There are moments in life that define an organization or a community.  There are moments that become key turning points in wars, in crises, and social change movements.  There are moments when you know that something is a priority for a community and always will be a priority.

Yesterday was one of those moments.  It did not make national news.  It was not noticed by many.  But it was a powerful, important event in the history of family violence prevention, co-located services, coordinated community responses, and Family Justice Centers.  The names involved are not names that many in the national domestic violence movement know.  Marti Emerald, Todd Gloria, Sherri Lightner, Kevin Faulconer, Tony Young, Carl Demaio, Ben Hueso, Jerry Sanders, Jim Barwick, Tim Moore, Rick Gentry, Carrol Vaughan, Steve Snyder, Dan Turpin, Chuck Christenson, Maria Velasquez, Guy Swanger, Lori Luhnow, Brenda Lugo, Yvonne Coiner, Mehry Mohseni, and Verna Griffin Tabor all played roles in a profound moment in the history of the Family Justice Center movement yesterday.

With little fanfare, the San Diego City Council voted to commit over $6,000,000 over the next 10 years to ensure a permanent home for the San Diego Family Justice Center in a city-owned building just a few blocks from the existing Center.  In a terrible economy, with major financial issues facing the City, with opposition from the current landlord for the Center, the San Diego City Council endorsed the vision for agencies to work together, coordinate their services under one roof, and meet the needs of victims of domestic violence and their children in a beautiful, new Class A office space.

It was a defining moment.  It was a key turning point.  The founding Center in an international movement had a couple tough years after its high profile beginning and early history.  It is no secret that after Gael Strack’s departure as Director in 2008, the Center struggled through weak leadership, poor relationships, changing philosophy, and declining partner support.  We battled over how to reverse the decline.  I proposed moving the Center to the YWCA, which helped launch the first domestic violence program in the County in 1977.  Others opposed this approach.  The Mayor initially supported it but later changed his mind based on difficult financial issues facing the City.  The future of the San Diego Family Justice Center, the founding Center, and original national model for a movement was in jeopardy.  The public questioned whether the Center would continue, donations dropped, and clients coming to the Center declined.  We were seeing Centers created across the country and around the world based on San Diego’s example and yet the San Diego Family Justice Center was struggling.

But San Diego Police Chief Bill Lansdowne, a powerful supporter of the concept of co-location and a faithful ally of the Center from the inception, stepped forward and proposed that the Police Department take over the role of lead agency.  The Chief made clear that stopping domestic violence is a major public safety priority and that the Center must evolve and thrive in order to meet the needs of victims and their children.  Though the decision by the Chief was not major public news last year, it was a key turning point.  The Chief brought in Captain Guy Swanger, a dynamic, strong leader, to begin to turn the Center around.  Soon, Captain Swanger named Lt. Lori Luhnow as the new Director.  Lt. Luhnow is a gifted leader and dedicated, articulate supporter of co-located services and community collaboration.  She is a relationship person with an ability to connect with people and organizations.  Partner agencies began to return, clients began to return, financial support from the public began to increase, and the Center’s local public profile began to rise.  The Chief asked Gael and me to support his leadership and help Lt. Luhnow and her team to rebuild the service delivery model and restore the Center to its original effectiveness.  We assisted in every way we could.  The journey has been slow but steady as the San Diego Family Justice Center has re-invented itself.

But yesterday, was an even more important defining moment.  Based on the advocacy of the Chief, Capt. Swanger, and Lt. Luhnow, and the support of the Mayor, the opportunity came to identify a permanent home for the Center that had operated for eight years out of rented office space in a downtown high rise building.  The groundwork had been laid by the San Diego FJC VOICES Committee, a courageous group of survivors that have been coming to the San Diego City Council week after week, month after month, advocating for the importance of the Family Justice Center.  After a thorough analysis of the options, and in consultation with the National Family Justice Center Alliance and the partner agencies at the Center, the City decided to propose moving the Center two blocks to the ‘Smart Corner’ building which houses the San Diego Housing Commission.  The building sits directly on a bus and trolley line.  The CEO of the Housing Commission, Rick Gentry, advocated for the move, envisioning a tremendous opportunity for partnership between the Housing Commission and the San Diego Family Justice Center.  Affordable housing is one of the most pressing needs for survivors. The Smart Corner building sits across the street from the YWCA of San Diego County where renovations have begun in the historic building that launched the first domestic violence shelter in San Diego including a beautiful gymnasium and pool.  It was a profound moment for many of us. 

In 1987, in the YWCA conference room less than 200 feet from where the Smart Corner building now sits, Ashley Walker, the founder of Battered Women’s Services, and I sat with a small group of dreamers talking about the vision for one day co-locating services of all our agencies together so that victims could come one place for most of what they needed.  In 1989, we put the proposal in writing and finally saw the vision for the Family Justice Center become a reality in 2002.

Yesterday, it all came full circle.  The big dream in 1987 led to our creation of the San Diego County Task Force on Domestic Violence.  The task force led to the creation of specialized Domestic Violence Units in the City Attorney’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office, the Probation Department, and the Sheriff’s Department.  The task force also produced coordinated community response protocols and policies that created consistent responses among public and private agencies in responding to domestic violence.  The task force led to the creation of the San Diego Domestic Violence Council in 1991.  The task force and the Council supported our fledgling efforts at co-location in the City Attorney’s Office as we began bringing in staff from shelters, Children’s Hospital, and the Police Department in 1990-1992.  This small committed, collaborative team eventually grew to become the 27 agency-strong San Diego Family Justice Center in 2002.  And yesterday, the San Diego City Council voted to move the Center to its new permanent home just feet away from where we first dreamed of such a Center sitting in the conference room of the YWCA.

So, we celebrate in San Diego.  We are humbled and honored by the journey we have experienced.  We are still together.  We are still determined to model how maintain a coordinated community response, how to address challenges and setbacks, and how to rally our leaders and partners to overcome them in order to best serve victims of domestic violence and their children.  We honor those who cast their key votes yesterday and made such a public statement about their commitment to public safety and their compassion for hurting families.  No single non-profit organization, or shelter, or social service entity would ever get a commitment of $6,000,000 from local government for their own program, particularly in these difficult financial times.  But the Family Justice Center vision, with the support of still nearly 27 on and offsite partner agencies did get that commitment.  Gael Strack calls it the ‘power of we.’  Together, we made the pie bigger.  Together, we advocated for that defining moment.  Together, we saw our dream re-invent itself and keep moving forward.  The San Diego Family Justice Center has already saved lives.  Now, it is poised to save more lives for years to come.  Many will not notice what happened yesterday.  Some won’t care.  But I and many others will always be grateful that on March 2, 2010, the vision and work of the San Diego Family Justice Center was reaffirmed in a City where, no matter the challenges, the obstacles, and the setbacks, our priority to meet the needs of victims of domestic violence and their children will always be a priority.