Welcome to CASASTART-UPSM

CASASTARTSM is an evidence-based, school centered, positive youth development program aimed at helping high-risk 8- to 13-year-olds stay in school, off of drugs and alcohol, and out of trouble with the law.

"The CASASTART program has worked better than I could have imagined. More than 90 percent of the kids who have gone through CASASTART have made significant improvements…We can give the parents tools they can use to help them get back on their feet and to help them build healthy parent-child relationships…Life seems to be better for them."

- Mark Murphy, Principal, St. Mary’s County, MD.

CASASTART Goals:

  • Help young people improve their grades, attendance and school behavior;
  • Strengthen relationships between youth and their families;
  • Cultivate family involvement with schools and social service agencies;
  • Prevent substance abuse and violence;
  • Develop partnerships among social and health service agencies, schools, and law enforcement to meet the needs of the youth and their families;
  • Reduce drug sales and related crime.

Communities across the country can now gain access to the excellent quality of the evidence based CASASTART program work by purchasing CASASTART-UPSM. CASASTART-UP, a multi-media training program designed to educate professionals on how to implement the CASASTART evidence based model to improve educational outcomes, reduces substance abuse and delinquency among high-risk youth and creates safer schools. CASASTART-UP is the bedrock of CASASTART training curricula.


CASASTART-UP Game Board
(Click to enlarge)

The training program consists of several components including: videos, podcasts, and games to build an understanding of the program and the challenges communities might face when developing a CASASTART site. The training is divided into eight sessions that can be done over a period of weeks and up to a month. Most of the independent work can be found on the training pages of www.casastart.org.

Benefits of CASASTART-UP

  • Offers training tools and resources that can increase the number of professionals trained: sites can train multiple people or train new staff as they are hired;
  • Strengthens CASASTART partnerships by fostering relationships through an experiential and flexible training process;
  • Assures philanthropic/government leaders and policy makers the program is being implemented with fidelity to the model;
  • Allows up to one month to complete the training rather than gathering all CASASTART partners for a consecutive, two-day training session;
  • Provides a 20% savings from a two-day training provided on-site by the CASA staff;
  • Trained sites obtain a certificate of completion from CASA at Columbia University which is the first step towards accreditation.
Before joining the CASASTART program, I didn’t pay much attention to what other people thought of me. I kept getting into trouble and I didn’t have many friends my own age. The CASASTART program helped me move back home and got me released from being a state ward."

- Joe, participating child, Burwell, NE

With CASASTART-UP, you are taking the first step towards improving the lives of many children and families in your community. Each activity is carefully developed to contribute to your ability to implement CASASTART with fidelity to the model.

The CASASTART-UP training kit sells for $5,000. As part of the training the CASA staff will provide phone and/or on-line consultation to answer any questions to support you along the process.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) has initiated a CASASTART accreditation process for all organizations operating the program. Completing the CASASTART-UP training program is the first and most important step to being certified as an accredited program; one operating with fidelity to the model.

Learn about additional modules that are offered by CASA staff by contacting CASA’s office at 212-841-5200.

© CASASTART and The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

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*The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University is neither affiliated with, nor sponsored by, the National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association (also known as "CASA") or any of its member organizations with the name of "CASA." © The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.