The DA is creating a hub envisioned to give victims everything they need.

Ana is identified only by her first name, and as a mom who lives in Seaside. She is also a victim of domestic violence. And Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni has studied what it would take in practical terms for Ana to get all the services, as a victim of crime, that she might need.

There’s a 31-mile round trip to the Child Advocacy Center at Natividad in Salinas; another trip to Monterey County Superior Court in Salinas to tell her story (yet again); 12 miles round trip to file paperwork at the courthouse in Monterey; another 30-plus miles to the YWCA in Salinas for counseling.

“In all, she has to drive 250 miles to receive basic services,” Pacioni said at a Sept. 22 forum in Salinas. “It’s 430 minutes, or 7.16 hours of travel time alone. By bus, it’s over 21 hours. Ana misses over nine days of work.”

The idea of government and nonprofit agencies creating a one-stop shop for the public is not new, but for the Monterey County DA it is. Pacioni envisions putting all of these various services – probation officers, counselors, spiritual advisers, court staff who can help with restraining orders or divorce paperwork, immigration experts and more – under one roof in King City.

The concept, called a Family Justice Center, sounds intuitive, but at first it wasn’t. For the attorneys who launched the concept in San Diego in 2002, it took some trial and error. Speaking at the Salinas forum, former defense attorney and prosecutor Gael Strack said she remembered a time when officials thought the solution was a pamphlet that listed all relevant resources. Strack said clients would say: “We still can’t figure this out – we need you to be the brochure.”

While what victims are really seeking are the specific services embodied within each realm of expertise – a restraining order, counseling, childcare, new clothes and shoes for a job interview – it doesn’t matter how high-quality the services are if people can’t get to them. And if it’s a hassle, people won’t get to them.

Beyond that, the message Strack and her partner, former prosecutor Casey Gwinn, shared at the forum was that beyond the technical things, a family justice center offers something a little less quantifiable but equally important to overcoming trauma: hope. “Trauma robs people of hope,” Gwinn said. “Hope heals trauma.”

The concept is that by truly supporting victims, it gives them and their children a real chance at getting a footing in this world, and better odds of breaking the cycle of violence that all too often perpetuates generation after generation.

Strack and Gwinn went on to found a nonprofit, Alliance for Hope International, that now helps other communities launch family justice centers. It’s since become an international movement, with hundreds of centers in 43 states and 25 countries.

The American model is for FJCs to serve victims only. In Europe, Gwinn said, family justice centers serve both victims and offenders – you turn left or right upon entering. “We are not ready for that in the United States yet,” he added. “But Europe doesn’t have the guns or the level of violence or the level of lethality we have.”

It’s unknown how many people will utilize the center, but last year in Monterey County there were 2,334 reports of eligible crimes in matters like domestic violence, human trafficking, elder abuse, sex abuse and child physical abuse.

In the immediate future, the DA’s Office will need an estimated $1.5 million to pay for a coordinator plus building upgrades like new flooring, fencing for a private entrance and security cameras. It kicks off with a $220,000 grant from the California Office of Emergency Services.

The rest will likely be left to a public/private partnership, but first the DA’s government office needs to create a nonprofit that can fundraise. To that end, they are in the process of forming a 501(c)(3).

Pacioni envisions someday creating a bigger physical presence, but for now she plans to moved forward and open in King City by January 2023. “There’s no doubt that Salinas needs a Family Justice Center, that the Peninsula needs a Family Justice Center. But right now what I have is a building in South County that is underutilized,” she said. “We are going to start there.”

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Email her at sara@mcweekly.com