Sexual Trauma and Abuse Care Center rebuilds from crisis

While the Sexual Trauma and Abuse Care Center began to rebuild from a financial and management crisis six months ago, the community need was growing.

Sarah Bariya started as the new executive director of the Care Center on Jan. 21 and was thrust into disarray. She learned the center could not meet the upcoming payroll. She and the board decided to furlough all staff on Feb. 4, and later let five staff members go. The 24-hour hotline at one point was staffed by one person, and all other services picked back up a few weeks later.

“We paused services on everything, except our crisis line remained live. It never for one day stopped working,” Bariya said. “In here, our concern is that everyone who needed our support got it — even during the furlough.”

Christina Gentry, communications director and education support specialist at the Care Center, said community members affected by the alleged sexual abuse of Prairie Park Elementary School students by former speech pathologist Mark Gridley sought the center’s services.

Lawrence police announced their investigation into Gridley on Feb. 10. Grief and anger spread beyond the Prairie Park community. With the Children’s Advocacy Center of Douglas County and other partners, the center will form private support groups for those experiencing vicarious and secondary trauma. Staff members are also planning to set a public meeting for October to hold an open discussion around sexual violence in schools.

The center has also seen an increase in requests within the Lawrence Community Shelter, Bariya said, and in response has expanded its group therapy services there.

Funding streams

Board members previously said they couldn’t explain the direct causes of skyrocketed deferred revenue and liabilities that stick out in the center’s most recent tax filings.

As a nonprofit, the center relies heavily on grants and fundraisers. Bariya said the center was not in debt but had accumulated a substantial backlog of reporting to funders, which impeded timely reimbursements. She, Gentry, and data and grant manager Lori Blake along with others identified the gaps. They were able to catch up on lapses and are keeping up with monthly and quarterly reporting.

There has not been another instance when payroll couldn’t be met, according to Bariya.

Reductions to the center’s Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) funding had caused the center’s general fund to suffer. The U.S. Congress shrunk distribution dollars for victim services by almost 40% from fiscal years 2023 to 2024. According to data from the board, the center budgeted for more VOCA funds than it received in 2022-2024 and was losing funding each year during that time.

Bariya said the state has taken over the bulk of funding the center lost from VOCA. Gov. Laura Kelly’s office on Thursday announced $576,077 in funding for the center for 2026.

But concerns about the future of federal funding persist. And although the chipping away of “DEI” — diversity, equity and inclusion — hasn’t impacted state partnerships, the center has had to circumvent language disallowed at the federal level.

“What we’ve done is double down on our prevention education that centers the LGBTQIA+ community, our minoritized individuals, and our unhoused or anybody who is in the intersection by which their identity promotes more trauma just in showing up and surviving,” Gentry said.

Still underfunded like many nonprofits but now in a better place than in February, Bariya said, staff are looking to create revenue in several potential areas.

Board members previously said a lack of fundraising stunted revenues most but that the center planned to revitalize those efforts. The annual fundraiser didn’t happen in 2024 due to staffing shortages. The center earned $20,896 through fundraising events in 2022 but $6,843 in 2023, according to tax forms. 

A fundraising gala is set for Sunday, Sept. 28 at the Lawrence Arts Center. The care center will soon share more information about the event and how to buy tickets.

‘Strong leadership’

One former staff member had expressed frustration with the way center administrators handled the crisis in February and had said being furloughed, then fired, uprooted their life.

The board had divided up executive director responsibilities among a few staff during the six-month period between former director Jennifer Ananda’s departure and Bariya’s arrival. Six months without an ED created gaps in structure, oversight and direction. 

The center has operated for more than 50 years. Gentry said during the past two, it has seen 318 clients and provided 1,275 services.

Examining job descriptions, Bariya and Gentry said they needed to make updates to fit evolved needs. The prevention specialist, for example, is now the prevention education specialist to encompass an expertise in youth and aging populations. That position along with three advocate roles that were cut in March were refilled by the end of April, Bariya said.

The center has nine full-time staff members and one part-time in addition to volunteers, and it’s currently hiring for a therapist.

Maintaining a full-time therapist was always the goal, Gentry said, but the nonprofit’s inability to offer a competitive salary is a consistent barrier. But she and Bariya are hopeful about offering therapists enough support to keep them in the work.

“I can’t stress enough how important it was for us to have an executive director and strong leadership to pull these things together,” Gentry said.

The center’s 24-hour hotline is 785-843-8985. Find more information on its website, stacarecenter.org.

Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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