Pima Family Advocacy Center opens to serve domestic violence survivors

For Tucson residents dealing with domestic violence, sexual assault or related crimes, help is now available in one location instead of being scattered across the city. The Pima Family Advocacy Center has opened near Tucson Boulevard and Broadway, creating a centralized place where survivors can seek counseling, legal assistance, protective orders, victim advocacy and law enforcement support. The center is currently open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Its opening follows eight years of collaboration among law enforcement, government agencies, health care providers and nonprofits across Pima County.

The center brings together 15 nonprofit organizations, along with representatives from agencies including the Tucson Police Department, the Pima County Sheriff’s Department and the Pima County Attorney’s Office. Services include trauma therapy, help with protective orders, divorce and family law assistance, advice from attorneys and support from victim advocates. The goal is to let survivors address several urgent needs during one visit, rather than repeatedly explaining their circumstances and traveling between offices across Tucson.

Joseph Ricks, the center’s executive director, said the concept grew from his experience as a prosecutor. He became frustrated by being able to offer victims little more than a list of phone numbers and instructions to contact numerous agencies. The new facility is intended to replace that fragmented process with a single, secure setting where survivors can talk with law enforcement, receive counseling, obtain legal guidance and begin working toward safety. The center’s organizers say the approach is designed around the reality that reaching out for help can be difficult, particularly for someone still living in an abusive relationship.

Tucson Police Department Lt. Zach Barghout of the Special Victims Section said putting the different resources together can reduce the obstacles survivors face when they decide to seek assistance. The center’s low key environment is intended to help people feel comfortable enough to disclose what they need without navigating multiple unfamiliar offices. Barghout said simply getting through the door can be a major accomplishment for someone who is unsure about leaving an abusive situation. Once inside, that person can encounter support services in one place instead of being sent from agency to agency.

The need is substantial. The Pima Family Advocacy Center says the county receives more than 15,000 domestic violence calls each year. Those calls involve survivors, families and children who can be affected by an abusive relationship even when they are not the direct target of violence. Pima County Attorney Laura Conover described domestic violence as a cycle, saying that interrupting it can benefit the survivor as well as relatives and children. She characterized the center’s potential effect as extending beyond the people who walk in, because helping one family can influence the safety and well being of others connected to it.

Conover said Pima County officials examined comparable facilities in California and Texas while developing the center. Information from those programs helped shape a model that emphasizes prevention and underlying causes, rather than concentrating only on prosecution after violence has occurred. In that view, connecting people with therapy, legal assistance, advocacy and other support can reduce the likelihood that cases will continue or escalate. Conover said meeting people where they are is part of public safety, and that preventive work could eventually reduce the number of domestic violence cases requiring prosecution.

The center’s creation also reflects an effort to strengthen cooperation among organizations that have traditionally served survivors separately. Law enforcement can help with reports and immediate safety concerns, while attorneys can address protective orders, divorce or family law issues. Health care and nonprofit providers can offer counseling, advocacy and other assistance. By housing those functions together, officials hope survivors will have a clearer path through decisions that can otherwise be overwhelming. The arrangement also gives participating agencies a shared setting for coordinating their responses.

Ricks said the work would be worthwhile even if the center helped only one person leave an abusive relationship or prevented one homicide. That focus places individual safety at the heart of the project, rather than measuring its value only by the number of people served. Officials say the facility is a long term investment in survivors and in the broader Tucson community, where domestic violence can affect households, children, neighbors and first responders.

For now, survivors can visit during the center’s weekday business hours. Officials hope to expand operations to round the clock service, which would make assistance available outside the current schedule and could be especially important during emergencies. The center is also raising money for an additional medical wing. As that work continues, the opening provides Tucson and Pima County with a new central access point for people seeking safety, legal protection, healing and a way to break away from abuse.