Pat’s Place faces funding woes even as it celebrates 20 years in Charlotte
When Andrew Oliver took over as the Pat’s Place chief executive officer 10 years ago, someone told him it was Charlotte’s best-kept secret.
He’s not sure that’s a good thing.
Pat’s Place has been helping some of Mecklenburg County’s most vulnerable and mistreated children for two decades. Now, after a major funding shortfall, the nonprofit is looking to reintroduce itself to the county.
Federal funding has dropped over the last several years, Oliver said, meaning the nonprofit — and the children it helps — will need to rely more on private givers.
What Pat’s Place does
Pat’s Place is a children’s advocacy center, somewhere kids can get help when they have been hurt by “the most severe forms of violence and abuse,” Oliver said.
That includes children who witnessed a homicide or were sexually abused or trafficked, among other things.
“The idea is that we provide all of the services kids and families need to heal and move forward and address the immediate crisis and beyond,” the CEO said.
Child abuse experts interview children on behalf of police and prosecutors. Children get medical examinations in a place where they feel safe. Advocates help families work through the labyrinthine court system, file for victim compensation and more.
“I’m not sure that our community has the best understanding of just how critical Pat’s Place has been over the last 20 years in keeping our children safe and whole,” District Attorney Spencer Merriweather told The Charlotte Observer in a message.
The forensic interviews they do allow his staff to hold predators and abusers accountable without retraumatizing children, he said. Through the nonprofit’s experts, the “often painful and unvarnished truth” comes out, Merriweather said.
But funding has been a challenge for years now, Oliver said. Money guaranteed by the 1984 Victims of Crime Act is drying up, forcing staff to take on more work with fewer people.
Crime victims fund comes up short
That law created a Crime Victims Fund. The fund is unique; taxpayers don’t contribute to it. Instead, fines and penalties from federal criminal cases go into it. Eventually, those dollars reach nonprofits like Pat’s Place.
There’s just one problem: The money has been steadily declining since 2018.
Pat’s Place has since lost 66 percent of its noncompetitive funding, Oliver said.
“That’s funding we get by just existing as a children’s advocacy center,” he explained. “That money has declined.”
State funding helped offset those cuts for a time. Now, that too has “all but gone away,” he said.
In total, more than $1 million in federal and state money has been lost over the last four years, according to a news release.
As the national problem reaches Charlotte, federal grant cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration have left the wider nonprofit world scrambling.
While those cuts have not touched Pat’s Place directly, Oliver said, they have made competition for remaining grants stiffer.
When someone leaves — a therapist or a supervisor, for example — Pat’s Place often chooses not to backfill. Seven people in “core positions” have left and not been replaced in the last year and a half.
“We have to rely more on our friends and neighbors to fund what should be the work of government,” he said.
More on the horizon
Even as funding troubles mount, there are reasons to be optimistic.
Last year, the nonprofit opened a therapy office in west Charlotte. Next year, they will witness the long-awaited opening of the Umbrella Center, a project they spearheaded with Safe Alliance.
That center will help the children they see and streamline more services for them, as well as other crime victims. Pat’s Place will move into the building.
Oliver, Merriweather, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings and others will celebrate 20 years of Pat’s Place at a private party this week. It will be a chance to give tours and remind people what is done at 901 East Boulevard.
Turning 20 is no small thing, Communications Director Lori Avery said.
“For us, it’s important to acknowledge the milestone,” she said.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.