Children`s Advocacy Fights for Funds to Stay in Business

A group that fights for children`s rights continues to fight for funds. The Northwest Missouri`s Children`s Advocacy Center asked the St. Joseph City Council for $45,000 to keep its doors open. The latest plea for help comes after the same proposition to Buchanan County commissioners. The city says it doesn`t have that kind of money, but Mayor Ken Shearin has appointed four council members to a committee to help the center find funding. The advocacy center has cut its needs list down to the bare minimum but will still need $26,000 in donations. That will cover soundproofing child-interview rooms, video and sound equipment, and basics like electricity and dry wall. In the meantime, St. Joseph police are offering a temporary solution. "The chief of police last night did offer me to use their interview center on a temporary basis if I had to, which is wonderful of him, except it kind of defeats the purpose of the advocacy center--getting children away from a police station, you know, into a more child friendly environment," Joyce Estes, advocacy center executive director, says. The center has been housed rent-free at the Noyes Home for 13 years, but the home tells KQ2 that it needs more space. The recreation director is slated to set up shop in the advocacy center`s basement location.