Vegas Strong Resiliency Center to expand services

The Vegas Strong Resiliency Center, born in the aftermath of the Oct. 1 mass shooting as a resources hub for survivors, is moving locations, being renamed and expanding services to all Southern Nevada crime victims.

The Resiliency &Justice Center will be located in a new Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada building, which is being constructed next to its campus on East Charleston Boulevard and is expected to be completed in 2025.

The legal aid nonprofit organization, which operates the current resiliency center, announced the expansion of its complex Thursday, a few days before the sixth anniversary of the mass shooting that killed 60 people and wounded hundreds more at the Route 91 Harvest festival.

The award-winning Vegas Strong Resiliency Center offers free legal advice and connects survivors of the mass shooting, and others affected by it, with compensation programs and mental health resources.

“The Center is a nationwide model in how to serve survivors of mass violence,” the nonprofit said. “This consistent and urgent need has resulted in the decision to grow and serve victims of all violent crimes throughout Southern Nevada, while also serving as a blueprint for other communities around the country dealing with similar tragedies.”

The current resiliency center, located about 2 miles from legal aid center’s headquarters, will shutter and move to the first floor of the new building, according to the nonprofit.

“We are excited for this growth opportunity to both expand legal aid to the most vulnerable in our community as well as to create a resource and referral center for survivors of violent crime,” Barbara Buckley, executive director of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, wrote in a statement.

The nonprofit’s new 40,000-square foot, three-floor building will be constructed at the site of a vacant bank at 801 E. Charleston Blvd.

The Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada Advocacy &Justice Center will include a parking garage, and “will be the first statewide service campus where any Nevadan who has experienced the devastating trauma of violent crime can find justice and begin to heal,” the nonprofit said.

The project is expected to cost $30 million, with more than two-thirds of it already raised, the nonprofit said.

“The growth of the Advocacy &Justice Complex is both exciting and necessary,” the nonprofit said. “Over the past 10 years, the number of clients Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada serves has nearly quadrupled.”

Those include people seeking a “myriad of legal services,” including those for victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com. Follow @rickytwrites on X.