How Charlotte’s new Umbrella Center will prevent more trauma for abuse survivors
Safe Alliance President and CEO Laura Lawrence posed a scenario: Suppose someone just experienced the “worst thing that ever happened” in their life such as domestic violence or sexual assault.
Then, they’d go to nine different places, fill out 37 pieces of paperwork and repeat the story 27 times. It’d be just the start of putting their life back together.
A new project aims to cut down the fatigue, helping survivors of some especially traumatizing crimes, law enforcement and prosecutors alike.
The Umbrella Center will streamline services for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, elder abuse and human trafficking. Police, prosecutors, community groups and others will all be housed under one “umbrella.” They will work out of the center on Albemarle Road and collaborate.
The county put $10 million into the project, and the city contributed $5 million, Lawrence said. There’s already a space for the Umbrella Center on Albemarle Road, where renovations are planned to an existing building. Private groups, including the David and Nicole Tepper Foundation, have pitched in, too.
It’s scheduled to open in late 2025, Lawrence said.
Under the new model, a survivor will walk through the doors and meet a “navigator.” They’ll be able to get a domestic violence protective order with the help of Safe Alliance’s lawyers. While they’re waiting, they can meet with the Department of Social Services for some financial help. Grassroots and faith groups will be on standby for support. Other services will be within easy reach.
It’s not a new idea. Family justice centers have popped up around the country since the early 2000s, and experts say that — when the right partners participate — they’re a good way to wrap a victim in services and protection sooner.
The centers already exist in places like Greensboro, Asheville and Burlington.
In Asheville, 97% of “survey respondents indicated that they had a plan to keep themselves safe and they knew what to do if they were in danger” after meeting with staff at a family justice center, according to a 2018 report. And 85% said that their fear and anxiety went down.
“It’s one location, it’s one address, one phone call that connects you with everybody,” said Capt. James Ivie with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s special victims division.
Police who work domestic violence, sexual assault cases
Officers in Ivie’s division will do much of their work out of the Umbrella Center, alongside prosecutors with the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office, and others, Lawrence said.
“CMPD being here is the reason this is a family justice center,” she said. “If they weren’t here, it’d just be a collaborative model.”
For the special victims division’s officers, the Umbrella Center will make the job easier, Ivie said. Detectives in that division already walk a delicate tightrope, trying to balance victims’ needs with public safety. They do more than police work these days, often acting as social workers.
The first person a victim talks to is usually a cop, Ivie noted.
Now, the job of helping a survivor will be different. Police already work with groups that will work within the Umbrella Center. But soon they’ll be able to compare notes more often and have more immediate access to each other.
“When a survivor comes through the doors, they’re able to speak to us about their criminal case,” Ivie said. “And then immediately we can provide them contacts under the same roof so that they’re wrapped in services that they need to get through the difficult situation that they’re going through.”
Safe Alliance is acting as the administrative lead for the Umbrella Center.
This story was originally published December 29, 2023 at 6:00 AM.