organization and is improving this community.”
 
In 2006, Advocates for Children served 409 children, more than triple the 116 children served in 1989. “I have been blessed to have a career that has involved working with absolutely amazing people for such a good cause,” said Miller. The program has served 1,810 children in total since 1989. Miller continued, “I’ve had the good fortune to work with literally hundreds of dedicated and compassionate volunteers over the years, and these volunteers are the ones who have provided the incredible advocacy for these children.”
 
Janet Ward, Midwest Program Specialist National CASA Association, said “The choice of Therese Miller as a finalist for the Torchbearer Award was no surprise to me. Therese approaches child advocacy with a rare combination of passion for the cause and strategic thinking. She is one of the few directors who understand that an entrepreneurial mindset is critical to a successful CASA program. Otherwise, only a small number of children ever receive help. Advocates for Children has kept its compass pointed at the goal of serving every child in need, relying on Therese’s ability to develop new personal and organizational skills to sustain the necessary growth.”
 
Now 18 years into her career, Miller said she still has plenty of work ahead. “It’s essential that we get advocates for every single child. We have a waiting list of over 140 children now, and we just can’t have that. Some of her 2007 goals include:

• Increase the number of volunteers trained and activated by 20%.
• begin an educational advocacy project, in which staff time will be dedicated to ensuring that every child served has access to higher education opportunities and is enrolled in the 21st Century Scholars program.
• dedicate staff time to ensuring the every child in foster care has the opportunity to participate in healthy youth development activities, which have been shown by the Search Institute to have significant positive influence of a child’s ability to thrive in the future.