There is no blueprint or even a manual. So, it’s a matter of creating their own with the hopes that others will follow.
The new Healing Center at St. Jude’s Ranch for Children is nearing completion, with the school now finished and ready to welcome girls who have been the victim of sex trafficking, an ever-growing problem in the country. What makes this school so unique is that St. Jude’s has teamed up with the Clark County School District to offer what’s believed to be the first school of its kind in the nation.
The Review was given an exclusive tour of the campus last week with St. Jude’s CEO, Dr. Christina Vela, and the school’s new principal, Amy Manning. After which, both expressed their excitement with the school and the nearly-completed Healing Center as a whole.
A dream becomes real
“It’s a beautiful space,” Manning said. “I feel very lucky that I have the opportunity to work here. My staff has been wonderful and are enjoying the space. It’s a very peaceful and calm environment and we’ve had a lot of fun decorating it and are looking forward to welcoming the students.”
Vela agreed. “It’s so hard to put into words,” she said. “It’s been incredible to watch a dream become a reality and for so many to take on that dream as their own. Everybody has had this opportunity to leave their fingerprints on some part of this campus where hope and healing will live.”
According to information from St. Jude’s, the Healing Center is unique, from its ground up: residences, holistic treatment options to survivor advocates, and trauma-sensitive design. It sits on 10 acres of land with a series of individual one-story homes that will mimic a neighborhood setting, with walking paths and extensive landscaping, designed to foster a sense of safety. The Healing Center will also include therapy offices, a multi-purpose building, meeting space, library, computer lab, a yoga and meditation room, and outside areas to encourage transformation through connection to nature.
Additionally, the school will have dedicated spaces for yoga, CrossFit, and physical activity and some of the staff will be yoga certified and trauma-informed trained.
Project’s cost
This project comes with a price tag of nearly $30 million. Through a variety of partnerships and donations both big and small, Vela said it is truly a group effort. Some of those donations have included $5 million from CCSD, $4 million from Clark County, multiple casino partners, including Caesars and MGM, a $2 million grant from the Engelstad Foundation and $500,000 from both the Nevada Elks and Nevada Women’s Philanthropy.
The 10,000-square-foot school consists of four classrooms as well as learning areas outside of the building. While the students in the foster portion of St. Jude’s will not be interacting with those in the Healing Center, staff from both will often coordinate and work closely together, Vela said.
St. Jude’s was allowed “100%” input when it came to the design of both the school as well as the entire campus.
“CCSD really got on board with constructing the building to match the healing center and the vision that Christina had,” said Manning, who was brought on board in January of this year, after the project had started. “It’s been a really great partnership. I’ve had a 100% say on what is on the inside, so that’s been a lot of fun for me.”
Vela added, “We had a vision and had already designed this building before CCSD had come aboard. We had a dream of having a school on site but we thought it would probably be a charter school because of the notion of the kind of flexibility we were looking for would not be viable with CCSD. So, having them as a partner has been huge.”
Manning has hired a full team of 14 licensed teachers, counselors, and support professionals, including six content teachers, two special education teachers, a counselor, an administrative secretary, and an office specialist. At the end of the tour Friday, staff members were gathering for a meeting. Of those staffers, a handful were male. According to Manning, this was not by accident. She said the goal is to provide these victims with strong male role models, since most men in their lives have failed them.
For her staff, while trained and professional, she said working with these abused children will be an entirely new teaching experience.
“They’re excited to have students,” she said. “There are, of course, concerns of how we will do things differently. They’re all very seasoned educators, so we have an idea of what we’ve done in the past. But we’ll really be pushing the envelope to do things differently here. We’ve been given the gift of time to have this training time before the students come in.”
She added, “We know eyes are going to be on us and they should. We have high expectations for ourselves.”
The official ribbon cutting for the school is set for Oct. 30.
The entire campus
The Healing Center, which is now in its final stage of construction, will feature six homes, three of which will have four bedrooms and the other three with six bedrooms. The smaller homes will be for the new arrivals as they later progress to the larger homes. At capacity, 62 children — most of whom will be court-appointed or referred — could be housed at any given time. In order to assist with these children, specialists trained to work with victims of sex trafficking have been hired. Unlike the housing at St. Jude’s, the center will not have cottage parents but rather staff on duty 24 hours a day within the group housing.
It’s anticipated that all the students to begin will be girls.
Vela said the center has a completion date of early October with students being accepted as soon as early November. She said that aspect will be somewhat gradual to avoid taking in 30 students all at once.
“All of this is a new concept, so we’re writing the playbook,” Vela said. “We know that where we start on day one and where we will be day 366 should look different. We should have learned a ton of lessons as to what works and what’s not working and adjust and adapt to continue to improve. It doesn’t mean we’re failing. We’d be failing if we didn’t look at those things and not make the necessary adjustment.”
They are still actively fundraising for the campus. Those wishing to do so can visit stjudesranch.org and click on the Healing Center icon.