Re-Opening a Different & Better Tomorrow
This town hall focused on learning from leaders in the field about new technology and community-based programs that are saving lives, how they are communicating with the public and key stakeholders, and how to build and retain these operational changes beyond COVID-19.
The following panelists joined us to lend insight and expertise:
- Dr. Erin Katribe, Medical Director, Best Friends Animal Society
- Nick Lippincott, Special Programs and Training Coordinator, Orange County Animal Services and NACA board member
- Shelley Delahoussaye, Supervisor, Lafayette Animal Shelter
- Andrea Peterson, Senior Director of operations, LifeLine Animal Project
Click the timestamps below to skip to that portion of the town hall:
- CDC Update with Dr. Erin Katribe- 2:53
- Intro to panel- 4:50
- Foster program at Lafayette Animal Shelter before, during, and after COVID- 5:48
- RTO at Lafayette Animal Shelter before, during, and after COVID- 9:15
- Managed intake at Lafayette Animal Shelter before, during, and after COVID- 10:28
- Communicating changes to the public- 12:09
- Reopening plans in Louisiana- 13:25
- Operational changes at Orange County Animal Services care center and clinic- 15:11
- Waitwhile app walk through- 19:25
- Wait 'Til 8 kitten diversion program overview- 29:50
- Foster program at Lifeline Animal Project- 38:08
- Trello board for matchmaking outside of shelter- 39:36
- Foster Marketing Toolkit example- 43:12
- Do you do background checks for fosters/Do you plan on keeping your new foster process after COVID- 53:47
- You mentioned your officers going door-to-door, was there push back on that due to the potential for exposure/Is there a way that ACOs can do that without close contact- 55:56
- Did these community-based programs cost you more money- 57:44
VIDEOS, WEBINARS, & PODCAST
- Arizona Humane Society’s Virtual Adoption Matchmaker Program
- Ask the Expert - How are shelters handling home checks for fosters?
- Ask the Expert - With so many shelters closed, what is happening to neonatal kittens?
- Best Friends 2025 Action Team
- Best Friends Animal Society: How To Contactless Foster Appointments
- Best Friends Animal Society: How To Virtual Adoptions
- Best Friends Animal Society- Remote Volunteer Engagement Ideas
- Foundations of Volunteer Engagement learning module
- Kitten Minute: neonatal care video series
- Managing Intake 101 webinar
- Million Cat Challenge: Flattening the Kitten Curve While Spay/Neuter is on Hold
- Radical RTO: A Conversation between Gina Knepp, National Shelter Engagement Director, Michelson Found Animals Foundation, and Tawny Hammond, National Director of Leadership Advancement, Best Friends Animal Society webinar
- Webinar on short-term fostering programs to get started
- Work from home with a foster pet because it's better together video
DOWNLOADABLE PDFs, PLAYBOOKS, & SOPs
- American Pets Alive! - Intake Diversion Protocol
- American Pets Alive! - Open Fostering: Removing Barriers to Fostering During the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Animal Shelter Fundraising: Turning Ideas into Action
- Bottle Feeding Kittens
- Caring for Abandoned Kittens: Handout explaining what to do if an individual finds kittens (English version, Spanish version)
- Example: Creating an Online Orientation for Animal Foster Care Volunteers
- Field Return-to-Owner Training Playbook
- Foster Programs Training Playbook: contains sample procedure and program information documents
- Kitten Foster Manual
- Lifeline Animal Project- Foster Adoptions Protocol
- Managed Intake or Admissions Training Playbook
- What to do if you find kittens
PARTNER EXAMPLES
- Fort Bend County Animal Services: Virtual Adoption Promotion and Shelter to Dog Delivery services
- Friends of Detroit Animal Care and Control: Cuddle Shuttle
- Front Street Animal Shelter: Foster delivery service
- HeARTs Speak- Coronavirus Response: Marketing & Communications Graphics
- Jacksonville Humane Society: Don't Kit-Nap Kittens
- KC Pet Project: If You've Found a Kitten
- Kitten Lady: How to Age Kittens
- Kitten Lady: Kitten Care Booklet (English & Spanish downloads available)
- Lynchburg Humane Society: Foster Pending Spay/Neuter Agreement
- Maddie's Fund - Communicating urgency without negativity in emergency fostering
- Maddie's Fund- The Foster Caregiver Marketing Guide: Getting Pets Adopted Directly from Foster Homes
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES & INFORMATION
- 5 Tips for Awesome Foster Pet Photos
- 911 Foster Pets - At 911fosterpets.com our mission is to find foster or forever homes for the millions of homeless pets that enter rescues and shelters every year. Become a foster hero to a pet in need.
- Adoptimize - an animal shelter software that increases adoption rates, reduces length of stay and reduces your shelter operating costs by automating better photos for adoption of pets.
- Best Friends Network Fundraising Proven Strategies
- Cat Stats: Create an online colony database for your TNR colony
- Create a virtual communication channel such as a closed Facebook group
- Finding Rover - Pet Facial Recognition. With Facial Recognition Pets Find Their Home Register your pets today and protect them if they ever get lost! It's Free!
- LifeLine Animal Project/Fulton County Animal Services Trello Board
- 24Petcare- Data Trends
- Rehome - Rehoming your pet should be easy and stress free both for you and your pet. Our experts at Adopt-a-Pet.com, the largest non-profit pet adoption website, with support from The Petco Foundation, have created a simple, reliable, free program to help you place your pet from your loving home directly to another.
- Trello- Work more collaboratively and get more done.
- Waitwhile- Make your wait experience amazing with Waitwhile, the intelligent waitlist app.
If you enjoyed this town hall, you can find our complete catalog of town halls here.