The NC Family Justice Center and Collaborative Communities Conference is a training/learning opportunity for those interested in improving access to services for survivors and offender accountability. Law enforcement, prosecutors, advocates, civil legal attorneys, survivors, medical staff, elected officials, and community leaders are recommended to attend. The conference includes presentations led by locally and nationally recognized speakers. These presentations are intended to provide the audience with the best practices and innovative solutions to refine victim services and improve offender accountability. Other agencies can learn about different program services other organizations offer and the benefits of them.
Safe Alliance was initially an attendee when the Guilford Family Justice Center Conferences began back in 2018. After attending, Safe Alliance was inspired by the Guilford Family Justice Center and decided to commit to having a Family Justice Center. In 2019 Safe Alliance began cohosting the conference with Guilford Family Justice Center. The collaboration and partnership of both agencies is intended to make family justice centers a reality.
The Guilford Family Justice Center became a "big sister" to our Umbrella Center Journey. They helped give us practices and guidelines for creating a family justice center in Mecklenburg County. We were able to learn about what did not work for them, what worked for them, and discover specific community needs. While every year the conference has a different theme, the overarching idea is that these practices and services are survivor driven. The Survivor Resource Center (SRC), the precursor to the Umbrella Center, has helped us identify and discover agencies that will fill gaps in services at the Umbrella Center.
Learning from the Guilford Family Justice Center has allowed us to build stronger relationships, learn how to communicate, deal with confidentiality issues, and how to handle this on a bigger scale as a multi-center agency collaboration. Jamie Sellers, Chief Strategy Officer, notes "The best takeaway from the conferences other than teamwork and collaboration is learning from others mistakes and discovering the best practices." One of the practices the SRC acquired from the Guilford Family Justice Center was the High-Risk Team. Through trial and error, we learned that for the high-risk teams to achieve their full potential, the meetings must be staffed within 24-72 hours. We also have adopted the Guilford Family Justice Center's survivor driven mentality as the board for the SRC has some representatives that are survivors. Ultimately all the best practices for client service and data collection are nothing without survivor input.
The 6th Annual NC Family Justice Center Conference will be held in Greensboro, NC on November 13th-14th and will be hosted by the Guilford Family Justice Center and Safe Alliance. Register today at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nc-family-justice-center-and-collaborative-communities-conference-2024-tickets-912773248357
Learn more about the conference's agenda and speakers here: https://www.guilfordcountync.gov/our-county/family-justice-center/2024-north-carolina-family-justice-center-and-collaborative-communities-conference
