09/29/2026
A longer post, but an important one.
The Children’s Advocacy Center, Inc. is taking an important step toward the future, and we need our community beside us.
We are currently going through the zoning process for property located at 1209 S. 220th St., Pittsburg, KS, where we hope to build a new Children’s Advocacy Center.
We know that when people hear words like rezoning, construction, plans, and a new building, it can be easy to focus on the property. But for us, this has never simply been about a building. It is about the child who walks through our doors after experiencing something no child should ever have to experience.
It is about giving that child a safe, welcoming place to sit down with a specially trained forensic interviewer and tell their story, so they do not have to keep reliving it by telling it over and over again. It is about the parent or caregiver sitting in another room, scared and overwhelmed, wondering what happens next. It is about making sure that when a child needs us, we have the space, resources, and ability to be there.
Our CAC serves children and families throughout Crawford and Cherokee Counties and surrounding communities, and families are never charged for our services. As the need for our services continues to grow, so must our ability to respond.
A new CAC would allow us to create a facility intentionally designed around the needs of children who have experienced abuse—a place that feels safe instead of intimidating, comforting instead of clinical, and hopeful during what may be one of the most difficult days of a child's life.
It would also provide the space needed for the professionals who respond to child abuse to come together. Law enforcement, child protective services, prosecutors, medical professionals, mental health providers, victim advocates, forensic interviewers, and others can work as a team with one shared purpose: doing what is best for the child.
The zoning process is an important first step. It allows local leaders and members of our community to learn about the proposed project, ask questions, provide input, and understand what we hope to build at 1209 S. 220th St. As a nonprofit organization, we do not take this process or the support of our community for granted.
We need you. We need a community that understands why this work matters. We need people willing to stand beside the children who may never be able to publicly tell you how much this place meant to them. We need advocates who believe that children who have experienced abuse deserve to walk into a place created specifically for thema place where they feel safe, believed, supported, and heard. And we need our community beside us as we work to make this vision a reality.
This isn't about building something bigger. It's about building something better for our children.
A place where a child only has to tell their story once. A place where families don't have to navigate the unimaginable alone. A place where agencies come together instead of families having to go from place to place. A place where a child's voice matters. A place where healing can begin.
1209 S. 220th St. represents more than an address to us. It represents the possibility of a safer, stronger future for the children we serve.
We hope you will stand with the Children’s Advocacy Center throughout the zoning process and beyond. Because protecting children isn't just the work of the CAC. It takes an entire community.
Please share this post, talk with your friends and neighbors, ask questions, and help us make sure our community understands why this new Children's Advocacy Center matters.
đź’»Want to learn more?
Visit cacpittsburg.org/future to learn more about the proposed facility, view our current site plan and conceptual rendering, and find answers to common questions.
đź’™ Come see what we do.
We also invite our neighbors and community members to visit our current Children’s Advocacy Center during one of our upcoming Neighbor Open Houses:
📅 Friday, October 9 | 9:00 AM–5:00 PM
📅 Sunday, October 11 | 1:00 PM–5:00 PM
📍 Children’s Advocacy Center, Inc.
123 W. Adams St., Pittsburg, KS
Come and go, no RSVP necessary.
For every child who has needed us. For every child who needs us today. And for every child who may need us tomorrow.
We are building for them.
