City Mission Celebrates Grand Opening of Women with Children Shelter

City Mission Moves to Engage the Fastest-Growing Homeless Population in the US - Families with Children
Families with children are the fastest-growing homeless population in the US. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, 41% of the homeless population is comprised of families, and 84% of these families are headed by single women. That is why City Mission has expanded their Women with Children Shelter, doubling their capacity to house women and children in need.
On Thursday, October 25 at 10am on the City Mission campus, City Mission will celebrate the Grand Opening of their newly renovated Women with Children Shelter. “At the new Women with Children Shelter, women and children can get the help they need to build strong, stable lives,” said City Mission Chief Development Officer, Dr. Sally Mounts. “The children are given shelter, food, clothing, and medical care. They are enrolled in a highly-responsive school system. They have support groups and family therapy and are given presents on birthdays and at Christmas.
”City Mission’s newly-expanded Women with Children Shelter consists of 12 cozy suites, each uniquely designed to feel like home for a family in crisis. It can be a place of healing for broken families. “The women and children come here when they are at such a vulnerable and broken state of their life,” said Amber Miller, City Mission’s Housing Coordinator for the Women with Children Shelter. “It's so important for them to know that they are at a safe place and that they are able to get the love and the care that they need. While they’re here, they don’t have to worry about bills or about the outside stressors in the world. They can just come here and heal and just focus on themselves and their children.
”City Mission also provides safe and reliable childcare on site, which will be a significant help for single mothers seeking employment. “Single mothers are at a great risk,” said Leah Dietrich, the Director of Residential Programs at City Mission. “If they don’t have access to childcare, that can lead to missing work and losing a job, and without a financial safety net, it can lead to eviction and homelessness. ”The new shelter also helps keep families together, which can create a foundation for solid parenting and a stable future once the families leave the Mission. The mothers can work on their recovery by attending classes, counseling, and support groups during the day, and then they can spend every night in their own, private suite with their little ones.
“Women in recovery in the Washington area have very few options to continue to parent while also working on their recovery. At City Mission, we are able to provide that support,” said Dietrich.“Our Women with Children Program balances the needs of the women,” she added. “That includes recovery from whatever brought them to us as well as helping them build a solid foundation for parenting in the future. We will be offering addiction recovery classes, parenting classes, and codependency classes. These classes, combined with one-on-one support including counseling, case management and life skills will help us to move each family from homelessness to stable independent living. ”City Mission’s newly-expanded Women with Children Shelter is helping to build a better community by building strong, healthy families.
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