Who We Are
KARA's mission, board, history, and founder.
Ways in
Three decades, frame by frame. Drag sideways, 1994 to today
-
1994
David Strand sworn in as a court-appointed Hennepin County CASA volunteer guardian ad litem. Active through 1997.
-
1996
Mike Tikkanen sworn in as a Hennepin County court-appointed CASA volunteer guardian ad litem. Active through 2012.
-
1998
Initial Invisible Children / KARA board formation meetings.
-
1999
The Invisible Children book project begins.
-
2000
invisiblechildren.org founded by active CASA volunteer guardians ad litem Mike Tikkanen and David Strand, together with Bob Olson, Larry Walker, and Joe McCarthy.
-
2001
Regular monthly board meetings begin. Programs and policies take shape.
-
2002
Public speaking launched on child protection and abuse to churches and community organizations.
-
2003
Presentation to the Women's Prison Warden Annual Conference, Bloomington, Minnesota.
-
2004
Introduction to Dr. David McCollum, a founding member of avahealth.org.
-
2005
Invisible Children published.
-
2006
Harmony Award from Bethel College for community efforts. First monthly printed newsletter.
-
2007
IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit certification received. Presentation at the United Nations Youth Assembly, New York.
-
2008
Brutal Truths and Best Practices public forum, Century College.
-
2009
KARA's first fundraising campaign.
-
2010
Mike becomes a founding board member of CASAMN.
-
2011
KARA presentation at Indiana Foster Care after Governor Mitch Daniels eliminated funding.
-
2012
Reno CASA Annual Conference presentation.
-
2013
Mike and David become founding board members of Friends of Children.
-
2015
Interviews for TPT film documentary partnership.
-
2016
Presentations to metro police chiefs and suburban Rotaries.
-
2017
One thousand blog and newspaper article milestone reached.
-
2018
250 public presentations reached.
-
2019
Design and launch of Invisible Children Campus Conversations at the St. Cloud State Law Enforcement and Social Work Annual Conference.
-
2021
First two FinLit peer group pilot programs launched, and online book draft initiated.
-
2022
Third FinLit peer group launched.
-
2022–2024
Multiple campus conversations held at various Minnesota colleges.
-
2023
Launch of the CASA free Google Ad Grant program.
-
2024
Wisconsin CASA Conference presentation. CASAMN signed on to the Google Ad Grant program.
-
2025
Program launched for an interactive AI-driven national child abuse and child protection information and solutions platform.
Kids At Risk Action (KARA) is a 501(c)(3) founded by Mike Tikkanen, built on three decades of direct work with children in crisis.
Who will speak for them?
A short film built around veteran broadcaster Don Shelby: what happens to children who can’t advocate for themselves, and the CASA volunteer guardian ad litem role that stands in for them in court. About four minutes.