Collin County Council on Family Violence Receives Seed Money for Collin County Family Justice Center from Texas Health Resources

Funds First Step Toward Achieving Vision of Serving Victim Needs in a Single Location

Plano, TX—August 6, 2004-The Collin County Council on Family Violence announced today that it has received seed money from Texas Health Resources to help fund the Collin County Family Justice Center.

These initial funds kick off the Council’s efforts to bring a centralized facility to Collin County to address the various needs of family violence victims in one location.

Formed in 1999, the Collin County Council of Family Violence (the Council) strives to eliminate and respond to Family Violence by a coordinated, comprehensive, effective effort, which includes education, prevention, intervention and seamless 24-hour assistance. To meet this objective, the Council envisions forming a facility to house family violence services for residents of rural and underserved communities in Collin County. This facility, named the Collin County Family Justice Center, will administer to the adult and child victims of family violence acts such as spousal abuse, child abuse, elder abuse, date rape, and spousal rape.

“We are so pleased that Texas Health Resources has donated funds to help us achieve the next phase in our collaboration,” said Rebecca Egelston Caso, facilitator for the Council. “Their ongoing, enthusiastic support of the Council is a clear testimony to their commitment to help the Council achieve its goal of eliminating and responding to Family Violence in an effective, coordinated manner.”

The goal of a comprehensive Family Justice Center is to improve access to services for victims and families. Often victims do not seek help because they must travel from location to location to seek services, telling their story over and over to numerous professionals who are scattered throughout the community. The Family Justice Center concept makes a victim’s search for help and justice less burdensome by bringing professionals who provide an array of necessary services together under one roof.

“I participate with various organizations across Texas dedicated to ending family violence,” said Cheri Lee, Texas Health Resources’ director of Family Violence. “Collin County Council on Family Violence is the most advanced group I work with, both with their innovative approaches and their broad-reaching collaborative history. Texas Health Resources is rewarding these efforts with seed money for the next phase of the collaboration, the Collin County Family Justice Center.”

The CCFJC will be the Council’s first attempt at co-locating family violence services on this scale. As such, the Council intends to implement the CCFJC using a phased approach to ensure its success. The Council is pursuing multiple funding avenues, including grants, philanthropic donations, corporate sponsorships and targeted fundraising activities.

About Texas Health Resources

Texas Health Resources is one of the largest faith-based, nonprofit health care delivery systems in the  United States. The system serves more than 5.4 million people living in 29 counties in north central Texas. In 1999, nearly one in five people living in the area was hospitalized in a Texas Health Resources hospital. Texas Health Resources was formed in 1997 with the merger of Fort Worth-based Harris Methodist Health System and Dallas-based Presbyterian Healthcare Resources. Later that year, Arlington Memorial Hospital joined the Texas Health Resources system. Texas Health Resources has 13 acute-care hospitals with 2,405 licensed hospital beds, employs more than 16,800 people and counts more than 3,200 physicians with active staff privileges at its hospitals.

About the Collin County Council on Family Violence