Partners in Miami-Dade Receive $139,000 Grant from ASPCA

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Partners in Miami-Dade Receive $139,000 Grant from ASPCA


As part our national outreach efforts, last week the ASPCA granted $139,000 to Miami-Dade County, Florida, and its partner animal welfare agencies. Miami-Dade joined the ASPCA Partnership program in October 2010, and its participating organizations include Miami-Dade Animal Services (the county’s only public, open-admission shelter); the Humane Society of Greater Miami (a private, not-for-profit limited-admission, adoption-guaranteed facility); and the Cat Network (a local spay/neuter, TNR and adoption group).

Our latest grant will support the partner agencies’ efforts to:

* Enlist veterinary medicine professionals to help identify areas for improvement in spay/neuter clinics;
* improve shelter medicine protocols;
* fine-tune agency operations;
* schedule special adoption events;
* fund staff positions to increase the number of lost pets reunited with their pet parents; and
* invest funds in the form of additional grants.

“More animals were adopted in Miami-Dade in 2010 than ever before, but our success continues to pale in comparison to our challenges,” says Dr. Sara Pizano, director of Miami-Dade Animal Services. “We are looking forward to launching improved programs and protocols in 2011 that will increase adoptions, reunite a greater number of lost pets with owners, and increase spay/neuter opportunities for the 37,000 animals expected to enter area shelters this year.”

In addition to Miami-Dade County, the ASPCA’s current partner communities are Austin, Buncombe County (North Carolina), Charleston, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Shelby County (Alabama), Spokane and Tampa. The ASPCA’s investment in these partnerships—in the form of direct grants, capacity-building, training, ASPCA staff expertise and strategic planning—lasts from one to five years in each community. Since the ASPCA began its Partnership program in 2007, nearly one million animals have been adopted, returned to owners, or spay/neutered as a result of the exceptional collaboration among partner agencies in each community.

For more information about the ASPCA Partnership, please visit our Partnership pages online. Want to help save more animals in your town? Find out how your city can apply to become an ASPCA partner community. Hurry—the deadline for 2011 applications is February 15!