Clackamas Women's Services offers women & children more than a safe place to sleep. CWS provides broken families with long-term emotional and financial support, and transitional housing to ensure their successful journey from crisis to stability. The Crisis Line has provided support and encouragement to several women in immediate need of support.
Beyond the critical services CWS offers women & children escaping abuse, CWS' objective is to reduce the incidence of family violence through public education. We offer community education workshops to a variety of churches, businesses and schools in Clackamas County as well as a variety of programs to assist women in need.
The Crisis Line
CWS volunteers & staff respond to thousands of crisis calls each year. Of those calls, about 75% are related to domestic or sexual violence. The remaining callers have questions regarding general information & referral services. Calls come from not only women & children directly experiencing abuse, but also from friends, family members and co-workers concerned about their loved ones.
CWS has also opened an account with the Language Line facilitating communication with callers speaking over 300 different languages.
Emergency Shelter
Hundreds of women and children call our shelters "home" during any given year.
On average, residents found safety in our shelter for two-and-a-quarter weeks. This trend is consistent as the average length of stay incrementally increases each year.
While there, residents receive much-needed emergency suplies such as food, clothing & toiletries. CWS is entirely dependent upon community donations to fill these needs.
Women staying in shelter receive counseling & case management services to begin the healing process and begin planning for their futures. Often this entails advocacy on behalf of participants to obtain much-needed medical, legal and other services.
Several nights a week shelter residents gathered for domestic violence classes and self-care groups. These offer opportunities for women to share their experiences, to learn more about the dynamics of family violence, and to focus on their own needs.
In terms of who we sheltered in 2006-2007, 58% were Caucasians and 42% were from communities of color. The largest ethnic population besides Caucasians sheltered by CWS was Latina women & their children.
Children's Services
CWS' Children's Program provided services to many children in shelter this year, including developmentally-appropriate support groups, weekly play-groups and 1:1 sessions. Our Children's Program is committed to working with each child to develop their own "safety plan" before they leave shelter.
Staff & volunteers also offer parenting information and support with each family. In order to meet specific family needs, the Children's Program makes many referrals for other community services including: Head Start, Healthy Start, immunizations, CARES NW Child Abuse Assessment Center, child-care facilities & mental health counseling.
We continue to help families enroll children in the local elementary, middle & high schools when they move to shelter. Additionally, much appreciated donations help us give families the necessary school supplies throughout the year.
The Children's Program continues to offer field-trips throughout the year, especially in the summer. Donated passes to the Zoo, OMSI & tickets to the Northwest Childrens Theater allows us to take children on fun and educational outings!
In the winter, we like to take young children to the local library on those days when it is just too cold to play outside. Other donated passes permit women to take their children to events in the community. This offers families wonderful opportunities to have a good time together while they are in the midst of so many changes.
CWS' Children's Program depends upon volunteers throughout the year to help with field trips & play groups. Volunteers give 1:1 time to children in need of a little extra attention. In addition, CWS is thrilled to enlist both female and male volunteers in providing positive role modeling for children.
Transitional Housing
CWS' Transitional Housing Program is a coordinated effort to provide assistance and support to women & children beginning lives free from violence. Families enter this program as they move from our 30-day emergency shelter.
In 2006-2007, 27 families received rental assistance in our Transitional Housing Program. CWS works closely with apartment complexes to place families and to monitor their progress. Additional financial support is given to assist families with utility bills and other needs such as childcare, transportation, household supplies, newspapers for employment purposes, camp for children, and parenting classes.
The objectives of CWS' Transitional Housing Program include: assisting participants in obtaining permanent housing, increasing their skills & income, and achieving greater self-determination in their lives. All participants receive a variety of home-based supportive services uniquely tailored to fit their family's specific needs and future goals.
In 2003-2004 , 50% of participants completed job-readiness programs and 50% increased their families' income. Nearly all participants (90%) used their year in the Transitional Housing Program to improve their credit & rental histories. And 50% of families leaving the program that year moved into permanent housing.
Community Support Groups
CWS continues to offer a variety of support groups throughout Clackamas County. Often, women still living in abusive homes turn to these support groups for connection with other survivors, for education regarding the dynamics of family violence, and for information about local resources.
CWS' community support groups are primarily facilitated by trained volunteers.
Outreach Services
Twenty-four women walked into our Outreach Office in 2003-2004. Staff assist these drop-in clients with a range of services such as safety planning, finding alternative housing, immigration issues, restraining orders, and emotional support.
Our two Family Violence Specialists are stationed at the Department of Human Services in Oregon City and Clackamas, and they serve as a safety net for victims. These individuals also offer family violence consultation to other service providers, such as child protection workers, schools, law enforcement officers and the welfare department.
We have expanded our Outreach Program to focus on rural areas and expand our community education trainings. Staff have been spending a great deal of time in the Mollala area networking with community leaders, holding town meetings, and passing out information, since we would like to fill in the gaps in community resources and information which are much needed in the more rural parts of Clackamas County.
Finally, CWS has outreach posters, brochures, and information to be distributed by business owners or other individuals throughout the community (available in English, Spanish & Russian).
Trainings & Speaking
CWS completed 96 speaking engagements in 2006-2007. We offer these domestic & sexual violence trainings to other service providers, to incarcerated women, to youth programs, to businesses & Chambers of Commerce, to churches and to area middle- & high-schools.
Updated statistics for each year can be found in our Annual Reports.
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