New York State and Erie County Cut Funding For Children’s Services

Circle Connections: Awards & Accreditations The Mental Health Association of Erie County was notified earlier this month that it will lose an annual $60,000 grant from the state's Unified Court System next spring for Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children, or CASA. The money, which made up nearly all of CASA's annual budget, paid for two staff members who coordinated volunteers assigned to help foster children in Family Court. A second program facing cuts helps child care centers work with preschool kids with severe behavioral problems. The second program, coordinated by the United Way, will lose $98 . . .