West Women's and Children's Shelter

The ongoing project of West Women's and Children's Shelter has generated close to $5,000 of financial support to the shelter and our core services such as advocacy, meals, child care, emergency shelter, and support groups.  The shelter and transitional housing programs serve up to 200 women and children a year who are escaping domestic violence and seeking safety.  As governmental funding and private donations continue to become more restricted the support from GlobalGiving.org is extremely important to our ability to sustain services to those who need us.  The money raised from this project has gone directly to West Women's and Children's Shelter supporting our mission to create a safe nurturing environment for survivors to realize their potential for healing and growth as we work together to end domestic violence.

The following is what survivors are saying about the West “I would have never have made it without the help of the West Women’s Shelter and their Advocates, all staff should be given a certificate of excellence for services provided, staff is very compassionate and understanding and know how access resources for survivors, thank you for believing in me and being my support, I was blessed to be at the West and get the help I needed to help me and my children stay out of a violent situation, I came in with a backpack, I received such support, I built up my self esteem with the help of staff and other residents encouraging me, people helping people, I learned I am not alone, and that I can always reach out for help and the West will be there for me and my family.  Someday I want to give back with my kids at the shelter.”  This is just some of the very valuable feedback we have received from participants exiting shelter about our services.

Since 1980, The West Women’s and Children’s Shelter has provided a safe, nurturing environment, emergency and transitional housing, and support services to domestic violence survivors and their children in the Portland area.  Our programs include:

Emergency Shelter/Assessment Program for victims of domestic violence and homeless women and children:  24-hour-a-day emergency housing, food, and clothing for 60 days. 

Transitional Housing Program:  Transitional housing for single women and children up to 24 months with a focus on self sufficiency and goal planning.

Family and Children’s Program: Therapeutic childcare services including the Portland Children’s Intervention Program (PChiP), a program that was developed with funding from the City of Portland to help small Children who have witnessed domestic violence. 

 Additional Client Support includes advocacy, parenting classes, culturally specific domestic violence groups, childcare, GED tutoring and preparation, self defense and safety workshops, educational support, employment and housing resources, drug and alcohol support groups and many other services.

The generous donations received via www.globalgiving.org has continued to sustain these services for domestic violence survivors and we are very grateful for the ongoing support for this project.