DeKALB – Safe Passage, the only domestic prevention and survivor advocacy center in DeKalb County, still is looking to chart a course for itself whereby it may continue to work toward investing in infrastructure for a new building.
The agency has for years identified that a new shelter is warranted given inadequate spacing provided by their facility in DeKalb.
“It’s a 110-year-old-plus house,” Safe Passage executive director Mary Ellen Schaid said. “It’s too small. We only have five rooms for people to stay in, so usually that means we have two sets of bunk beds in each room. It’s too crowded. There’s no privacy. It’s not an optimally healing environment.”
Back in June 2021, the DeKalb City Council approved the final development plan for Safe Passage’s new building, 217 Franklin Street, DeKalb.
Construction on this project was planned to start by the year’s end at the time, but things didn’t go according to plan.
Shelter leaders said the organization is still fundraising to help support the relocation plan.
Under the plan previously approved by the City Council, the new building will consist of an emergency shelter, counseling services, administrative offices and an outdoor playground.
Shelter leaders would like to have around 45 rooms to accommodate clients in their new building once it’s built.
Safe Passage occupies six buildings in DeKalb and is comprised of five homes and one apartment building.
The maximum number of people, including children, the existing shelter can accommodate is 28, shelter leaders said.
“We have more people coming in than we can provide a room for,” Schaid said. “And then we would not like to have more than two people per room.”
The project, which would bring on line the construction of a new building for Safe Passage, comes with a $10 million price tag, shelter leaders said.
Christine Kalina, development director for Safe Passage, negated the concern that the project may carry too much weight for the agency.
“I don’t think we’re big dreamers,” Kalina said. “This has nothing to do with being a big dream. Our city officials have said this is a necessity to have in this community otherwise they wouldn’t have approved our plans in the first place.”
Schaid said it’s clear that the need for the agency’s services has grown over the past 40 years since the shelter first opened its doors to the community.
“I think it’s increased because there’s more awareness of domestic violence and sexual assault,” Schaid said. “There’s been the #MeToo movement. There’s been a lot more publicity I guess. I think that is what primarily contributes to the increase. But sometimes people are still afraid to reach out. So, that’s also our work that we want to try to make sure that everybody who needs some help gets it.”
Kalina emphasized the role that Safe Passage plays in bettering the community and said the new building would be a win-win for everyone.
“We are a unique entity in social services asking for this amount of money but it’s not for us, it’s for our community,” she said. “Just like any other infrastructure that needs to be done out there whether it’s bridges, the roads, we’re an infrastructure that needs to be redone.”