About The Women's Safe House

Founded in 1977, The Women's Safe House (TWSH), formerly St. Louis Abused Woman Support Project, was the first domestic violence shelter is St. Louis. TWSH is a not-for-profit, 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to serving abused women and their children. The mission of The Women's Safe House is to provide safe shelter and support services to battered women and their dependent children and to empower women to make informed choices about their futures.

When a woman calls on the CRISIS HOTLINE, we make arrangements to have her picked up at a safe location and brought to the confidential shelter location. The Women's Safe House is one of the largest Domestic Violence shelters in the St. Louis area, and one of the few that can accommodate male children ages 12-17. Since moving into the new building in 1999, TWSH has provided over 50,000 bed-nights for more than 4,500 abused women and their children.

The primary goal of The Women's Safe House is to help women and their children escape the cycle of domestic violence by providing safe shelter, and programs that empower the women to live violence-free. TWSH provides assistance programs that protect the individual woman who has been or is being abused. We initially focus on the critical period after a woman leaves her home, providing her with food, shelter, and guidance. This is the period when a woman is most at-risk from the perpetrator seeking retribution, or when she might return to the home out of a sense of hopelessness.

With a staff of 20, TWSH offers not only safe shelter, but also support groups, children's programming, 24- hour CRISIS HOTLINE, support advocacy, a wide variety of referrals and linkages to community and social services and community education. While in residence, TWSH cares for the basic needs of residents by providing meals, clothing, personal hygiene items, and other household goods. TWSH offers a comprehensive Children's Program to assist and support children who are secondary victims of domestic violence. When the woman is ready to leave, the Child/Parent Outreach program helps furnish and move her and her children into her new safe, violence-free home.

We provide transportation assistance (primarily bus vouchers) to the women so they can seek medical assistance, go to job interviews, travel to their job (until they receive the first paycheck), attend school or take their children to therapy or other needed services. Active in the regional domestic violence network, through information and referral, we assist battered women with orders of protection, court advocacy and information on understanding and breaking the cycle of domestic abuse. We meet the basic needs of all of our residents by providing meals, clothing, personal hygiene supplies and household goods.

TWSH is also there to offer support and case management after she is living independently. Our Social Services/Outreach Manager assists with long term solutions, including job and housing searches, support groups and assistance maintaining her new violence-free home.

In 2008, we served 272 women and 278 children. These 550 victims were provided safety, shelter and protection from the real threat of violence in their own homes during 16,313 bed nights. We serve women with dependent children up to age 17 and are one of few shelters that provide support and safety for male children up to age 17. Last year, 95% of the women we served were 20-55 years of age; 82% were African- American and 80% had an income under $10,000 annually, 77% of the children were 0-10 years of age. Domestic violence knows no economic or racial boundaries. All of our programs are provided at no cost so that the women can save for their future and concentrate on actions needed to move to a violence free life. The Women's Safe House is a good steward of funds, with over 82 cents of every dollar being spent on direct services to women and children.

Our Volunteer Services and Community Education Programs strive to improve community involvement and awareness of domestic abuse and promote justice and social change. Volunteers are an integral part of TWSH culture and actually founded and operated the shelter for many years until professional staff was hired. We have numerous volunteer opportunities available both for short term and long term projects. Last year volunteers provided over 3,000 hours of invaluable assistance at the shelter.

We believe we empower battered women and children to live in safe, violence free homes, and based on the following quotes, we hope you will agree: