By TRACEY DRURY
tdrury@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1609

The Family Justice Center of Erie County will expand early next year with a new satellite location in Orchard Park.

The nonprofit organization is partnering with a group of churches in the Southtowns to offer services in a house formerly used as a caretaker's residence at Orchard Park Presbyterian Church.

The site will be staffed three mornings a week to start by a Family Justice Center (FJC) advocate, as well as trained volunteers. Mary Travers Murphy, executive director, says the expansion happened by chance, but fit perfectly with the strategic plan to expand beyond the City of Buffalo and eventually beyond the Erie County border.

"The strategic plan calls for more outreach, but there wasn't a way, really, how to do that," she says.

The Orchard Park pastors came to the FJC in January to inquire about how to provide services in the Southtowns. The pastors, who have met on a regular basis for years, compared notes and realized they were all hearing from congregants with domestic violence issues.

"We are fully aware that potential clients from the suburbs to the north and south are not coming up to Buffalo," Travers Murphy says. "They're fearful of one-way streets and the parking situation - It's just too difficult for them to navigate, in their own minds. So we will be coming to them. We will start in the Southtowns simply because they came to the Family Justice Center and asked."

The satellite will be on the second floor of the building, with the first floor housing a Southtowns Family Center with community-based and human services programs. The planning committee includes several survivors of domestic violence and other community volunteers.

Founded in 2006 with federal funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, the FJC includes partners from 12 area organizations providing an array of services, including housing, legal services, counseling and financial assistance. The idea is to provide one-stop shopping to help women get back on their feet and move on with their lives.

Operating on a budget of about $800,000 and a staff of five, center staff work with representatives from the 12 partner agencies. With 1,000 individuals served in just the first six months of 2010, the organization is on pace to double volume from last year. Travers Murphy wants to see additional satellite sites open in the future.

"We will let the communities drive it. We're hoping what happens in Orchard Park will be the template for other communities," she says.