The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement Learning Center
The Association Innovation Bank
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Recorded On: 11/15/2023
Grand Prairie Animal Services developed The Focus List, a model to ensure ALL individuals have a voice and that proactive efforts and resources are concentrated to make euthanasia decisions as a team.
One of the biggest challenges animal welfare organizations face is making space-related euthanasia decisions. Pushing for the magical answer to this, the team at Grand Prairie Animal Services developed The Focus List, a model to ensure ALL individuals have a voice and that proactive efforts and resources are concentrated to try to avoid having to make the decision all together. Learn about tools Grand Prairie
staff found to be effective in setting guidelines and promoting organized, respectful conversations around this sensitive subject matter. Find out how The Focus List’s flexible framework can be adapted to best serve the operations and values of your organization and community.This webinar is based on a live workshop at The Annual Conference 2023.
This webinar recording is part of the Innovation Bank. The Innovation Bank is a collection of bright ideas, innovative programs, and research that your organization can use for inspiration.
Lily Yap, MBA
Division Manager
Grand Prairie Animal Services
In her role as Division Manager at Grand Prairie Animal Services in Texas, Lily Yap brings a strong background in open admission, municipal shelter operations, and lifesaving programs, Building on experience from over a decade in animal sheltering and knowledge of corporate business fundamentals gained from one of the top 10 professional MBA programs in the nation, she strives to support teams that will promote a future in which animals and the families that love them thrive together. Lily is a member of the board of The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement.
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Improve Return to Owner rates for stray cats through the "Tag! You’re Home!" program developed by Loudoun County Animal Services.
Tag! You’re Home! Reunification of Pet Cats with Their Owners Using A Community Engagement Approach: A Community Case Report
This session describes an innovative approach to improving Return to Owner (RTO) rates for stray cats, the "Tag! You’re Home!" (TYH) program developed by Loudoun County Animal Services. Participants will learn how the TYHP reduced shelter intake and maintained comparable RTO rates for adult cats by empowering finders to return un-microchipped, healthy cats to their neighborhoods. Attendees will gain insights into the program's structure, key outcomes, and actionable strategies to implement similar programs in their own shelters.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Understand the current challenges in RTO rates for stray cats and how neighborhood recovery plays a key role.
- Learn the operational components of the TYHP and how it helped reduce shelter admissions while supporting successful returns.
- Be equipped with practical tools and guidelines to apply or adapt similar strategies in their own shelters to improve RTO rates.
- Consider new approaches to managing stray cats, which may involve more community engagement and less reliance on shelter intake.
- Attendees will leave the session with a deeper understanding of how programs like TYHP can benefit both shelter operations and animal welfare outcomes, potentially leading to more efficient shelter practices and higher RTO rates.
Registrants have access to the published research article about the TYH program.
This session was originally presented at The ASPCA-AAWA Research Forum 2024.
This webinar recording is part of the Innovation Bank. The Innovation Bank is a collection of bright ideas, innovative programs, and research that your organization can use for inspiration.
Aimee Dalrymple, DVM, DABVP (Shelter Med Practice)
Shelter Medicine Consultant
Dr. Aimee Dalrymple is a shelter medicine specialist located in the Boston, Massachusetts area. She earned her Master of Science degree in Shelter Medicine from the University of Florida in 2018, and became board certified in Shelter Medicine Practice by ABVP in 2023. Her practice focuses on teaching, consulting, and research to improve shelter and community animal health and welfare.
Nina Stively, CAWA, MBA
Director, Loudoun County Animal Services
Nina Stively, MBA, MS-Veterinary Science, Certified Animal Cruelty Investigator, Certified Animal Welfare Administrator, is the Director of Loudoun County Animal Services in northern Virginia, an independent government agency that includes the County animal shelter and a team of sworn humane law enforcement officers. Nina is a Certified Animal Cruelty Investigator, a Certified Animal Welfare Administrator, and an Animal Control Officer in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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Recorded On: 11/15/2023
Hear about the outcomes and results from a 2022 survey that measured resources and strategies used by pet parents when faced with looking for their pets, against those used by the animal welfare agencies when attempting to reunite lost/stray pets with their owners.
Results from the 2022 Return to Home Survey
Hear about the outcomes and results from a 2022 survey that measured resources and strategies used by pet parents when faced with looking for their pets, against those used by the animal welfare agencies when attempting to reunite lost/stray pets with their owners. The survey results clearly indicate significant gaps that could be directly linked to the pressure and high numbers that some shelters/animal welfare
organizations are currently experiencing. This session will analyze the survey results and discuss practical strategies for enhancing reunification efforts within animal welfare organizations and communities. By sharing the results with animal welfare professionals, together as an industry we can start to have an impact on significantly increasing reunification across the country.This webinar is based on a live workshop at The Annual Conference 2023.
This webinar recording is part of the Innovation Bank. The Innovation Bank is a collection of bright ideas, innovative programs, and research that your organization can use for inspiration.
Lorien Clemens,
Co-founder, CEO
PetHub
Lorien Clemens is the co-founder and CEO at PetHub, Inc. Lorien was honored by PetAge Magazine as one of the pet industry’s Women of Influence. She was also named the Pet Industry Network’s 2014 Pet Industry Woman of the Year and was a keynote speaker at their national conference.
Jerrica Owen, CAWA
Executive Director, National Animal Care & Control Association
Jerrica Owen, CAWA, joined the National Animal Care & Control Association in April 2021, as the Director of Partnerships and Programs and was named Executive Director in December 2021. She brings with her nearly 20 years of experience in emergent animal welfare, engaging and developing a diversity of staff, shelter operations, and leading successful initiatives in Animal Welfare in a cross-cultural environment. Previously the Director of Strategic Initiatives for San Diego Humane Society, Jerrica supported achieving success on the organization’s primary strategies.
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Recorded On: 12/01/2023
Learn how the Unicorn Foster Squad is helping cut the length of stay in half for a shelter’s most challenging behavior cases.
Every community has them: large dogs with behavior issues who stay in the shelter longer than other dogs. Maybe they don’t get along with other dogs, perhaps they’re escape artists, or maybe they have some challenging quirks. Whatever the case, the longer these dogs remain in a shelter environment, the harder it is to find homes for them and avoid euthanasia for behavioral reasons.
Piloted in August 2019, the Unicorn Foster Squad was created to help save the most at-risk and vulnerable dogs. Learn how this innovative program helped cut the length of stay in half for a shelter’s most challenging behavior cases. Discover how your organization can implement a similar program to help more dogs, engage more foster volunteers, and save more lives.
This webinar is based on a live workshop at The Annual Conference 2023.
This webinar recording is part of the Innovation Bank. The Innovation Bank is a collection of bright ideas, innovative programs, and research that your organization can use for inspiration.
Brittany Fleming
Founder, Unicorn Foster Program
Brittany Fleming created the Unicorn Foster Program at Gateway Pet Guardians in 2019. Under her direction, the program reduced the length of stay of their “unicorns” by 70%. Brittany has since created Save the Unicorns which is a consulting company that helps assist animal rescue groups with their “unicorns” in foster and adoptive homes. Brittany has a strong passion for seeing an animal’s progression from shy and scared to happy, confident, and social, no matter how they act on intake.
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Recorded On: 12/05/2023
East Bay SPCA restructured their behavior evaluation process for incoming dogs (especially large, high arousal dogs) and integrated a robust staff and volunteer training/professional development program.
Animal shelters across the country are being faced with a rising population of large, high arousal dogs who struggle to live in the shelter environment. To proactively address this challenge, East Bay SPCA restructured their behavior evaluation process for incoming dogs and integrated a robust staff and volunteer training/professional development program. Their new training programs are short, accessible, online learning modules paired with hands-on sessions with behavior and training staff.
As a result, East Bay SPCA has seen expanded engagement and career opportunities for staff, improved volunteer retention and perception of the organization, and increased adoptability of dogs in their care. Come learn how you can reframe this challenging time to improve animal outcomes, recruit, and retain our most critical resource – our people.
This webinar is based on a live workshop at The Annual Conference 2023.
This webinar recording is part of the Innovation Bank. The Innovation Bank is a collection of bright ideas, innovative programs, and research that your organization can use for inspiration.
Karalyn Aronow, CAWA
Vice President of Operations
East Bay SPCA
Karalyn Aronow serves as the Vice President of Operations at the East Bay SPCA. She is a Certified Animal Welfare Administrator and actively participates in industry leadership through serving on the CalAnimals Emergency Management Committee, reviewing grant proposals for the state of California, and contributing to the development of the original Shelter Playgroup Alliance guidelines for shelter dog playgroups and enrichment. Karalyn completed two Master of Science degrees in Ecology and Evolution and Animal Behavior and has over a decade of experience as a leader in numerous facets of animal welfare.
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Recorded On: 12/05/2023
Learn about the VetAID Model, a program that seeks to fill the veterinary void in remote communities.
Learn about the VetAID Model, a program that seeks to fill the veterinary void in remote communities. Animal Balance deploys HQHVSN teams (two doctors, four technicians, and one coordinator) to shelters, NGOs, or animal control agencies to set up a temporary clinic to clear their backlog of surgeries. Animal Balance teaches host organizations how to establish and operate sustainable HQHVSN clinics for their community. Plus, we help our teams with their mental health by taking them on incredible adventures to reach locations that are often very far-flung. We share our stories and then more veterinary professionals deploy with us, creating further stories, full of adventure, fun, and a sense of purpose which changes the dialogue, which creates social change.
This webinar is based on a live workshop at The Annual Conference 2023.
This webinar recording is part of the Innovation Bank. The Innovation Bank is a collection of bright ideas, innovative programs, and research that your organization can use for inspiration.
Emma Clifford
Founder
Animal Balance
Emma Clifford, originally from the UK, founded Animal Balance in response to discovering that cats and dogs were being routinely poisoned on the Galapagos Islands. She created Animal Balance to offer a humane management program to the Ecuadorian Government. They agreed and next year we will celebrate 20 years of success of working together to humanely balance ALL species. The model worked so well that Clifford expanded to include 12 other island nations. When the pandemic hit, we pivoted to provide VetAID, a remodeled version of the program for the US.
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Recorded On: 09/08/2020
Receive the tools you need to implement pet retention initiatives and track and report the data on your efforts.
The Kentucky Humane Society pioneered their free Pet Help Line in 2013, with one part-time employee. Resources and information were gathered, handouts created, calls answered and tracked, and reporting done each month. In the first year, less than 1,000 clients were assisted. Since those humble beginnings, the department has grown exponentially, and in 2018, over 14,000 clients were assisted through over-the-phone counseling or referrals, as well as financial aid to low-income families for veterinary services, behavioral resources, apartment pet deposits and more.
Pet Help Line counselors typically begin each call with “tell me a little more,” encouraging callers to open up about their unique circumstances and what frustrations or barriers they are experiencing, so that the team can best help them and their pets and reduce shelter intakes. The data collected by the Pet Help Line has demonstrated the need for and effectiveness of financial aid vouchers and has attracted grants for this priority. It also led to KHS opening a low-cost wellness clinic in 2017.
In this webinar, you will receive the information and tools you need to implement pet retention initiatives and track and report the data on your efforts. Whether you are just looking to adjust your conversation with those calling to surrender or if you are creating or improving your own help line, this session will help your organization's pet retention efforts!
Read this blog about the program: Are You Doing These 3 Things To Help Keep People & Pets Together?
This webinar recording is part of the new Innovation Bank. The Innovation Bank is a collection of bright ideas, innovative programs, and research that your organization can use for inspiration. Recorded sessions will be added to the series throughout Fall 2020.
Shelby Schulz, MPA
Community Outreach Manager, Kentucky Humane Society
Shelby came to the Kentucky Humane Society in 2014, after four years working a crisis line for a local domestic violence shelter. Having worked as a Crisis Intervention Counselor right out of college, Shelby came to the Kentucky Humane Society with experience in assisting clients in emotional and urgent situations as well as how to track and report data on the success of a program. After a year as a KHS admissions clerk, and with a new master’s degree in nonprofit management, she was promoted to Pet Help Line Coordinator. Shelby implemented data tracking, program changes and initiatives that increased the scope and achievements of the Pet Help Line. As a result of the growing program and Shelby’s ingenuities in her department, she was promoted to Pet Resource Manager. She now supervises three full time employees to handle the ever-increasing call volume and meeting various needs of their clients.
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Recorded On: 03/23/2020
Learn how Denver Metro Denver CAT invested in solutions to target the cat problem at its source.
The animal welfare field has established effective models for providing high-volume spay/neuter, but many communities still face barriers to accessing these and other services for cats. What if we invested upfront in common-sense solutions to target this problem at its source? Can we disrupt the status quo for cats and transform our organizations and communities?
Learn about a project called Metro Denver CAT, which was created to answer these questions. The program uses a collaborative system, bridging gaps in our community and creating a network of care options for cats. This community outreach program connect residents to services, filling in gaps where needed. Anna Murrin, project manager at Metro Denver CAT, will share what her team has learned by implementing a structured, methodical community-based cat project, and discuss ideas to consider at your organization.
Read this blog about the program and a follow-up blog.
This webinar recording is part of the new Innovation Bank. The Innovation Bank is a collection of bright ideas, innovative programs, and research that your organization can use for inspiration. Recorded sessions will be added to the series throughout Fall 2020.
Anna Murrin
Project Manager
Metro Denver CAT
Anna Murrin is the project manager for Metro Denver CAT, where she has worked on designing and implementing effective solutions to cat overpopulation and welfare concerns since 2016. Her experience in animal welfare has focused on a variety of outreach-based programs, including spay/neuter outreach with the ASPCA in New York City, and she is passionate about connecting directly with communities to help people improve the lives of the animals in their care.
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Recorded On: 02/07/2022
When cat guardians are provided with lost cat recovery assistance (and recover their cat), they mitigate that cat from entering your shelter. Learn how to implement state-of-the art Lost & Found programs.
An innovative push for shelter reform calls for a shift in how shelters prioritize Lost and Found. Several shelters have seen dramatic increases in RTO rates for shelter cats after implementing state-of-the art Lost & Found programs. When cat guardians are provided with lost cat recovery assistance (and recover their cat), they mitigate that cat from entering their local shelter.
This webinar examines programs and services that help shelters to decrease their intake and increase their RTO rates for shelter cats. In addition, learn how cat lovers and feline rescue groups are partnering with shelters to offer lost cat recovery services that save cats lives. Kat Albrecht will bust pet owners' myths about why their cat disappeared and where they went.
Read this tip of the week from this recording.
This webinar recording is part of the Innovation Bank. The Innovation Bank is a collection of bright ideas, innovative programs, and research that your organization can use for inspiration.
Kat Albrecht
Director, Missing Animal Response Network
Kat Albrecht is a former police detective turned “pet detective” and Director of the Missing Animal Response Network. Since 1996, Kat has been training search dogs to find lost pets and is widely known as the leading authority on lost pet recovery training. Kat is the author of two books: Pet Tracker and Dog Detectives: Train Your Dog to Find Lost Pets.
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Recorded On: 02/07/2020
Learn about the Humane Advocacy department at East Bay SPCA which preserves the human-animal bond by providing financial assistance for veterinary care, pet food, and temporary shelter to underserved communities and people in crisis.
The Humane Advocacy (HA) department at East Bay SPCA preserves the human-animal bond by providing financial assistance for veterinary care, pet food, and temporary shelter to underserved communities and people in crisis. By working directly with pet owners and community stakeholders, HA programs sustain the human-animal bond which is critical to the health and well-being of the entire East Bay community. East Bay SPCA's approach involves comprehensive case management to not only meet immediate needs, but also to build relationships with clients experiencing complex social challenges such as homelessness, mental health crises, domestic violence, and housing and food insecurity. Learn how this innovative program helps community members in crisis and gain ideas for developing a similar program or collaboration in your community.
Read this blog about the program.
This webinar recording is part of the new Innovation Bank. The Innovation Bank is a collection of bright ideas, innovative programs, and research that your organization can use for inspiration. Recorded sessions will be added to the series throughout Fall 2020.
Karalyn Aronow
Vice President of Operations
East Bay SPCA
Karalyn Aronow is the East Bay SPCA’s Vice President of Operations. Karalyn attained Master of Science degrees in biological science and animal behavior. Since joining the East Bay SPCA, Karalyn has been working with an incredible team to create and sustain programs that serve the East Bay community through improving animal welfare, and promoting and preserving the human-animal bond.
Raquel Bernaldo
Manager of Humane Advocacy
East Bay SPCA
Raquel Bernaldo holds a Masters in Social Welfare and has dedicated her social work career to providing direct service in underserved communities. Since 2016, Raquel has served as the Manager of Humane Advocacy at the East Bay SPCA. Here, she oversees programs that promote the human-animal bond by providing people with the resources they need to care for their companion animals as well as reduce the number of animals surrendered to local shelters.
