Downtown Womens Center

Programs: Abba house downtown women's center's first program to overcome addiction difficulties in homeless women was abba house, opened under sister mary virginia clark in 1989. Abba house is a large, two story building with 10 private efficiency apartments where women in recovery from addictions and their children may live for up to two years. There is very little turn over in residency at abba house since this is long-term recovery housing. These women usually have 6 months sobriety before moving to abba house from our other shelter, haven house. Extensive renovations to abba house in 2012 and 2013 necessitated women being moved into other accommodations; therefore, a lower number of women were served in fiscal year 2013-2014. Five women moved back into abba house on july 4, 2013 and slowly, qualified women moved from haven house to begin the more independent continued recovery program at abba house. Ten women and eleven children were served at abba house during 2013-2014. Seven women were graduated from dwc's recovery program in may 2014.

transitional housing the transitional housing program began at dwc in march 2004. Dwc contracted with the city of amarillo to provide intensive case management along with supportive services while the city provides rental assistance. This program is partially funded by a continuum of care super nofa federal grant with dwc providing the remaining funding through donations, special events, grants, and sales from our retail stores. This is a two-year program with families living in housing located throughout amarillo. Upon completion of the program, graduates qualify for section 8 (hud) housing. At the end of the 2012-13 fiscal year, dwc's transitional housing program had 39 families enrolled, which included 101 individuals, 56 of who were children. Dwc graduated 11 families from the transitional housing program in 2013-2014.

haven house women's alcohol and drug recovery center ceased to exist in 2007. They donated their facility, haven house, to dwc. Haven house is the entry level for homeless women in dwc's recovery program. Haven house has beds for 17 women who are usually new in the alcohol or substance abuse recovery. Many enter haven house from the streets with less than 24 hours of sobriety. Most of the women have lost everything, including their children, by the time they enter haven house. This facility has four large dorms with 4 women living in 3 of the dorms and 5 living in the largest dorm. Children are not able to reside with their mothers in this facility. There is also a commercial kitchen, dining area, and two living areas in the facility. Haven house was renovated in 2008, making this a very warm and welcoming home for the women in the program. 83 women were served at haven house during the 2013-14 fiscal year. A licensed chemical dependency counselor (lcdc) supervises the recovery program and holds the women accountable for their actions. Haven house is a recovery home and not a licensed treatment facility. Funding support comes from donations, grants, special events, and sales from our retail stores. Women are referred to abba house after completing 6 to 7 months at haven house. They are able to have their children at abba house.

exempt achievement in november 2003, dwc opened its first retail store, thrift city. Thrift city is a thrift store stocked solely from donations. The original store had clothing, shoes, household items, furniture, appliances, books, etc. Due to the huge success of the business, dwc collaborated with cal farley's boys ranch to open thrift city 2 on february 14, 2006 for the sales of furniture and appliances. In february 2008, dwc opened its third retail store, the uptown shoppe. The uptown shoppe is an upscale store with antiques, silver, crystal, and gently worn and new name-brand clothing. In may 2010, dwc opened its fourth store, named thrift city 3 for sale of holiday objects, toys, crafts, handicap items and tools. Dwc retail stores provided jobs to 40 homeless, elderly, physically and/or mentally disabled, low-income persons. The majority of these persons are considered hard to employ. Jobs include sorting donations, cashiering, hanging clothing, displaying merchandise, driving/working on our trucks, maintenance/janitorial, etc. These hard to employ staff run our stores and have done so very successfully. Since our first store opened on november 1, 2003, dwc retail stores have given away over 430,000 in merchandise (thrift store prices) to those in need in our community through referrals from over 60 agencies and churches. The four retail stores have financially contributed to funding all of the administrative costs of dwc. All money collected by individual/corporate donations, special events, and grants goes to the support of dwc programs. Most of the women living in haven house or abba house have health problems, criminal backgrounds, and low self-esteem. Most have limited job experience and do not know how to manage money. Through job training programs at our retail stores, many of these women begin to live as productive citizens for the first time in their lives. They must remain clean and sober as drug testing is done periodically. The training they receive while in our program allows them to eventually move on to full-time jobs in the community. We encourage our women to go to college or vocational school so they can obtain careers. Dwc provided emergency assistance to people in need from our community as monetary and in-kind donations to dwc allowed. We helped aproximately 588 people that walked through our doors but were not clients in any of dwc's programs or that were referred to us by another agency or church. Each of these individuals visited with a case manager who offered social services, counseling and/or assistance in one or more of the following areas:referrals for job opportunities; food and personal hygiene items from dwc's pantries; referrals or financial assistance with dental care, utilities, rent, gasoline, picture id's, and more. Through our retail stores (thrift city and thrift city 2), dwc gave away clothing, kitchenware, linens, furniture, and appliances. The thrift store value for these donated items totaled 45,686 to 1,313 people in need. Over 60 area agencies and churches refer people to our retail stores. Dwc requires referrals be written on agency/church letterhead and that the client is currently receiving case management through the agency/church.