Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh

Wc&s' confidentially located, secure emergency Shelter housed 161 adults and 146 children for a total of 14,075 nights in fy 2023, serving 42,225 meals to residents. Core services for Shelter residents include counseling, safety planning, goal planning, support groups, and advocacy for housing, finances, career, health, behavioral health, and other needs. Wc&s also provides food, toiletries, clothing, and other essentials so that families can begin their healing journeys without worrying about their meeting their immediate needs.

Wc&s' civil law project provides free legal representation to victims of intimate partner violence in matters including protection from abuse orders, custody and child support, and divorce. In fy 2023, the civil law project provided legal assistance for clients in 881 legal matters. In addition to expenses incurred by wc&s for the civil law project, wc&s also has an affiliated agency which incurs expenses for this single program service.

Wc&s' legal advocacy department helps survivors of intimate partner violence navigate the court system by providing information, resources, counseling, and ongoing support free of charge. Legal advocates may guide survivors through obtaining protection from abuse orders and accompany them to court hearings. These advocates work with the justice system to improve procedures and to train police on ipv issues. In fy 2023, the legal advocacy department provided legal advocacy to 4,896 adult clients.

Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh achieves its mission by offering a comprehensive range of free and confidential services to meet the various needs of adult and child intimate partner violence victims and survivors at every point along their journeys. In fy 2023, wc&s provided lifesaving services such as counseling, advocacy, and emergency response to 7,605 adults experiencing intimate partner violence and their children, including 24,437.63 hours of counseling. In addition, wc&s provided prevention and intervention programming to 284 men who are abusive. On march 9, 2023, the bright sky domestic violence mobile app and website was officially launched in the united states at a panel discussion event that ran parallel to the 67th session of the commission on the status of women (csw 2023). Bright sky is presented in the u.s. by Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh and vodafone americas foundation, in collaboration with aspirant, no more, thames valley partnership, and domesticshelters.org. A free, safe, and easy-to-use app and website, bright sky connects those impacted by domestic violence to practical information to educate, detect warning signs, and deliver life-saving information and features to respond to domestic violence while offering a secure route for support.through Women's Center & Shelter's participation in the diagnostic vibrant index 4.0, vibrant Pittsburgh has designated wc&s as a vibrant champion for utilizing best practices addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion through our policies and workplace practices. The vibrant index is designed to provide an annual snapshot of the best practices being utilized by employers in the Pittsburgh region. In the last fiscal year, Women's Center & Shelter provided the following services to victims of intimate partner violence and their children:hotline services: wc&s' hotline advocates answered 3,934 crisis calls from 1,826 unduplicated clients in fy 202. The advocates assess the callers' safety (and contact emergency responders when needed), offer counseling, and walk the callers through creating and updating safety plans. Information and referrals provided by the advocates enable callers to make choices about next steps. Whether their choice is to seek Shelter, seek safe housing elsewhere, or start or continue to plan a safe exit, hotline advocates help to facilitate these next steps. In may 2020, wc&s added text and chat features so that victims can contact the hotline via sms or through a chat box on our website. 407 text chat interactions to 285 unduplicated clientsemergency Shelter: wc&s' emergency Shelter housed 161 adults and 146 children for a total of 14,075 nights in fy 2023, serving 42,225 meals to residents. The emergency Shelter provides safety for adults and children in immediate, lethal danger. Core services for Shelter residents include safety planning, goal planning, and advocacy for housing, career, health, and mental/behavioral health. Wc&s provides food, toiletries, towels, blankets, clothing, and other essentials so that families can have their immediate needs met and can begin their journeys of healing. Survivors staying in the emergency Shelter can have their beloved pets housed in our pet suite, so their families can care for and spend time with their animals who have often also been abused as part of the cycle of violence. Children's advocacy program: in fy 2023, 120 children received 3,608 hours of direct service through the children's advocacy program, which offers a safe, welcoming, nurturing space where child victims of ipv can heal from trauma. Beyond addressing basic needs like medical care and school access, our child advocates collaborate with local organizations to bring fun, expressive activities to the children we serve. Importantly, the children's advocacy program also creates opportunities for mothers and their children to connect with each other while they work through some of the most difficult challenges they have faced. Wc&s also has a children, youth, and families program to serve individuals whose cases involve both ipv and child abuse.empowerment Center (wellness program): in fy 2023, non-resident clients received 3,436 hours of direct service through support groups and individual therapy. Support groups are offered at wc&s for ipv survivors who have exited Shelter and those who have not needed Shelter services. Groups cover topics like building life skills, seeking safety, recognizing reproductive coercion, fostering wellness, mothering, developing healthy relationships, and surviving trauma. Individual therapy is provided to help cope with the effects of ipv including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anxiety. This department also houses our immediate needs coordination program, which supported 473 clients with immediate needs, such as security systems, housing, utility shut-off or turn-on, and victim compensation funds.legal advocacy: in fy 2023, wc&s provided legal advocacy to 4,938 adult clients. Wc&s' legal advocacy department helps ipv survivors navigate the court system by providing information, resources, counseling, and ongoing support free of charge. Legal advocates may guide survivors through obtaining protection from abuse (pfa) orders and accompany them to court hearings. These advocates work with the justice system to improve procedures and to train police on ipv issues.medical advocacy: the medical advocacy coordinator maintains relationships between wc&s and local healthcare providers, distributing wc&s print materials to medical practices, delivering trainings to healthcare professionals and residents who work with patients who are experiencing intimate partner violence, and meeting with patients admitted to hospitals for ipv-related injuries. In fy 2023, wc&s' medical advocacy coordinator provided outreach to 50 community events, delivered over 32 trainings to medical professionals at local hospitals and to medical students in classroom settings, provided 43 one-on-one consultations to healthcare professionals to better serve and advocate for patients experiencing ipv, and met with 17 patients at local hospitals who were assessed as high-danger victims to provide advocacy, information, and emotional support. Education & outreach: wc&s delivers training and presentations on ipv awareness and prevention to criminal justice professionals, students, clergy, corporations, and other professionals. In fy 2023, wc&s staff delivered 92 dating violence awareness and prevention programs to 1,774 students and provided ipv training to 3,146 professionals. Also housed in our education & outreach department is the mens (men embracing nonviolence and safety) program, which is an intervention group for men who abuse their intimate partners. These men are either court-ordered to the program or are self-referred, and our work focuses on challenging them to change their behaviors and stop being abusive to their partners and children. The mens program is a fee-based service, and is one of only four fully certified batterer intervention programs in allegheny county. The mens program served 284 participants around allegheny county. Additional programs housed in the education & outreach department include: services for immigrants, refugees, and limited english speakers; community-based support groups for survivors who face geographical barriers to seeking services; specialized community-based support groups and outreach for ipv survivors who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer, and the homeless providers program. Finally, wc&s' educational program standing firm delivers training to employers in southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond to recognize and respond to partner violence in the workplace and refer those affected by ipv to appropriate local resources. Increasingly, standing firm is building relationships with and developing training for large companies with multiple locations across the u.s. by expanding wc&s' reach through the employer community and beyond southwestern Pennsylvania, sf is enhancing prevention activities and reaching a Greater number of citizens in need of referral for assistance and safety.