How a One Pierce loan helped Rebuilding Hope renovate its new Hilltop headquarters

For more than 50 years, the Rebuilding Hope Sexual Assault Center has been a steady presence, responding when sexual violence affects people in Pierce and Kitsap counties. Established in 1975 as Pierce County Rape Relief, it is the longest-running sexual assault center in Washington state.

Today, Rebuilding Hope offers a comprehensive, coordinated range of services for survivors and their communities. Its confidential advocacy services provide emotional support, medical accompaniment and legal advocacy for survivors and their loved ones. The organization also provides trauma-informed counseling for individuals, couples and families on a sliding scale, ensuring no one is turned away due to cost.

The center’s 24/7 helpline provides immediate support for people experiencing or reporting sexual harassment, sexual assault and other sex-related crimes. Last year alone, the helpline fielded 3,753 calls.

Beyond direct services, Rebuilding Hope delivers training and prevention education for local law enforcement, human services professionals, K–12 students, and caregivers throughout Pierce and Kitsap counties. 

Space to Serve Survivors

For most of its history, Rebuilding Hope operated out of functional but cramped leased spaces. In spring 2024, after years of planning, the organization purchased a building in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood. The 9,000-square-foot facility, formerly used for manufacturing, required significant renovations to become a warm, welcoming space.

The organization secured major grants to support the project, but those funds were not always available when expenses arose. With critical systems such as the roof and HVAC at risk of failing before reimbursements arrived, Rebuilding Hope needed short-term financing to bridge the gap.

One Pierce, Elevate Health’s social impact fund, stepped in with a bridge loan, enabling renovations to move forward without disrupting daily operations or client services. 

"It gave us some breathing room," says Carolyn Sampson, executive director of Rebuilding Hope (pictured above). "It allowed us to move at the pace the projects required."

While crews installed a new roof and HVAC system, smaller upgrades moved forward at the same time. These included adding landscaping and security features, removing old manufacturing equipment, repairing and replacing flooring and light fixtures, painting, and furnishing the space through donations.

"We wanted clients to feel like they were coming to a place that honors them," Sampson says. "Anxiety and fear already create barriers to picking up the phone or walking through the door. We wanted to remove as many of those barriers as we could."

Immediate Impact

Since opening in January 2025, the new headquarters — nicknamed the “Healing Headquarters” by staff — has logged more than 2,000 in-person visits and new survivor group meetings.

“Our ability to see clients more immediately, I think that's had an immediate benefit,” Sampson said in a 2025 interview with King 5 News. “We can schedule clients to be seen simultaneously, we can see multiple clients for therapy services at the same top of the hour. We can see multiple clients for in-person advocacy support at the top of the hour, whereas at our last site, we couldn't do that.”

The new facility has doubled the center’s available space for staff and clients. Plans are already underway to renovate the lower level into a drop-in center for survivors.

More than a new building, the Healing Headquarters stands as a lasting promise: survivors in Pierce and Kitsap counties will always have a place to turn.