Senators Ossoff and Warnock Secure $1.5 Million for Cobb DA’s Family Advocacy Center 

The dynamic duo, Democratic Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, announced that they have successfully secured over $1.5 million in federal funding to support the expansion of Cobb County’s Family Advocacy Center, a project near and dear to the heart of District Attorney Flynn Broady Jr. Broady has often shared his own experiences with domestic violence as a child watching his mother be assaulted by his abusive father. His advocacy and support for the center in Cobb is his passion project born from those personal experiences.

Broady launched the center in 2023 to assist victims of various violent crimes such as domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual assault, and child abuse. Notably, the center, which opened its critical operations in December, stands as the first of its kind in the state. In describing the new facility, the DA’s office portrayed it to a “one stop shop” for victims of abuse because they can meet with nonprofit and law enforcement partners for legal help, counseling, and shelter services in one location.

Senator Ossoff emphasized the bipartisan effort to address Georgia’s domestic violence and child abuse crises. In a press release, Ossoff said, “I’m bringing Republicans and Democrats together to help support victims of domestic and child abuse. I thank the Cobb Family Advocacy Center for bringing this proposal to my office and for their leadership in the community.”

Broady expressed gratitude to Ossoff and Warnock for their support in empowering the Family Advocacy Center as he highlighted the center’s purpose. Said Broady, “Our Family Advocacy Center is empowered to deliver a call to action: to protect our most vulnerable victims, create safe environments, reduce childhood trauma, and provide resources that promote public safety for our community.”

In March of 2023, Broady went before the Cobb Board of Commissioners with a request for funding for the facility after an earlier funding requested had been turned down by chair Lisa Cupid and the Board. At that time, Broady presented facts as he reflected on his own childhood experience of having to defend his mother from his abusive father with a baseball bat. He also touched on the rising rate of abuse and domestic violence locally saying domestic violence cases are up 25 percent since the pandemic hit. Broady said, “Once somebody puts their hand on your neck, they’re prone to kill you which means they’re capable of doing it.” Recounting his own childhood experiences with domestic violence, he talked about his mom, saying, “…But she never called the police.”

During that presentation, Broady provided alarming statistics on domestic violence and abuse in Cobb, which included the 911 center receiving over 49 domestic violence calls a day. He also shared that from 2018 to 2020, almost 37,000 domestic violence clients were served by the center. He also shared that Cobb has been labeled as having the most long-term temporary protective orders issued within the state, an unpopular title to have if you are the victim of domestic violence within the county. In his effort to secure the funding needed for the new facility, Broady said. “We’ve got to give people a place to go so they can get the help and get away from their abusers.” 

National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is April 21-27. The 2024 theme is How would you help? Organizers say this is a call-to-action to communities to create safe environments for crime victims to share what happened to them.