Family Justice Center is a reality
Grand opening ceremony will be held July 9
District Attorney General Dave Clark, Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank, and Executive Director of the Anderson County Family Justice Center, Melissa Miller, announce the “Grand Opening Celebration” of the Anderson County Family Justice Center on July 9.
A Family Justice Center is a safe place as well as an organization that provides free and confidential services to victims of family violence, sexual assault and exploitation, and elder abuse by coordinating service providers in one location.
It makes it easier for someone to flee the victimization, begin again with the necessary supports in place to be successful, and to help ensure that offenders are held accountable whenever possible.
The Anderson County Family Justice Center works in partnership with the District Attorney’s Office, YWCA Knoxville, TN Valley Legal Aid, all municipal police departments in Anderson County, the Sheriff’s Office, as well as mental health service providers, like Ridgeview Behavioral Health, The McNabb Center, and Omni Community Health.
Key members of staff on site daily will include, but are not limited to: a victim witness coordinator, advocates, ADAs, and a detective from the Sheriff’s Office.
Many others will be available by appointment.
In total. the Anderson County Family Justice Center has more than 19 partner organizations with more anticipated in the future.
A victim can stop by the FJC from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday with or without an appointment.
Some of the many services include being able to file a police report, make safety plan, participate in a lethality assessment, connect to an advocate from the YWCA, speak with a Victim Witness Coordinator from the DA’s Office, speak with an attorney, gain assistance in requesting an order of protection, seek assistance with housing, and even have access to resume writing.
The goal is to surround a victim with support and services so that the individual is able to successfully leave a harmful situation and never have to return again because of the support received from the FJC partners.
Grant funding was initially awarded to the District Attorney Clark’s office in 2019 to study the need for an FJC in Anderson County.
FJC Director Melissa Miller was hired at that time. Since then, the Anderson County Family Justice Center has been awarded two more grants. These grants are being administered and supported by Anderson County government and County Mayor Terry Frank, both of which have been noteworthy supporters of the FJC since its inception.
Mayor Frank said, “Anderson County is blessed with long-serving and collaborative specialized services in our community, from trained advocates to law enforcement and prosecutors. I am so excited to see the next step in providing services to victims and reducing violence by the establishment of a unified Family Justice Center.
“I am so appreciative of [District Attorney] Dave Clark and FJC Executive Director Melissa Miller for spearheading this effort. Their boots on the ground commitment and dedicated, hard work creating a coordinated, centralized system and facility will continue to advance our community for years to come.”
There are a total of 13 FJCs in Tennessee, the final four of which were funded in July 2019, with Anderson County being one of these four.
“I am thrilled that Anderson County has a Family Justice Center,” Miller said. “Justice centers provide much-needed resources that make all communities safer and stronger.
“The highlight of these first phases of the work has been watching the community come together to support the mission, the staff, the partners, and the victims that the FJC will serve,” she said. “The collaboration has gone beyond partners on and off-site. I’ve experienced a truly moving amount of community support as we head towards our grand opening, from businesses, both big and small, to local officials, schools, friends, police officers, and people simply passing by on the street near the building. All talk about how needed and welcome this resource is. The FJC is truly a collaboration of support and services from the community.”
The center is at 301 Broadway Ave., Oak Ridge, in a building owned by ORNL Federal Credit Union.
Credit union President Colin Anderson said, “The ORNL Federal Credit Union was introduced to the Anderson County Family Justice Center (and Executive Director, Melissa Miller) in 2020 and we immediately found common ground. The ACFJC was looking for space to start operations in Oak Ridge and the credit union had space available in a recently vacated building. We were thrilled to find a way to support the ACFJC and bring these important services to the community. Since then, we’ve worked closely with Melissa on plans to further improve the building and support the ACFJC mission.
“This has been a mutually beneficial relationship.”
The credit union underwrote improvements to make the space more conducive to the needs of the FJC.