Melissa Baumaster, executive of Jesse's Place (Citrus County Child Advocacy Center), told the delegation that the center currently has a wait list of 29 children who need trauma-focused therapy. The organization provides advocacy, mental-health therapy and outreach to children and families affected by abuse.

Baumaster said the center lacks dedicated office space and currently uses doubled or tripled rooms for therapy, which constrains hiring and service expansion. "Our current wait list is 29 kids. That means there's 29 kids who are waiting for therapy," Baumaster said. She requested $1,500,000 in state funds to begin construction of a 7,500-square-foot addition to the existing facility to add therapy offices and program space.

Jesse's Place earlier secured a 50-year lease on its current facility and received $200,000 in planning funds; the new request is for construction start-up. Baumaster said expanded space would allow the center to hire additional therapists and eliminate the current waitlist.

Representative Groh and local officials praised the center's work and flagged the request for the delegation's appropriations process.