CarolinasUNITE 2027 Official Agenda

Opening Remarks

• CarolinasUNITE 2027: Focused on Challenges, Moving Toward Solutions Presidents of SCACCA and NCAF

  Welcome to CarolinasUNITE 2027! Let’s get started with a quick, interactive activity: choose a specific challenge your organization is facing within one of four areas shaping animal welfare across the Carolinas—complex field response, including large-scale investigations, animal seizures, and disasters; shelter capacity; access to veterinary care; or workforce well-being. Keep your choice in mind as you head into Meet Your Next Solution later this morning. The right conversation with a sponsor or exhibitor could spark a fresh idea, a helpful connection, or a practical next step. Let’s get this conference moving!

Keynote

• How to Not Lose Your Mess in Animal Welfare Jennifer Witkowski, Licensed Professional Mental Health CounselorOrganization / agency: Wilmington Mental Wellness
  Challenges:Workforce Well-Being & Sustainability

  Working in animal welfare can be beautiful and life-changing. It can also be emotionally intense, relentlessly urgent, and under resourced—like everything is on fire. Managing your mental health doesn’t mean you care less. It means protecting your ability to keep caring. As the opening keynote of CarolinasUNITE, this session will set the tone for our conference by recognizing the weight of this work and reminding us that caring for ourselves and one another is part of sustaining it. We cannot rescue our way out of a broken system by breaking ourselves, too. Let’s begin by considering how we can keep showing up for animals and our communities while staying well enough to do the work.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

• A Seat at the Table: Building Influence, Credibility, and Support for Animal Services Haley Brown, State Director, CAWAOrganization / agency: Operation Humane
  Challenges:Workforce Well-Being & Sustainability

  Animal services leaders are often responsible for solving complex community problems with limited staffing, funding, and resources. The challenge is not always identifying what the program needs but communicating those needs in a way that earns the attention and support of agency leadership, elected officials, law enforcement partners, and other decision-makers. This session explores how animal services professionals can build credibility, strengthen relationships, and become more effective advocates for their programs. Drawing on real-world experience in program development, budgeting, policy implementation, law enforcement collaboration, and organizational leadership, Haley Brown will share practical strategies to move animal services from the sidelines to a meaningful seat at the table.

• Equine Complaints - Now What? Susan Fanelli, owner Organization / agency: EQ-Knowledge, LLCNACA Field Services Track
  Challenges:Complex Field Response

  This practical session equips Animal Control Officers to respond safely and effectively to equine complaints. Participants will learn safe horse-handling basics, recognize key indicators of equine health and welfare, use body condition scoring, and apply relevant animal welfare laws to real-world cases.

• Safe, Fast, and Effective: Making Heartworm Treatment Accessible for Shelters Mirah Horowitz, CEO; Stephanie Moore, Director of OperationsOrganization / agency: Lucky Dog Animal Rescue
  Challenges:Access to Veterinary CareShelter Capacity

  What if heartworm treatment could be faster, less expensive, and just as safe and effective? This session shares new results recently published in JAVMA from the largest prospective clinical trial in the heartworm literature, comparing 2- and 3-dose melarsomine protocols in 168 dogs treated at Lucky Dog Animal Rescue's South Carolina Rescue Campus. Learn how the “Lucky Dog Protocol” achieved 95.3% efficacy with 100% survival while compressing treatment to just two weeks—reducing costs, length of stay, and barriers to adoption for shelter dogs.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

• Trusted by People, Recommended by AI: How Animal Welfare Organizations Build Trust and Stand Out Online Heather Ripley, CEO and FounderOrganization / agency: Orange Orchard
  Challenges:Workforce Well-Being & SustainabilityShelter Capacity

  Animal welfare organizations depend on public trust. In this session, Heather Ripley will share practical PR strategies to strengthen reputation, earn credible media coverage and communicate effectively with adopters, donors and the community. She’ll also explain how trusted online information and earned media can influence AI recommendations and what organizations can do now to improve how they’re represented in search.

• When Care Becomes Compromised: Understanding Animal Hoarding, Spotting the Signs, and Intervention Strategies to Protect One Welfare NACA Field Services TrackSandra Strong, DVMOrganization / agency: Merck Animal Health
  Challenges:Complex Field Response

  Companion-animal hoarding compromises animal welfare across all Five Domains and creates a One Health/One Welfare crisis for people, communities, and the environment. Veterinarians can help identify cases early by recognizing warning signs such as unusually large numbers of animals, care split across multiple clinics, inconsistent identification, missed preventive care, and strong ammonia odors. This session examines three hoarder profiles—the overwhelmed caregiver, mission-driven rescue hoarder, and exploiter—and the serious consequences of delayed intervention. Drawing on a published Wake County Animal Center model in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, presenters outline a multidisciplinary response involving animal control, veterinary teams, crisis counselors, human services, and rescue partners. The approach combines veterinary assessment, structured shelter protocols, and mental-health support to improve live-release outcomes, address underlying needs, and reduce repeat cases.

• From Exhausted to Empowered: Best Practices for Supporting and Retaining Fosters Kimberly Ruiz, Chief Programs OfficerOrganization / agency: Doobert
  Challenges:Shelter CapacityWorkforce Well-Being & Sustainability

  Foster families are the heartbeat of animal welfare, but burnout, isolation, and lack of support drive too many away. In this session, Kimberly Ruiz shares practical strategies to build stronger foster communities through mentorship, automated support, and meaningful engagement. You'll leave with actionable ideas to help fosters feel confident, supported, and inspired to keep saying "yes"—because when fosters thrive, animals do too.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

• Stop Starting From Scratch: Build a Smarter Shelter Marketing System Lorien Clemens, CEO and Co-FounderOrganization / agency: PetHub
  Challenges:Shelter Capacity

  You don't need a huge marketing department to look like you have one. Learn how to turn the brand, knowledge, and tools you already have into a repeatable marketing system. We'll explore how to maximize Canva's Brand Kit, build an AI Brand Kit that knows your voice, messages, audiences, and talking points, and connect it all into one cohesive system. You'll leave with practical frameworks and tools you can take back to the office and start using immediately.

• Building Resilience: Preventing Burnout and Compassion Fatigue in Animal Services Presented by NACA Organization / agency: NACANACA Field Services Track
  Challenges:Workforce Well-Being & Sustainability

  Burnout and compassion fatigue affect individual well-being and the strength of animal services teams. This session explores how ongoing stress can contribute to burnout, how to recognize early warning signs, and which personal and workplace factors can make a difference. Participants will consider practical prevention strategies for themselves and their teams, with a focus on sustaining a career in animal control and shelter services.

• When the Kennels Are Full: Temporary Housing Solutions for Seized Animals NACA Field Services TrackAudra Houghton, Director of Operations, Animal Rescue TeamOrganization / agency: Humane World for Animals
  Challenges:Complex Field ResponseShelter Capacity

  In cruelty, fighting, and large-scale investigations, finding safe housing for removed animals can become an immediate barrier to action. Limited space, staffing, funding, and species-specific facilities add to the challenge. This session explores ways to build temporary capacity beyond traditional shelter kennels, including foster networks, veterinary clinics, boarding facilities, fairgrounds, agricultural sites, rescues, and other community partners. Through real-world examples, participants will consider how to assess options, coordinate care across multiple locations, and maintain animal welfare, clear documentation, and investigative accountability. Leave with practical partnership and planning strategies your agency can adapt before the next case strains available space.

Day 2 Welcome

• Keep the Conversation Going Presidents of SCACCA and NCAF

  What stuck with you yesterday—and what could change how you work? We’ll kick off day two by connecting ideas across our four challenges, highlighting what’s ahead and encouraging you to seek out the conversations that could help your agency take its next step.

Access to Care in Action: From Making the Case to Making It Work

• Amanda Arrington, Vice President, Access to Care; Jillian Sergio, Director, Shelter Outreach and EngagementOrganization / agency: Humane World for Animals
  Challenges:Access to Veterinary Care

Access to veterinary care affects shelter intake, keeps families together, and shapes relationships with the community. This opening session explores the role shelters and animal services can play in improving access—and how to build support for that work. Learn how to communicate community needs, engage staff, leadership, and partners, and identify priorities that fit your organization’s mission and capacity. Leave with a clearer direction and a stronger case for taking action.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

• Taking Care of the Caregivers: How Employee Wellness Drives Better Customer Service Victoria Clary, Animal Services Superintendent; Jason Jensen, Animal Services Assistant SuperintendentOrganization / agency: City of Columbia Animal Services
  Challenges:Workforce Well-Being & Sustainability

  Employee wellness affects how teams work together and how they serve the public. This session explores the role leaders and workplace culture play in supporting staff and addressing stress before it becomes burnout. Presenters will share practical approaches to recognition, peer support, clear communication, and self-care, while showing how a supportive workplace can strengthen customer service. Attendees will consider ways to bring empathy, active listening, professionalism, and conflict management into challenging interactions. Leave with realistic ideas for supporting employees and improving the community’s experience with animal services.

• Dispatch to the Rescue! The Crucial Role of Dispatchers in Supporting Pets and the Community Presented by NACA Organization / agency: NACANACA Field Services Track

  Dispatch is often the first link between a community member’s concern and an officer’s response. The information gathered and priorities set can shape what happens next. This session examines effective call handling, information gathering, and prioritization, along with communication techniques that support strong response outcomes and officer safety. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of how dispatch can strengthen coordination between the public and field teams.

• Building Sustainable and Successful Transport Programs Mirah Horowitz, CEO; Stephanie Moore, Director of OperationsOrganization / agency: Lucky Dog Animal Rescue
  Challenges:Shelter Capacity

  Transport saves lives—but only when the partnerships behind it work. This session will challenge traditional transport models and explore creative ways to build equitable, lasting partnerships between sending and receiving organizations. We’ll tackle some of transport’s biggest challenges—including the challenge of how to spread costs between participating organizations and how to move more large dogs—and share fresh marketing strategies and outside-the-box approaches to finding new partners, opening new pathways, and saving more lives.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

• Refresh Your Dog-Tired Animal Shelter Roger Layman, Managing Principal; Reacah Harward, Senior Interior DesignerOrganization / agency: Shelter Architecture Unleashed; VetSpace
  Challenges:Shelter Capacity

  Many animal shelters are doing their best in buildings that were never designed for today’s expectations. Aging finishes, inefficient layouts, and inadequate ventilation can make a shelter feel “dog-tired.” But a shelter doesn’t need a new building to make significant improvements. Drawing on their experience designing animal care facilities, Roger and Recah will share practical, achievable strategies for refreshing an existing shelter. They will examine how thoughtful design can improve animal welfare, staff workflow, infection control, visitor experience, and the public’s perception of the shelter. Attendees will leave with ideas for assessing their facility and identifying realistic updates that could make the greatest difference within their existing space.

• Home First! A National Return-to-Home Campaign Jackie Rose, Chief Strategy OfficerOrganization / agency: DocuPet
  Challenges:Shelter Capacity

  More than one million stray dogs enter U.S. shelters each year and are not reunited with their families. Many are ultimately adopted into new homes, an outcome widely counted as a success. But what if the system were designed to help more of them return to the homes they already had? This session introduces a national framework for increasing return-to-home by aligning interventions across the full lost-pet journey, from visible identification and community-led reunification to shelter intake, reclaim practices, capacity for care, and upstream support. Attendees will leave with a clearer picture of this journey and ways to identify opportunities to strengthen return-to-home in their own communities.

• Sharpening Situational Awareness: Maintaining Alertness and Preparedness in the Field Presented by NACA Organization / agency: NACANACA Field Services Track
  Challenges:Workforce Well-Being & Sustainability

  Calls in the field rarely unfold exactly as expected. This session focuses on environmental and behavioral cues that may signal risk, and ways officers can maintain alertness as conditions change. Participants will learn strategies for staying aware during routine and high-risk calls and making informed decisions as a scene develops.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

• Beyond the Shelter: Strategies for Growing Adoptions Clare Callison, Lead Adoption Grants ManagerOrganization / agency: PetSmart Charities
  Challenges:Shelter Capacity

  With more than 400,000 adoptions happening in PetSmart stores each year, the PetSmart Charities team has learned what drives adoption success. Whether your shelter is consistently full, you want more visibility for dogs and cats in foster care, or you are working to reduce length of stay, this session will share practical adoption growth strategies, with a focus on community and offsite events. Leave with actionable ideas to turn community connections into more adoptions, build volunteer support, and improve the adopter experience. You will walk away with practical next steps to reach new audiences, decrease your length of stay, and grow your adoption program.

• Access to Care - Yes, You Can! Practical First Steps Kim Alboum, Director, Field OperationsOrganization / agency: Bissell Pet Foundation
  Challenges:Access to Veterinary Care

  Turn the case for access to care into a practical starting point. Designed especially for small and rural shelters, this workshop explores manageable service models, local and national resources, and partnerships that can help fill gaps in veterinary care. Learn how to assess what your organization can realistically offer, identify potential partners, and determine the first steps needed to launch or expand a service.

• Advocacy in Action: Elevating the Voice of Animal Control Professionals Presented by NACA Organization / agency: NACANACA Field Services Track
  Challenges:Workforce Well-Being & Sustainability

  Animal control professionals see firsthand how policies and decisions affect their communities. This session explores how officers can bring that experience into local and state advocacy and contribute to collective efforts that strengthen the profession. Participants will consider how advocacy can extend their impact beyond individual calls and help advance animal control services.

Shelter-Based Community Clinics in the Carolinas: Lessons from the Field

• Interactive panel with Amanda Arrington and additional panelists to be announced. Facilitator: Jo Jarred, DVM.Organization / agency: Multiple Agencies & Organizations
  Challenges:Access to Veterinary CareShelter Capacity

Could a community veterinary clinic help keep pets healthy at home and ease pressure on shelters? What does it take to make one work? Join an interactive, audience-driven conversation with animal welfare professionals from North and South Carolina who operate public-facing clinics through shelters and sheltering organizations. Bring your questions and real-world challenges. Together, we’ll dig into staffing, funding, scope of care, client access, medical decision-making, daily workflow, and balancing community services with shelter operations. Panelists will share what’s worked, what proved harder than expected, and lessons they’ve learned along the way. You’ll leave with practical ideas, a clearer picture of what it takes to sustain a community clinic, and questions to help your organization explore what might work locally.

Networking Social: Find Your People - The CarolinasUNITE Connection Social

• Choose a badge sticker and complete the prompts: Ask me about... and I'm looking for ideas on... CarolinasUNITE attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors

Grab some food and a drink, unwind, and enjoy an easygoing evening of conversation. When you arrive, pick up a badge sticker and complete two prompts: “Ask me about…” (something you can help others with) and “I’m looking for ideas on…” (a challenge you’re working through). Wear your sticker to connect with colleagues, sponsors, and exhibitors who share your interests or may have a helpful idea. Network at your own pace, swap stories, and have a little fun along the way.

Day 3 Welcome

• Stay for the Takeaways Presidents of SCACCA and NCAF

  Before you head home, give CarolinasUNITE one more morning—you may find the idea, connection, or practical tool you need for the work waiting back home. Day 3 tackles challenges teams face every day: responding to large-scale cruelty cases, preparing for disasters, caring for nontraditional species, using technology in the field, and helping pets with placement challenges find homes. Choose focused breakout sessions, hear practical lessons from colleagues, and make a few final connections in the exhibit hall. Stay through closing for the grand prize giveaway, then head home with fresh perspective and momentum for the work ahead.

From First Report to Final Outcome: Coordinating a Large-Scale Cruelty Case

• Panelists: Joyce Glass; Stasia Dempster; Dr. Clarissa Nouredine; Dr. Jennifer Bonovich; Leigh Anne Wilson; Shalimar Oliver; Doug McElwain.Organization / agency: Multiple Agencies & Organizations
  Challenges:Complex Field Response

Large-scale cruelty cases demand expertise from across disciplines—and coordination at every stage. This panel brings together forensic veterinarians, an animal welfare attorney, representatives from SLED, a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC), experienced investigators, and other professionals with firsthand knowledge of these complex cases. They’ll trace how their roles intersect from the first report through evidence collection, seizure, animal care, prosecution, and final outcomes. Hear what works, where coordination can break down, and how agencies can prepare for the challenges ahead. Bring your questions: the audience will help shape this practical conversation about strengthening large-scale cruelty response in your community.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

• PACT - People and Animals in Community Together Ellen Taylor, Chief Project Officer; Abigail Appleton, Vice President, Statewide InitiativesOrganization / agency: Charleston Animal Society
  Challenges:Shelter CapacityWorkforce Well-Being & Sustainability

  No single organization can solve the complex challenges facing animal welfare alone. Lasting progress requires intentional partnerships where every organization contributes its strengths and every partner benefits. Together, we can build the workforce, systems, and capacity needed to create healthier communities for people and animals while sustaining and expanding lifesaving efforts. No Kill South Carolina became a reality in 2024. Sustaining that achievement—and building on it—will require a PACT. The Charleston Animal Society team will share its vision for the next chapter of lifesaving collaboration across the Carolinas and beyond through PACT: People & Animals in Community Together. Attendees will learn how partners can align around shared goals, identify what each organization can contribute, and coordinate their efforts. They’ll leave with practical first steps for building or strengthening partnerships in their own communities.

• Beyond Dogs and Cats: Making Room for Nontraditional Species in Shelters Jo Jarred, DVM, Medical DirectorOrganization / agency: Orange County Animal Services
  Challenges:Shelter Capacity

  Rabbits and other animals beyond dogs and cats have care needs that may not fit a shelter’s usual setup. Using the Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) Guidelines for Humane Rabbit Housing in Animal Shelters as a starting point, this session explores species-specific housing, behavior, enrichment, and husbandry. Participants will consider how to adapt existing spaces and resources, identify gaps in care, and make practical changes that better support the animals in their shelters.

• Managing Animal Responses During Disasters: An Interactive Tabletop Discussion NACA Field Services TrackClinton Ganus, Senior Manager, Disaster ResponseOrganization / agency: ASPCA
  Challenges:Complex Field ResponseShelter Capacity

  Animal-related needs can quickly become a significant operational challenge during disasters. From evacuation and emergency sheltering to field rescue, resource shortages, transportation, and reunification, animal response requires coordination across multiple agencies and organizations. This interactive tabletop discussion places participants in an evolving disaster scenario where resources are limited, conditions are changing, and animal-related needs continue to increase. Participants will work through realistic decision points involving responder safety, resource prioritization, field operations, emergency sheltering, transportation, and coordination with Emergency Management and response partners. Rather than focusing on a single agency's procedures, the session encourages Animal Control Officers, animal welfare professionals, and other response partners to examine how their organizations fit into the larger disaster management structure, identify potential gaps in preparedness, and discuss practical strategies for improving coordination before the next incident.

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

• Technology for Animal Control Fieldwork: Drones, Body Cameras and Digital Tools Presented by NACA Organization / agency: NACANACA Field Services Track

  Drones, body-worn cameras, and digital reporting tools offer new possibilities for field operations, along with questions about when and how to use them. This session examines potential benefits, limitations, and implementation considerations for technology in animal control. Participants will consider how to evaluate tools for their agency and use them in ways that are practical, ethical, and useful in the field.

• Special Needs, Special Creativity: Marketing Pets With Challenges Kelly Duer, Senior Shelter Solutions Specialist; Finnegan Dowling, Senior Manager, Shelter EngagementOrganization / agency: Maddies Fund; Mutual Rescue
  Challenges:Shelter Capacity

  Barrier reactive, single pet home only, no kids - we all have those pets that are amazing but difficult to market. Special pets require special marketing. Get them into a home quicker with better bios and social media posts! We’ll show you innovative marketing techniques that get results. Bring a description of your most hard to market pet and your creativity as we show you some great examples and then work through some of your pets together in this high energy, interactive workshop! Attendees will leave armed with new tactics and a refreshed sense of creativity.

• Vaccination in the Real World: Shelter Medicine Beyond the Textbook Jo Jarred, DVM; Anne Mistry, DVM; Sam Zurlinden, DVMOrganization / agency: Orange Co Animal Services; Wake Co Animal Center; Durham County Animal Shelter
  Challenges:Shelter Capacity

  Shelters have more vaccination information and guidelines available than ever, yet preventable mistakes still contribute to disease outbreaks. This talk will review how vaccines work, the role of maternal immunity and boosters, and how long vaccines actually take to provide protection in the real-world shelter environment. We’ll explore how shelter vaccination differs from private practice, including appropriate off-label use and the realities of vaccinating sick animals. We’ll also discuss new neonatal vaccination updates, including rabies vaccination considerations for TNR kittens under 12 weeks of age, and emphasize the critical importance of vaccinating at intake and maintaining proper vaccine storage and handling. Using real-world shelter scenarios, we’ll examine why these seemingly simple decisions matter—and how to translate vaccination guidelines into effective population-level disease prevention.