Gulf Coast Center for Nonviolence holds planning event for Family Justice Center

A two-day event to discuss plans for a Family Justice Center here on the Coast started earlier today.

It would be the first center of its kind in Mississippi. This strategic planning event took place today at the Biloxi Visitors Center.

It is hosted by the Gulf Coast Center for Nonviolence to allow for public input on services the center should provide.

The center would allow victims of interpersonal violence on the Coast to receive crisis and support services in one place rather than needing to visit multiple agencies to seek help. Gulf Coast Center for Nonviolence CEO Stacy Riley said, “This will essentially be a coordinated community response team under one roof. And we all work together to make it easier for survivors of violence to get services.”

Ken Shetter with Alliance for Hope International said, “It’s a game changer. I think it is going to transform the way victims and survivors and their children are served not only on the Gulf Coast but ultimately throughout the state of Mississippi because they are going to build the model and show the rest of the state the right way to serve survivors. And then I think this is it’s going to spread across the state.”

Riley says she expects some form of a Family Justice Center to be in operation by this year.