CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Work started Monday in Chattanooga, Tenn., on a bigger Rape Crisis Center, as Partnership for Families, Children and Adults broke ground on space at 5705 Uptain Road, the campus of the Family Justice Center named for Dr. Carol B. Berz, where the relocated center will operate.
The nonprofit said demand for sexual assault care has outgrown its present space at 300 E. 8th Street, where it has worked with one waiting room and one forensic exam room. The new site will have twice the exam capacity, more clinical room, better privacy and free mental health counseling for patients. Partnership expects the center to open in 2027.
The city’s Office of Community Health and Hamilton County are partners on the move. Placing the center inside the justice complex puts survivors near advocates, the Children’s Advocacy Center and the Chattanooga Police Department. Children younger than 13 will be seen at the Children’s Advocacy Center.
Partnership runs the only forensic nursing program in the region. It also heads a regional response team on sexual assault that brings together police and sheriff agencies from Hamilton and Marion counties, the District Attorney’s Office and local service groups.
The need has climbed for several years. Partnership chief executive Kevin Hyde said earlier this year that the agency performed 122 forensic exams in 2025, a rise of 27% over three years, and that one exam room was no longer enough for the caseload in Hamilton County.
For now, survivors can still get help at the current location downtown while the new space is built out. Partnership has said the larger center should serve the region for decades.
Leaders expect more people to seek exams now that a state change on Oct. 1 stretched the window for collecting DNA evidence from five days to 10. The group’s 24-hour hotline is 423-755-2700.
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