Knoxville Receives Grant For Family Justice Center

A $1 million federal grant will be used to create a Family Justice Center in Knoxville that will serve as a one-stop resource center for victims of family violence.

In many communities, victims of family violence seek help in a fragmented, disjointed system of separate agencies offering related but uncoordinated services. Victims often must travel to several different places to get help, telling their stories many times to different people. In the end, victims get frustrated exacerbating the trauma and may never actually receive the critical services they need.

The Family Justice Center will address this problem by providing comprehensive services for family violence victims at one location, including medical care, counseling, law enforcement assistance, advocacy, social services, employment assistance, and housing assistance.

The United States Department of Justice is partnering with local communities to help them create the centers. However, the backbone of the centers will be local citizens through the dedicated efforts of community leaders, nonprofit agencies, corporate partners, government agencies, chaplains, and caring volunteers. Geographically co-located services will create efficiencies for service providers, empower victims, and help law enforcement professionals hold the abusers accountable for their criminal conduct.

In Knoxville’s situation, 63 local government and non-profit agencies have partnered to create the center, which is designed to make a victim’s search for help and justice more effective by co-locating professionals who provide an array of services together under one roof.

The Knoxville Police Department coordinated the agencies participation and submitted the successful grant proposal to the U.S. Department of Justice. Originally there had been over 400 letters of intent from different communities for the grant. Only fifteen communities across the United States were chosen to receive the grant. The three communities selected in the Southeast are Tampa, FL; Monroe, LA; and Knoxville, TN.

"The collaboration and cooperation to create this resource center is unprecedented," Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam said. "The Family Justice Center will make a difference to women and children who are victimized by domestic violence by allowing them to find the help they need in one place."

Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale said, "This effort demonstrates a multitude of agencies desire to help women and children in the most compassionate and effective way…Whether it's obtaining a protection order, talking to a crisis counselor or finding  shelter, the Family Justice Center will enable women to get the help they need for themselves and their children."

"Today's announcement is evidence of the good that comes from law enforcement agencies partnering with community groups to help stop the cycle of domestic violence," Knoxville Police Chief Keith said.

"With everything located in one place, we can make a huge difference. A victim won’t have to take off five days of work; it's really going to remove the barriers victims have in their paths," reported Angela Hill, Program Manager of the Knoxville Police Department’s Domestic Violence Unit and main author of the grant application. As Director of the Christian Women’s Job Corps, Eva Pierce stated, "We had one lady in a support group say, 'If this center had been in existence, I would have left five years sooner and my son wouldn't have had to witness all those years of abuse.