Womens Advocates Inc

Programs: Facilities/food programs -women's advocates is located in st. Paul. The building consists of three victorian homes connected together with fifteen bedrooms and six and one half bathrooms. During 2017-18, we provided shelter over 14,572 shelter days as women and families turn to us for life-saving help & support. Providing shelter and support services to 138 women and 160 children in which the majority remained in the shelter at least 45 days. Each year women's advocates has a full service kitchen with two full time staff to prepare three meals a day, seven days a week, with snacks provided throughout the day. Space is also dedicated to children's programming, support groups, crisis line reception area, administrative office space and an enclosed playground.

women's program - while women stay at the shelter, the women's program provides them with legal protection assistance, public assistance navigation, daily women's support and educational groups, mental health counseling, and connections to housing resources. Daily support groups were available to all women during their stay, including a domestic violence support group, community resource group, parenting education group, parent/child communication group, and chemical health group. In the 2017-2018 fiscal year, 113 crisis interventions took place for the women staying at our shelter, and 2,370 hours of individual support were provided to residents by family advocates. 56% of women came from the east metro area. Women's advocates helped residents to increase their stability and opportunity for independent, violence-free living by working with partners to assist each resident in completing a needs assessment, building an individualized goal plan, and marshalling comprehensive wraparound services in legal assistance, health care, mental health counseling, education and employment. Residents found stable, safe housing on their own, with family or friends, or through other housing programs.

sheila wellstone children's program - children at the shelter had access to parent/child case management, safety planning, school support and drop-in childcare. Children staying at women's advocates arrived with their mothers who were escaping domestic violence. A full-time children's case manager worked with each child and their mother at the shelter to nurture their childhood development as the family planned for a stable and peaceful future. Each child, age four and older, created an age-appropriate safety plan with their mother and the case manager. 128 children participated in children's activities and educational programming at the shelter in the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The children's program also provided an average of 18 hours of child care for each child while their mothers attended support groups, met with their advocate, or attended job or housing interviews. The case manager also worked to get each school-aged child back into school within two to three days of arrival.