Palomar’s Kim Garrett: On Persistence, Brownies and the Power of ‘We’
If a pregnant Kim Garrett hadn’t had a fierce craving for brownies, Oklahoma City’s groundbreaking nonprofit collaborative, Palomar Family Justice Center, might not exist. It’s true. Well, it was the brownies, plus her expertise and diligence.
“I started the victims’ services unit at Oklahoma City Police Department in 2011, and quickly saw families coming in in crisis,” Garrett says. “They would have kids, and injuries, and were fearful they were going to get killed that night, and we…at the time…we had a lot of pretty brochures. We would tell them to go here for medical, go here for a victim protective order, go here for shelter—and it was really overwhelming. Families would give up, and they would understandably go back.
“It just didn’t sit well with me, so I started doing research on best practice models. What could we do to pivot and improve services and access in Oklahoma City? I found the family justice center model and, while I wouldn’t say I harassed the police chief for years, I was definitely persistent.”
Garrett was certain that Oklahoma City would benefit from the family justice center approach. She just had to convince then-Chief of Police Bill Citty it was worth exploring. “You didn’t get a lot of access to the police chief, but I was pregnant with my daughter, Olive, and Chief Citty would do all of these retirement ceremonies, promotions, things like that, and they would send emails out to all the employees. I loved the brownies at these celebrations, so I would literally go like 2-3 times a week—I didn’t even know some of the people—just to get the brownies. So I’d have access to him and I’d keep asking, ‘Have you thought about it? Is it possible?’”
Eventually, Citty said yes. Garrett was not surprised. When asked what it was about her that enabled her to take survivor services through such a transformation, she stops for a moment. “About me?” she says, a little surprised. Then, with candor, “I think it was probably the constant yet gentle pressure. And passion; I care deeply for survivors and their children, and to me it was something we had to do.”
For Garrett, it wasn’t negotiable. Things had to change. “I was patient in the journey, and kind when we disagreed, but I was clear that I wasn’t going away and this problem of gender-based violence is actually not going away, and we need to start thinking differently if we want different outcomes.”
Citty hired a team of experts to assess the family justice center idea, which would mean creating a space to house multiple nonprofits, service providers, medical professionals, lawyers and others—a one-stop shop for survivors—and gauge the need for such a thing within the Oklahoma City community. “They came and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive toward a collaborative; the victims felt like they were falling through the cracks and the agencies weren’t sharing information,” Garrett says. “Service providers said they felt siloed.”
There were unintentional inefficiencies that nobody had realized were happening. An example: “When we compiled intakes from our partner agencies and looked at them, collectively we were asking over 600 questions, and the majority of them were duplicative.” It was time to change things.
Strategic planning started in 2015, then came the building search. Garrett is glad that Palomar is right in the middle of Midtown OKC. “Systemically there’s been a lot of shame and hiding by survivors, and that’s why I’m so excited about our location,” she says. “We’re not hiding. We’re not ashamed.”
Before the doors even opened, before the sign was on the building, survivors were knocking on the door asking for help. “I have no idea how they found out about us, but there was obviously a great need, and to this day I can remember attorneys literally on the floor, helping survivors go through their paperwork to file court petitions.
“It was amazing and beautiful to see. Just the power of ‘we’ and people coming together. Fast forward to now, and we’ve had over 50,000 visits. The demand was significant. I don’t think anybody anticipated there would be such a need in our community, but people are really hurting.”
Almost immediately, Palomar was (and is) bursting at the seams. But the people of Oklahoma City, recognizing that the wellbeing of people is an important part of infrastructure, stepped up at the MAPS4 ballot box. Garrett says, “We were selected as a $38 million MAPS project to build our forever home, and we will start the design process next year and ideally open in early 2025. I just think it’s a huge testament to survivors, really.”