LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It's a project that has been in the works for quite some time, and now everything is starting to come together.
Women and Children First, a Little Rock nonprofit, held a groundbreaking Wednesday morning to welcome the new Forest of Hope Family Peace Center, which will be completed by 2026.
Executive Director Angela McGraw said the current shelter has 54 beds, and this new project will provide plenty more, including life-changing resources.
"We are building a shelter which will have 132 beds," McGraw said. "There'll be 44 rooms, and on top of that, we'll have co-located agencies underneath one building, which is the Forest of Hope Family Peace Center."
Offering resources like healthcare and legal advice, McGraw said the project was made possible by the $12 million received in January, which has grown to a total of $17 million since then.
"Initially, we had a $4 million challenge grant through Wind Gate Foundation," McGraw said. "That set the tone, along with three HUD grants we applied for."
McGraw said having all these resources available under one facility will also make it easier on the victim, whose life is left where they came from.
"I'm talking social security card, birth certificate ID, doctor's office, order of protection," McGraw said. "There's just several things that people have to go through, and it can be overwhelming, especially if they have no transportation."
McGraw calls this transition a game changer for community survivors, including Valerie Williams, who knows firsthand.
"I grew up in a very domestic violence household," Williams said. "My father was diagnosed with mental conditions along with drug addiction and was very abusive towards my mother."
Williams said growing up in an abusive household forced her to grow up sooner than she wanted.
"I had to learn how to be an adult to raise my brother and sister because my mother was so caught up in what was going on with my dad, out of force, not by choice," Williams said. "Because of that, I made choices in my life that created me, made me a statistic myself."
However, she said things have a way of making a full circle moment, as she now works as an advocate for the Voices of Hope committee, sharing her story and helping survivors.
"You wonder, growing up, why am I in this situation? What purpose do I have? There's a lack of hope," Williams said. "There are no thoughts of the future, and this could bring hope and thoughts of great futures for the youth, which is just amazing."
Phase one of construction started the week of Oct. 6.