City Council approve the attached agreement between the City and YWCA to fund a position to coordinate the planning for a Family Justice Center.

Ellie Stanton's one year of VISTA service will unfortunately come to an end in February 2024.  Ellie has done a tremendous job working with the police and legal departments and countless community organizations to determine if Billings will benefit from a Family Justice Center (FJC).  Ellie's full-time work with detective Nash, domestic violence prosecutor Halverson, the community and Council resulted in a completed community assessment and draft strategic plan to open a FJC in partnership with the FJC Alliance.  In order to continue building on this momentum, recommendation 5 of the draft FJC Strategic Plan calls for a full-time FJC Coordinator position to be created.  We have determined that a partnership between the YWCA and City allows us to accomplish this before Ellie's service ends February 13.

Highlights of the agreement include: 

1. The City contributes not more than $55,000 annually to the YWCA.
2. The contract period is for two years with one, two-year extension.
3. The FJC Coordinator's responsibilities include implementing the FJC Strategic Plan.
4.  The FJC Coordinator will be employed by the YWCA 

Domestic Violence victims, City, County and all service providers for children and family members.

City Council may:

• Approve; or,
• Not Approve

The Agreement will cost not more than $110,000 over two years ($55,000/year) with one possible two-year extension with the same annual, not to exceed cost of $55,000.  The current fiscal year budget includes an appropriation of $200,000 out of our crime prevention fund, to launch the FJC.

The agreement between the City and YWCA is to fund a full-time Family Justice Center Coordinator position for up to 4 years.