Palomar Family Justice Center Set To Open New Facility With MAPS 4 Funding

The Palomar Family Justice Center is getting a brand-new building with the help of MAPS 4 funding.  

The staff at Palomar first pitched the idea to the city back in 2019. This vision is finally becoming a reality three years later after getting $42 million from the MAPS 4 resolution.  

“We’re honored to be selected as a maps 4 project, the building we’re in right now is at capacity. All our officers are full right now with our partners and our community has needs as far as domestic violence and families that have been exposed to trauma,” said Kim Garrett, the Chief Visionary Officer at the Palomar Family Justice Center.  

Garrett said this next step is necessary to stay in sync with the community.  

“We’ve already been able to help over 17,000 unduplicated survivors and their children and we know that the numbers are increasing every year sadly,” she said.  

The new building, set to reside across the street, will be 80,000 square feet, nearly triple the size of their current space.  

“It will have a childcare facility; we will be able to bring in acute medical. A lot of our families have not had appropriate healthcare or come in with physical injuries and things like that so it will be a great resource to have to get that treatment on site without having to go to a hospital,” she said.  

The expansion will also allow them to bring in new partners and a training facility.  

“We feel like for real social change we have got to be able to connect with the community, engage them with panels and classes and trainings and different things like that,” said Garrett.   

The team is already in the design phase of the project and meeting with architects.  

“We’ve just in the last few weeks done focus groups with all of our partner agencies to find out what are your needs, what are your needs going to be in 25 years and really thinking towards the future,” she said.      

They plan to break ground next year and be completely done by 2025.