COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Center for Family Safety and Healing (TCFSH) at Nationwide Children’s Hospital has announced the appointment of Melissa Graves as its president, effective March 4, 2024. Graves is a nationally recognized leader with more than 20 years of experience guiding nonprofit organizations focused on vulnerable children and families. Since 2018, she has served as CEO for Journey Center for Safety and Healing in Cleveland which assists 15,000 women, children and families experiencing child abuse and domestic violence each year. During her tenure at Journey Center, the organization launched the first successful child advocacy center in Cuyahoga County.
“Melissa was the perfect choice among a very impressive national field of candidates,” said Abigail Wexner, chair of TCFSH’s board. “We sought a worthy visionary with proven experience to extend the organization’s legacy of strong leadership. Melissa has expertly led Journey Center in Cleveland which carries a very similar mission, vision, and values to The Center for Family Safety and Healing. She has dedicated herself to this space and has proven herself an effective and passionate agent for change. We are thrilled to have Melissa’s expertise at the helm of our Center as she leads this strong multi-disciplinary team into the future, accelerating our collective mission to break the cycle of family violence and restore hope.”
From 2002 through 2016, Graves served in a variety of leadership roles at Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area including nine years as the organization’s chief executive officer. This multi-jurisdictional human services agency serves some of the most vulnerable children and families in the Washington, D.C. metro region through adoption, foster care, refugee resettlement, employment, caregiver support and HIV/AIDS programs.
“I am honored by this opportunity to lead The Center for Family Safety and Healing and serve with this incredibly talented team,” said Graves. “Working at a peer organization within the region has given me tremendous respect for TCFSH as an exemplary leader in family violence intervention and prevention. They have broken new ground in addressing violence across the lifespan, and I am eager to begin working with such smart, dedicated colleagues to serve children and families.”
In her role as president of TCFSH, Graves will work closely with local advocates and community partners, including Franklin County Children’s Services, Columbus Division of Police, the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office, the Columbus City Attorney’s Office, Ohio Domestic Violence Network, Community Shelter Board, LSS CHOICES, and a diverse group of community organizations to address all aspects of family violence, including child abuse and neglect, teen dating abuse, domestic violence, and elder abuse.
About The Center for Family Safety and Healing
In 2011, the Center for Child and Family Advocacy at Nationwide Children’s, which was founded in 2002, and the Columbus Coalition Against Family Violence, established in 1998, merged to become The Center for Family Safety and Healing. Abigail S. Wexner, the founder of the Columbus Coalition Against Family Violence, is the Board Chair of TCFSH and has been instrumental in how the community responds to family violence.