About The Betty Griffin Center

Betty Griffin Center operates a 54-bed emergency shelter, six transitional apartments, and provides outreach services, training, and education throughout St. Johns County, Florida.

We employ 62 full-time staff and 14 part-time staff. Program staff is trained and certified in the areas of domestic and sexual abuse. All staff members also have additional specific credentials based on their job functions. Programs are provided in St. Augustine, Julington/Fruit Cove, Ponte Vedra and Hastings at schools, the courthouse and at community partner agency locations.

The mission of the Betty Griffin Center is to offer protection and quality services for the victims of domestic violence and their minor children and/or victims of sexual assault and their families in St. Johns County, Florida through the operation of a shelter, offering assistance, counseling and providing transitional support and advocating for survivors.

We also educate the community about services provided and raise awareness on the problems of domestic violence and sexual assault to break cycles of violence.

The Betty Griffin Center was founded in 1990 by concerned citizens and incorporated as the Safety Shelter of St. Johns County to develop plans to provide shelter for local victims of domestic violence and their children. In 1992, the nonprofit agency contracted with a local motel for space and started a 24-hour crisis line and court advocacy program.

By 1994, the agency purchased and opened Betty Griffin House as permanent shelter. The shelter expanded in 1998 to meet local demand, and a sexual assault program was added the same year.

To find out more about the history of the organization, and how the nonprofit came to be named after Betty Griffin, check out some of the interviews from our earliest volunteers and employees on our Origins page.

Today, Betty Griffin Center shelters more than 550 victims of domestic and sexual abuse annually, operates a 24-hour help line, provides professional counseling for victims of domestic and sexual abuse, provides age-appropriate violence prevention training and operates two thrift stores at Julington Square and Anastasia Square to assist in funding the agency’s ongoing operations.

Safety Shelter of St. Johns County, Inc. (doing business as the Betty Griffin Center) shall comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 794, as implemented by 45 C.F.R. Part 84 (hereinafter referred to as Section 504) and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. 12131, as implemented by 28 C.F.R. Part 35 (hereinafter referred to as ADA).

This plan is available in alternative formats at the request of staff and participants. This plan will be disseminated to persons and agencies working with people living with a disability and Limited English Proficient and will be posted on Safety Shelter of St. Johns County, Inc’s website.

To review the plan, visit https://bettygriffincenter.org/auxiliary-aid-plan/