Monarch Justice Center Moves to New Location
By Carlos Villatoro, Public Affairs and Media Officer
Monarch Butterflies are famous for their long migration patterns that span up to 3,000 miles from North America to Mexico each fall. While not as far as its namesake, the Monarch Justice Center has made a journey of its own.
Back in early September, the Monarch Justice Center along with The Courage Center moved from their 3,500 square foot office building in downtown Napa to a 10,000 square foot office in northeast Napa. On October 23, Monarch held its grand opening ceremony to introduce the community to its new facilities.
The new office provides several upgrades for Napa’s family justice center – which is a centralized multiagency facility where victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, elder abuse, human trafficking, and other forms of family violence can obtain necessary services under one roof – said Monarch Justice Center’s Executive Director, Michelle Farhat.
“We gained a learning center, we’ve got a Board room now and the Courage Center has been able to expand in a way that they weren’t able to do downtown,” she said.
With the influx of new office space, the Napa County District Attorney’s Office has increased its presence at Monarch and moved two of its investigators to the new facility along with five members of its Victim Services Division.
Congressman Mike Thompson (center) joins MJC Board
Members for a ribbon cutting ceremony commemorating MJC’s
new location. Photo: Lauren Weitz.
“The other thing we gained is that one of the rooms here is a forensic exam room that SANE-SART manages,” Farhat explained. “We are the first ones in Napa that can have an adult exam room that’s outside of the hospital setting and we also offer a restroom with a shower so if someone did have to come in for an exam, they have the opportunity to get cleaned up and get back together so to speak.”
The search for a new building began in January when the entities received notice that the building that housed their office was sold, Farhat said. To find a new building that met the Courage Center’s accreditation requirements was a top priority Farhat said.
“The Courage Center had to have two exits to be accredited, so identifying a building that had the setup that would hold the Monarch Justice Center and Courage Center, maintaining those accreditation requirements, was challenging. We visited many, many offices in the area and it took us a long time, but we finally landed on this one. It met all the accreditation criteria that we needed. We started looking in January.”
The calm, soothing colors that greeted Monarch Justice Center and Courage Center clients at the previous location have also made their way to the new location along with community partners Napa Valley SANE-SART, News – Domestic Violence & Sexual Abuse Services, and the Napa Police Department. Monarch Justice Center also brought on community partners Molly’s Angels and International Institute of the Bay Area to the new location along with its cadre of existing partners.
