JACKSONVILLE, Ark. — On Monday morning, the Children's Protection Center and the Jacksonville North Pulaski School District partnered together to bring a facility to help victims of child abuse in the north Pulaski County area.
"It is incredibly exciting today to announce that we're going to be moving into the Jacksonville area with a new center to serve children who have been victims of child abuse We're going to do that much faster than we initially thought," said Jennifer Long, Executive Director of Children's Protection Center.
Long said it was a vision turned into a reality and added that over the years the need to provide resources in the northern part of the county has gotten greater.
"Last year more than 300 children from this area, were involved in a child abuse investigation and they needed services. Children's advocacy centers should be providing services in the communities in which they exist, we should be bringing services to those kids, they deserve it," Long explained.
The entire project to turn what was once an old elementary school in Jacksonville into their new facility costs $1.5 million and so far they've only raised $500,000 which, will cover the first phase. However, they still need more to be able to offer health exams.
"We're going to have full-time forensic interviews, advocacy, and mental health. We will have somewhat of a skeleton crew, but we will be able to serve children 24/7. We are working now to raise a little bit more money so that we can offer medical exams on-site," Long added.
"Not only are we contributing to the actual space, but we're also contributing $250,000 to the construction project because we know how important it is just to our young people alone," said Superintendent of Jacksonville North Pulaski Schools Jeremy Owoh.
Of course, with a project like this, it takes all hands on deck and Owoh said having a facility in closer proximity than in Little Rock helps to slowly close the gap of adding more stress.
"When you think about trauma, those young people in those families have already endured a lot of trauma, and to have to go far from where they live in their community. That adds to the traumatic event and so to be able to be right here north of the river in the community, and serving North Pulaski is definitely going to be a great benefit," Owoh said.
He said it's always an unfortunate situation when you have to report cases of child abuse but knows that having a direct line for educators, victims, and the community will be a game changer in the steps of the healing process.
"People don't realize that the traumatic experience impacts a young person's academic life, social, emotional and mental [health]. So to have these services right here close by is going to really make them be able to receive the services quickly and then be able to be reimbursed and get back to their regular life as much as possible," Owoh said.
Long predicts that CPC will move in and be offering full services by mid-February.