As the year comes to a close, we’re reflecting on what CAASE has accomplished, the people who make this work possible, and what lies ahead. After a successful fall fundraiser that brought together so many of the people who believe in our mission, we sat down with our Executive Director to talk about the year’s highlights, the importance of our community of allies, and why continued support matters.
As you look back on this year, what are you feeling most grateful for?
I’m feeling most grateful for the exceptional expertise and talent on CAASE’s staff. The work we do to address sexual harm is so often undervalued or overlooked by people who haven’t experienced sexual trauma themselves that the broader community rarely shines a spotlight on its importance. This year, though, it has been profoundly gratifying to see public attention turn to issues that CAASE exists to address, and to see my colleagues’ expertise called upon and recognized. Whether it’s been to comment on instances of sexual harm at Cornell and at the University of Chicago, to discuss depictions of disclosing assault in media, or to comment on the delays in justice for Epstein survivors, our staff have had opportunities to showcase the work we do every day in much broader public conversations.
Our educators, community engagement leaders, policy specialists, and attorneys bring deep, specialized knowledge to this work. The people they serve know how valuable that expertise is. It’s meaningful when the broader community shines a spotlight on how special and important their work is, too.
[Editor’s Note: We’re very proud to see CAASE’s work and expertise reaching a wider audience. Explore some of this year’s coverage on our CAASE in the News page.]
When you think about what our staff, partners, and community have accomplished this year, what stands out?
This is one of those years when I’m especially glad the word alliance is in our name. I’m enormously proud of CAASE’s staff, but almost everything we accomplish is connected to our relationships with local allies: the private legal community, other organizations working to end gender-based violence, and so many people across Chicago and Illinois committed to addressing the problems facing our communities.
At a time when there’s so much evidence that sexual harm continues to be epidemic and really disregarded as a priority by many communities, Chicago is uniquely full of strong, committed, active, and talented allies who share our concern for the many ways in which cruelty and inequality manifest themselves.
We’re fortunate to be in a community with people and organizations who understand how sexual harm connects to larger questions of economics, identity, power, and inequality. It’s a community that sees the forest and the trees—and that makes Chicago a special place to do this work.
What moments from this year reminded you why CAASE’s work matters?
There have been several. I think about our Legal team stepping in to provide critical representation to a student survivor who learned about our services just before facing an intense administrative process at her school.
I think about the collaboration between our Community Engagement team and the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center to support Reshona Landfair and her important book, Who’s Watching Shorty?
And I think about the public attention surrounding the landmark success achieved through collaboration between CAASE’s Legal team, Chapman and Cutler LLP, and Adriane Moen, whose bravery and advocacy for herself and other survivors have demonstrated how underutilized state and federal laws can make a difference for survivors of sex trafficking.
I was also proud to see our Prevention Education team not only accepted to present at the National Sex Education Conference, but also recognized by attendees as some of this year’s most engaging and impactful speakers. It affirmed what our data continues to make so clear: that our prevention curriculum is doing something different and important when it comes to engaging and empowering youth. It was validating to have a professional group recognize the exceptional work being done by our Prevention team.
We just wrapped up a really successful fundraiser. What did that evening mean to you, and what did it tell you about the community of people who believe in CAASE’s work?
That evening really showcased the power, talent, beauty, and compassion that exists in Chicago. When you bring together the resources of the private legal community, the expertise at CAASE, and the bravery and wisdom of survivors, you can produce profound and beautiful change.
What I loved most was that everyone in the room had an opportunity to see with real clarity what I have the privilege of seeing every day: the diverse and extraordinary people who are collectively committed to doing the hard work of exposing, and effectively opposing, all forms of sexual harm, from our perch in Chicago.
What would you want to say to the donors, sponsors, attorneys, volunteers, and other allies who showed up for us this year?
I am so profoundly grateful to every person who has helped identify what needs to be done, joined us in doing it, or provided the resources that make needed work possible. There is so much hesitation in the broader public to address issues related to sexual harm, which I think is rooted both in the natural discomfort that comes from thinking about intimate violation, and the reality that most survivors and their loved ones have only ever been failed by the people and institutions that they turned to for support after sexual harm. That approximately one in four people—in every community—live through sexual harm, but mostly navigate to survival without the kinds of support they deserve from families, schools, workplaces, or governments, makes it almost impossible for most people to even imagine what it would look like for our world to do better—and this deep pessimism and lived experience of failure makes securing philanthropic support really hard.
But even as I understand the discomfort that people have in thinking about sexual harm, and even as I see how reluctant most people are to invest money in a problem that they know is ugly and that they fear is intractable, I also see the incredible bravery and generosity of the people who support CAASE, and thus, the survivors that we stand with. There is so much pain and need going unaddressed in our communities, but the people who choose to step forward and stand with us are really engaging in acts of bravery and hope, by investing their resources in the effort to make something that is epidemic into something that is NOT inevitable.
What does it mean to see people continuing to show up for survivors, especially when this work can feel challenging?
It means people are willing to look beyond their discomfort and recognize that this work is important and urgent, and that they share the belief that it’s possible. I’m grateful not only to those who are visible in that effort, but also to the many supporters who give quietly, the sponsors who make our work possible, and the organizations and allies who contribute their time, expertise, and leadership. No one organization can address sexual harm on its own. Every person who chooses to be part of the response helps build a stronger network of support.
As you look toward the year ahead, what are you most excited about for CAASE?
I’m excited to keep building relationships that have taken root over the last few years—with individuals, survivor leaders, allied professionals, and organizations. Having a new survivor leader join our board is an especially exciting development.
I’m also hopeful that growing recognition of the devastating impact of the sex industry can go hand in hand with thoughtful support for people involved in it. And I hope recent attention to the gap between what students deserve and what they’re experiencing creates opportunities to improve how schools prevent and respond to sexual harm.
What challenges do you anticipate in the year ahead, and how is CAASE preparing to meet them?
We anticipate significant challenges related to federal support. We’re also aware of economic pressures at the city and state levels. That makes it especially important to build meaningful support among individuals in our community—people who care about these issues and may be personally affected by sexual harm, but who might not realize how much their engagement matters to our ability to meet the need and sustain our work.
As we head into the year-end giving season, why is community support especially important right now?
Because the need doesn’t pause when public attention shifts or funding becomes uncertain. Our ability to continue this work depends on having a community willing to stand with survivors consistently—not only when an issue is in the headlines or when there’s an opportunity to gather together. Individual support helps sustain the expertise, relationships, and services that people rely on throughout the year.
What would you want someone considering a year-end gift to understand about its impact?
That it matters. It really, really matters. The harm caused by sexual violation is profound, and supporting a person’s dignity and wholeness often means helping protect their privacy. That can make our work difficult to convey to donors. We’re never going to be the kind of organization that sends you a postcard with a survivor’s photograph. So much of what we do is about restoring a whole and protected private space.
People may feel discomfort around these issues, whether because of their own experiences or their concerns about the experiences of people they know. But supporting CAASE can be a way to contribute to healing and address harm without having to step into those places of discomfort yourself. Your gift helps create and protect spaces where people can find support, dignity, and the opportunity to move forward.
What’s one thing you hope our readers, supporters, and community members carry with them into the new year?
Survivors deserve better. They deserve to be heard, believed, supported, and treated with dignity. They deserve access to meaningful legal support, communities that understand the importance of prevention, and systems that take their experiences seriously. And they deserve more than promises that things will get better. They deserve people and organizations willing to do the work to make it happen. That’s what CAASE is here to do, and it’s what we’ll continue working toward in the year ahead.
CAASE published this piece on November 12, 2026. This interview has been edited for length and clarity by Ryan Spooner with input from Kaethe Morris Hoffer. Learn more about our staff.
