Family Resources has ‘room to grow’ in new home

Nicole Cisne Durbin says a new era has started for the Family Resources nonprofit organization in Davenport. And the main hallmark of that era is a new, bigger location that provides the modern space for staff members to better help people in need. “This offers us room to grow. … This new place will have […]

Nicole Cisne Durbin says a new era has started for the Family Resources nonprofit organization in Davenport. And the main hallmark of that era is a new, bigger location that provides the modern space for staff members to better help people in need.

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“This offers us room to grow. … This new place will have a huge impact on the community,” the Family Resources CEO said Thursday, Jan. 18, during an opening ceremony for the organization’s new home at 1414 W. Lombard St. The new office are next to the Genesis Medical Center - West Campus facilities, and in a building that once housed medical services for Genesis. The opening ceremony, which attracted more than 50 people from the community, included a Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce ribbon-cutting ceremony and a tour of the 22,000-square-foot building. Family Resources, which is leasing the building from Genesis, has actually been in the building since November. Before its move in the fall, the nonprofit organization called the Annie Wittenmyer campus in Davenport home for almost 50 years. The group decided it was time for a new home because Family Resources needed more space for its services and clients, better space for its staff members, as well as better parking and improved accessibility, according to information from Family Resources. The organization provides a large variety of services to children, families and people who have experienced trauma. Some of those services include counseling and therapy, services to survivors of domestic abuse, sexual abuse and human trafficking, and services to foster and adoptive families.  Family Resources’ Donation Center and the Crisis Stabilization Residential Services will stay on the Annie Wittenmyer Campus at 2800 Eastern Ave. while all other programming and administrative services are now at 1414 W. Lombard St. Family Resources has 233 employees and has helped 3,522 clients in the survivor services portion of its work last year, according to its 2023 Impact Report. (On Thursday, Ms. Cisne Durbin said it’s hard to pin down the exact number of clients the organization has through its many services, but added that Family Resources helped more than 85,000 people last year.) During the celebration, she called the Lombard Street building “true office space that is designed” for Family Resources. She added that one of the big advantages of the new site is that it provides space for the organization’s staff members in one location. Staff members and services were split up between several buildings at the Annie Wittenmyer campus. “It was confusing (for clients) sometimes where to go. … Now, they are all in one building. It’s much easier to pop down the hallway to ask a question,” Ms. Cisne Durbin said shortly after Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. In an earlier news release, she added: “The Annie Wittenmyer campus has served as our home for 49 years, and we are so grateful to the city of Davenport for this long-standing partnership that allowed us to serve children and families in our community. But sometimes change is inevitable, and in this case, change was necessary. This move will allow us to be agile and evolve alongside the people we serve.” Thursday’s events also included a tour of the many offices and training rooms at Family Resources’ new home. In addition to offices, the space includes many works of colorful art on the walls. One piece shows a dandelion seed head with the seeds spreading in the wind and the words: “Just breathe.” While many visitors were looking over the art and offices in the Family Resources building, it was still a work day for many of the organization’s staff members. On the bottom floor of the building, about a dozen staff members were going through a trauma care training session as the festivities occurred.  Shelly Hansen, a crisis stabilization therapist with Family Resources, was among those giving tours to the public on Thursday.  She called the new site a great step forward because it offers space for the organization’s workers to help people under one roof. “It’s great to be in one place with all of my co-workers. It’s nice to be able to collaborate with them,” she added. The Family Resources main phone line is (563) 326-6431. Its Iowa crisis line is (866) 921-3354. Its Illinois crisis line is (309) 797-1777.