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WEST JORDAN — The West Jordan Community Resource Center opened its doors Monday at City Hall in an effort to provide domestic violence outreach.
The center, a project of South Valley Sanctuary, is a partnership between the domestic violence shelter and the city. Its mission is to offer case management and referral services to domestic violence victims and local families.
It is also a resource and referral hub for first responders, clergy, corporations and community support agencies.
“We’ve had a vision. We wanted to come out into the community and help the community more,” said Jennifer Campbell, associate director of South Valley Sanctuary. On Monday, the dream was realized, she said.
The resource center is the first community-based outreach provided by South Valley Sanctuary. Mayors of other south valley communities were invited to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony to learn more about the center and to further explore how the domestic violence shelter might better serve the residents of their cities, Campbell said.
West Jordan Mayor Melissa Johnson said the center is an example of a well-conceived public-private partnership.
In the past, the model for addressing many community issues has been people presenting their needs or concerns to municipal leaders and the cities “would write them a check,” she said.
- 3 out of 4 women and 1 in 4 men will experience intimate partner violence in their lifetime.
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- Over 9,000 crisis calls are placed in Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele Counties alone each year.
- South Valley Sanctuary shelters over 3,000 individuals each year; 50% of these are children.
Then came the economic downturn, which resulted in declines in sales tax revenue, as well as cuts in federal grants.
“We didn’t have the ability to write a check any more, and I think that’s a good thing,” Johnson said.
Instead of duplicating services, a new era of public-private partnerships emerged.
“What we're going to do instead is coordinate services,” she said.
Case manager Valeria Torres, who will staff the center from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, said the center will provide a wide array of help for people who need referrals for services or shelter, as well as providing information to community members and clergy who reach out victims of domestic violence.
“We want to be that bridge. Sometimes, victims of domestic violence just don’t know there are resources out there,” Torres said.
The center is located on the first floor of West Jordan City Hall, 8000 S. Redwood Road.
We want to be that bridge. Sometimes, victims of domestic violence just don't know there are resources out there.
–Valeria Torres, case manager
South Valley Sanctuary offers shelter and supportive services for men, women and children who are domestic violence victims.
Last year, the 57-bed facility served 276 individuals but had to turn away 800 others due to lack of space, Campbell said.
“We didn’t have a place to house them. That’s a figure that haunts us all,” she said.
While outreach may result in more people seeking shelter, it also provides a means to refer people to community-based services that teach relationship and parenting skills, among others. South Valley Sanctuary also operates a 24-hour crisis hotline, 801-255-1095.
Criminally reported domestic violence impacts one in four women and one in seven men, Campbell said. Domestic violence occurs among people of all socioeconomic strata, she said.
For more information about South Valley Sanctuary, visit southvalleysanctuary.com
