Women’s Community Shelters (WCS) is a DGR1 charity, registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission. Our mission is to work with local communities to establish new crisis accommodation shelters for women and children who are homeless or leaving domestic and family violence. WCS currently has 7 operating shelters across NSW, with a further 2 due to open in late 2021. We need your help to establish and operate a much-needed shelter in the Revesby area for women and children experiencing domestic and family violence and homelessness. WCS will work with Revesby Worker’s Club (the property owner) and the local Revesby Women’s Shelter Steering Committee to establish a new crisis accommodation shelter for up to five women and their children, providing safe housing for around 3 months, casework support including referrals to medical, psychological, legal, educational and immigration assistance, along with specialised support for children. Women will be assisted to access pathways towards long-term affordable housing, employment, education and training and will be supported with ongoing assistance towards violence free futures. Our vision is for a shelter which provides immediate crisis assistance for women and children who need it, and a surrounding community which understands and assists in taking responsibility to help solve domestic and family violence.
The most obvious outcome of the project's success will be the opening of a new crisis accommodation shelter for women and children in the proposed location. WCS has successfully established 7 shelters with another two in development (including Revesby), and have proven success in delivering on our critical path to shelter opening. We anticipate being able to open by the end of 2021 with all milestones going to plan. The success of the shelter's operations will be measured in accordance with the WCS shelter model, including the appropriate number of women and children supported, with 95%+ moving on to safe lives, free from violence, in affordable housing.
WCS uses a cloud-based data collection and outcomes reporting system to identify our outcomes and social impact across the sector. The system clearly demonstrates the positive outcomes we achieve for our shelter residents, the community contributions in time and in kind and offers reporting and data on bed availability and up to date statistics. This system allows for a greater understanding of our impact for women in our services and can highlight key client outcomes such as; safety, housing, education and employment, self-efficacy, justice, mental and physical wellbeing, parenting and social connection. WCS submits monthly outcomes data to the Australian Institute of Housing and Welfare (AIHW) to help inform best practice within the domestic violence and homelessness sectors.
When we invest in women and girls, we are investing in the people who invest in everyone else.
Also known as Australian Women Donors Network (ABN: 28 141 197 471), Australians Investing in Women is a registered charity endorsed by the Australian Tax Office as a deductible gift recipient (DGR1) under a special listing, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.