The SAFE Program is our signature Emergency Shelter Assistance program to assist victims. 

The SAFE Program (Strengthening the At-Risk Family

Environment)is our signature Emergency Shelter Assistance

program to assist victims. The SAFE Program seeks to immediately

improve the housing, health, and development of homeless and at-

risk mothers and children. Since WCM has not acquired a

transitional housing facility we will employ an emergency mobile

case management model, meeting and serving clients where they

live. We place these women in hotels, extended stay suites and

apartments to immediately secure their safety until long term

arrangements can be made.

 

The SAFE Program serves the demographic of lower socioeconomic,

minority women between the ages of 18-30 with infants to children

8 years old. We find that many women in the lower socioeconomic

standing in this age range have formerly been in foster care, are

also previous victims of sexual and mental abuse and they

currently live in abusive and unhealthy residential environments.

When children in foster care reach the age of 18, they must fend for

themselves and for their children, so they often stay in an abusive

situation just to survive or suffer homelessness.

 

It is the experience of WCM that this demographic set of women is

unlikely to receive assistance from the larger domestic violence

agencies in the DFW Metroplex due to lack of access to

transportation and an overall lack of knowledge on how to obtain

such services. WCM primarily service clients in the Southern Sector

 

of Dallas that house a lower socioeconomic and underrepresented

population.

 

In today’s economic climate WCM has experienced a 50% increase

in our call volume from women seeking helping the DFW Metroplex.

 

 

The areas of coverage include:

 

 Cedar Hill

Duncanville

 Lancaster

 Oak Cliff

Pleasant Grove

Red Oak

South Dallas

Desoto

 

 

Target Population

This program will serve families consisting of a mother between the

ages of 18 and 30 with at least one child aged 8 or under. The

process evaluation identifies common threads from the client’s

perspective and in the client’s own words. It also provides an

opportunity to better understand clients’ strengths and challenges.

We are anticipating the following outcomes:

 

• Clients care deeply for their children and want to become a better

parent.

• Clients desire stable jobs and/or continuing their education.

 

• Clients are remarkably resilient despite having faced many

challenging and traumatic events.

• Clients have extremely difficult financial situations exacerbated by

limited education, lack of childcare and difficult-to-navigate our

hostile public benefits systems.

• Many clients have extensive substance abuse/chemical health

and mental health issues. Participants have histories of depression,

bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, and suicidal ideation or attempts.

• Many clients have a history of child welfare involvement. Some

spent time in the foster care system during their youth while others

have been separated from their children with many falling into both

categories.

• Transportation is a challenge for clients; few own their own vehicle

and public transit is either prohibitively expensive or unavailable.

• Safe stable housing is both difficult to find and financially difficult

to attain.