Child Advocacy Center planning move from Bank Street to rent-free location offered by Presbyterians

The Child Advocacy Center should have a new home by this summer.

The First Presbyterian Church has offered the center a rent-free space for the next three to five years at a house it owns on East Main Street, according to Undersheriff William Sheron.

The CAC provides children who have been sexually abused a safe place for assistance, counseling and interaction with law enforcement officials.

It operates under the auspice of Genesee Justice and the Sheriff's Office the county has been paying $1,200 a month in rent for its location on Bank Street.

The discussion about the move come up today during the county legislature's Public Service Committee meeting.

When Genesee Justice was threatened with funding cuts two years ago, it became apparent that the CAC needed to find a way to cut the rent expense.

In response, the Kiwanis Club of Batavia took up the cause of raising $150,000 to help the center get a location that it owned. So far more than $70,000 has been raised. The move to the house owned by the Presbyterian church would give supporters of the CAC more time to close the funding gap.

The Justice for Children Child Advocacy Center operates as a nonprofit organization and is supported by the county, donations and grants.

An in-kind contribution from the local Presbyterian Church would help the center fulfill matching grant requirements.

The house is located on East Main Street, between the Presbyterian church and the First Baptist Church.

The new location would give the CAC more space and be able to offer clients with different needs -- those there for counseling, say, and those for forensic interviews -- separate waiting spaces.

There is remodeling and repair work that needs to take place in the new facility and Sheron told the committee that there will likely be volunteers who do the work.

The only vote the committee took today was to approve a six-month lease on the Bank Street location, giving the CAC until June to prepare the new space.