Well deserved kudos to my wife, Karen. Today the One Place Family Justice Center on Lawrence St downtown was renamed the Brooks Sellers Family Justice Center to honor Ellen Brooks and Karen for their work in bringing the center to fruition. Here is the back story: Karen has been Executive Director of the Family Sunshine Center (FSC) since its inception over 30 years ago. Part of their mission is to help victims of Family Violence by providing them shelter, counseling, protection and helping them escape the cycle of violence in their relationships. As part of this process Karen recognized early on that service coordination, across an array of public agencies, was the key to helping these victims. FSC staff spent countless hours shuttling clients between various agencies, and the victims had to provide the same information at each agency. Karen envisioned a central location where victims could receive all if the services that they needed, victim counseling, police protection, job counseling, legal services, financial assistance, education, child care, housing, etc. She researched similar projects in other cities and then enlisted Ellen Brooks to help champion the effort. Working together, Karen and Ellen navigated funding sources, politics and bureaucracy to make the center a reality. Now victims have a center where they can get the services necessary for them to efficiently improve their situation with dignity.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 03:18:26 +0000
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