Denton County Friends of the Family Is Building Our First Family Justice Center
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, but this year at Denton County Friends of the Family, we want to use it to talk about more than awareness…
We want to talk about what comes next.
Survivors of domestic violence already face an extraordinarily difficult journey.
Our job is not to ask them to navigate it better.
Our job is to build a better path.
That’s what Expedition Hope is all about.
The Path Survivors Walk Today
Right now, survivors are forced to navigate numerous systems that rarely talk to each other.
Shelter is in one place.
Counseling is across town.
Legal help is somewhere else.
Medical care, childcare, housing support, and court dates each come with their own address, their own paperwork, and their own waiting room.
At every stop, survivors retell their stories.
Again and again, they explain what happened, reliving it each time, just to get the help they need.
And at countless points along the way, they run into barriers that can feel insurmountable:
- No one to watch the kids during a job interview
- Nowhere safe to take a beloved pet
- No way to get to a third appointment in one week
Survivors are bravely forging their own paths as best they can.
Their courage has never been the problem.
The problem is that the path to safety is harder than it should be, simply because the services along it are disconnected.
The path to safety should not be harder because services are disconnected.
A Better Path: The Family Justice Center
The DCFOF Family Justice Center will be a comprehensive, survivor-centered campus that brings safety, housing, advocacy, healing, economic empowerment, and community partners together in one place.
Survivors will come to a single place, tell their story one time, and find the services, partners, and support they need together.
Shelter, childcare, healthcare, legal services, counseling, and more will be available through one well-coordinated system.
The Family Justice Center will bring a new level of coordinated care to North Texas, connecting safety, housing, childcare, healthcare, legal support, and other essential services on one campus built around survivors and their families.
Seven Buildings. Seven Barriers Removed.
Each building on the campus removes a different barrier survivors face on the path to safety, healing, and independence.
Together, they create something far more powerful: One coordinated place where survivors don’t have to navigate disconnected systems alone.
Building 1: A place to land in crisis
A 24/7 crisis line, emergency housing, safety planning, and mental health support give survivors immediate safety.
The Rayzor Empowerment Center adds workforce development, job training, and upskilling from day one.
Building 2: Stable ground
Leaving abuse doesn’t automatically create stability.
Private, non-congregate shelter gives survivors the time and security to strengthen their income, pursue employment, and prepare for long-term housing.
Building 3: Care for their children
The Child Development Center provides 24/7 trauma-informed childcare and early childhood education.
Parents can work, attend court, and rebuild, knowing their children are safe and healing alongside them.
Building 4: A safe place for pets
Abusers often use pets as leverage, and many shelters can’t accept pets for a wide variety of reasons.
The on-site Purple Paws Pet Center means no survivor has to choose between their own safety and that of a beloved pet.
Building 5: Medical care, mental health support, and legal services, all in one place
The Primary Services Center brings medical care, counseling, advocacy, legal services, and food security support together.
That reduces transportation barriers, missed appointments, and the burden of navigating multiple systems.
Building 6: Justice partners, right on campus
Co-located law enforcement and District Attorney staff will be on site.
Partner services and a supervised visitation center help survivors manage their cases without traveling from agency to agency.
Building 7: A place to reconnect
Domestic violence isolates people from the relationships that sustain them.
The Community Center is a place for belonging, peer support, learning, and connection. Safety may begin the journey, but community helps sustain it.
Why Denton County Friends of the Family, and Why Now
Denton County Friends of the Family started blazing this trail in 1980 with a small shelter, a handful of staff, and a group of dedicated volunteers.
Forty-five years later, DCFOF is the only provider of free, comprehensive domestic violence and sexual assault services in Denton County.
The Family Justice Center isn’t a new idea or an untested concept: It’s the next step for an organization that already delivers these services every single day.
The experience we’ve built over four decades makes us uniquely positioned to bring these services together and to walk alongside survivors as they move toward the next phase of their lives.
What Becomes Possible
When everything a survivor needs is in one place, the journey looks like this:
- Survivors can get help faster and leave more safely
- Children can get the trauma-informed care they need to heal
- Parents can focus on work, housing, and healing instead of logistics
- Families can move forward together on their own terms
Consider the same survivor in two different futures:
In the first, services are scattered across the county.
In the second, the Family Justice Center is there when she reaches for help.
What changes between those two futures isn’t her courage, her determination, or her desire for a different life.
What changes is what’s available when she reaches for help.
All together, these outcomes mean one thing: Hope.
The Trail Is Already Being Forged
Expedition Hope is already underway. Our Phase 1 goal is $16.7 million, and nearly $12 million has been secured thanks to community partners who have already joined the expedition. That leaves $4.7 million to go to complete Phase 1!
The Land That Made the Vision Possible
Before there could be construction, there had to be a place to build. Rayzor Investments, Ltd.’s transformational donation of the 6.5-acre Family Justice Center site gave Expedition Hope a home and helped turn the vision for a Family Justice Center into something tangible.
The Investment That Put Phase 1 in Motion
Denton County Commissioners Court made a transformational $8 million investment in the Family Justice Center, providing the financial foundation that helped move Phase 1 from planning into construction. Their commitment represents a significant investment in the safety of survivors and families across Denton County and helped turn a long-held community vision into a project now rising from the ground.
The City of Lewisville has also invested $500,000 and the City of Denton $402,327 to help bring the Family Justice Center to life.
Trailblazers Along the Way
Businesses, foundations, public partners, and neighbors across our community are helping blaze the trail, including our newest Trailblazer, Sundt Construction, with a $150,000 gift. They join:
| Sally Beauty: $45,000 | Fran Danis: $15,000 |
| Denton County District Clerk: $35,000 | Deborah and Vincent Cosimo: $12,500 |
| Betty Jane Morrison Foundation: $30,444.83 | Dr. Sheila Haley and Friends, in memory of Dr. James Haley: $11,000 |
And the momentum continues. In October 2026, the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs approved $8.2 million in HOME-ARP funding for Phase 2, which will create 25 private, non-congregate shelter units for survivors and families. These units will provide an important bridge between emergency shelter and long-term housing stability.
Then the journey continues, building by building, until all seven are complete.
Join Expedition Hope
We can’t build this alone. The Family Justice Center will be built by a community that believes survivors shouldn’t have to navigate this path by themselves.
Here’s what your support makes possible:
One place where a survivor walks through a single door and finds everything needed to rebuild a life; safety, housing, childcare, healthcare, justice, and community will all be there, all together.
Follow the journey. Join our email list for construction updates, stories of impact, and opportunities to help build the Family Justice Center. [Join the List]
Help build the path. Every gift brings the Family Justice Center one step closer. [Donate Today]
You’re blazing the trail…
So survivors don’t have to.