The Willow Domestic Violence Center is set to officially open its family justice center on Tuesday.
The new facility at Skyview on the Ridge, formerly the site of the Irondequoit mall, is a major milestone in centralizing services for survivors of domestic violence, officials said. The site will feature an array of in-house services, including representatives from the Greece and Rochester police departments, the Monroe County District Attorney's Office, the city's Crisis Intervention Services Unit, a medical examination room, and a slew of other services. The 14,000-square-foot office also will house the organization's hotline service.
Meaghan de Chateauvieux is president of Willow. She described the center as streamlining the process of seeking help, and doing so in a safe environment.
"When you're talking about survivors and their children, it's not just like, 'Oh, it's hard for me to get on a bus and get from here to there,'" she said. "While you're in transit, you are at risk. If you've got someone actively after you, who knows where you and the kids are going to be, and you have to get yourself from here to here to here to here, to St. Paul to the Hall of Justice to Willow. There's so many barriers to whatever we're facing."
Family justice centers are often described as one-stop shops for people fleeing domestic violence, human trafficking, or other forms of gender-based abuse. The first opened in 2002 in San Diego and has since been adopted by cities across the country, including Buffalo and every borough of New York City.
Studies have suggested the family justice center model can help reduce the number of domestic violence related homicides, as well as result in better outcomes for survivors seeking services.
Willow has its administrative offices on East Avenue, but that location offers few services on site beyond connecting a survivor with an advocate to help them navigate legal and financial processes. De Chateauvieux described that process as "awkward and not efficient."
"I think being able to have this space is going to be a game changer for survivors in our community," she said.
The idea for the facility was floated in the 1990s, but placed on hold for years until the COVID-19 pandemic. That led to the American Rescue Plan Act, which, in 2022, provided an injection of $1.5 million for the project.
The center itself is a highly secured environment. About 60 cameras surveil the property, and half-inch-thick bulletproof glass has been installed in public-facing areas of the facility.
Those are necessary measures for a sensitive location with a published address, de Chateauvieux said. Unlike the location of Willow’s shelter for women and children fleeing domestic violence, which is kept confidential.
Monroe County sees about two-and-a-half times more emergency calls per year related to domestic violence than the state average. That statistic was reaffirmed in Willow’s latest report on domestic violence rates. Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of last year, 37,354 calls were made to 911 regarding domestic disputes, and 4,481 reports of domestic violence were made.
de Chateauvieux said it's difficult to predict how many clients the family justice center will see in a given year.
"When we open our doors to the public, to walk-ins, we could be here all day, and one person might walk in, or we could have 100. We have no idea," she said. "We're prepared for anything."
