By Allan Brettman | The Oregonian/OregonLive
Originally published on January 11, 2016 at 12:12 PM, updated January 11, 2016 at 2:36 PM
Tanya Richards has a resolution for 2016, and it’s a big one.
By the end of the year, the project director for the Family Justice Center of Washington County wants to open a center that offers comprehensive, one-stop services to domestic-abuse victims and their families.
Richards knows she faces several hurdles to reach that goal, from securing a location to raising private and public money for operations. She believes the goal is in sight. She has spoken to city councils and to county, state and federal officials about the need for a center and its likely budget. She’s also sought the help of corporations in the county, including Nike, and hopes that outreach proves successful.
“This would bring all the services — restraining orders, support, child care, counseling into a huge welcome center,” said Richards, a Beaverton business owner who brings a deeply personal interest to the cause. Her mother was killed by a boyfriend when Richards was 4, in 1962.This is the year Richards and others are channeling their passions into action.
She and the center’s executive team have raised nearly $100,000 in seed money: $15,000 from the Domestic Violence Resource Center of Washington County, $10,000 from Washington County and $3,000 apiece from the the cities of Beaverton and Hillsboro. A fundraiser by Keller Williams Realty reaped $6,000, and the Meyer Memorial Trust Foundation contributed $55,000 to pay Richards’ salary.
On Friday, Richards and executive team members toured a vacant industrial park building at 7395 N.W. Evergreen Parkway, near Northwest Cornelius Pass Road in Hillsboro, that could serve as a site. Richards said other locations will be explored, adding that a central location, possibly in or near Beaverton, would be best. She expects the team to choose a site, probably leased and with at least 25,000 square feet, by the end of February.
And by the end of June, center officials expect to know where the bulk of their operating money will come; that’s when governments enter a new fiscal year. Richards, the point person on seeking money, said officials at all levels have pledged support but haven’t committed to a specific amount.
Clackamas and Multnomah counties have similar centers, and there are more than 95 others in the U.S., according to the Alliance for Hope International, a nonprofit in San Diego that has helped the Washington County effort and others around the country.
On Saturday, Jan. 16, the Beaverton Woman’s Club is holding a Casino Night Fundraiser at the Tualatin Country Club benefiting
five nonprofits, including the Family Justice Center and Monika’s House for Domestic Violence, the county’s 24-bed shelter. Monika’s House is expected to continue operating because the Family Justice Center won’t have shelter beds.
Richards said she is also tapping local businesses, large and small, in the county.
“We don’t need all $700,000 to step in the door,” she said of the anticipated annual operating budget.
Raising that cash and opening by the end of the year is “a very aggressive timeline,” said Hillsboro Police Chief Lee Dobrowolski, the center’s board chairman. “But I will tell you. Tanya is the perpetual optimist.”
Plans call for services at the center to include day care, food, law enforcement, safety planning, counseling for adults and children, health care, legal assistance, culturally specific advocates, access to the district attorney’s office, court access via video, housing assistance, clothing and transportation services.
Dobrowolski often accompanies Richards at public events, promoting the need for the Family Justice Center. The chief, who’s served in Hillsboro for about two years, saw the effectiveness of a similar center in Salt Lake City when he was the assistant police chief there.
Shortly after arriving in Hillsboro, Dobrowolski said, “I thought we could do a better job in the area of domestic violence. When you have a family justice center, you have better follow-through on the part of victims, by the prosecutors, by law enforcement.”
The center will help make sure this happens by consolidating services in one location, advocates said. Victims of abuse often lack transportation or child care.
“We have people who will guide them through the process,” Dobrowolski said. “People get intimidated because they’re already traumatized by their circumstances, and they can be doubly affected by navigating the justice system.”
Richards wishes a center had been around in her childhood.
Richards’ mother was beaten to death by her boyfriend in 1962 in Alabama. Richards didn’t witness the attack but had seen her mother beaten on other occasions. She remembers her mother’s black eyes.
The Family Justice Center offers Richards a chance to honor her mother’s memory.
“We’re trying to save children from the violence they see,” Richards said, “and remove them from that situation.”
–Allan Brettman|
abrettman@oregonian.com
503-294-5900
@allanbrettman
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