San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed and La Casa de las Madres, San Francisco’s leading provider of domestic violence response and prevention services, today celebrated the opening of a new Drop in Counseling Center for survivors of domestic violence. Over the past 20 years, La Casa’s Drop in Center has moved three times, as the program grew and needed more space. This acquisition, supported by a grant from the Office of Economic and Workforce Development’s Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative, provides La Casa with a permanent home and an additional 3,000 square feet of space to accommodate their domestic violence support services.

“Each year I hear from nonprofits like La Casa de las Madres whose high rents put their services at risk. With support from my Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative, organizations helping women, children and other vulnerable people have secured more than 100,000 square feet of newly nonprofit-owned space to ensure access to their services for years to come,” said Mayor Breed. “La Casa de las Madres is ending the cycle of domestic violence through crisis response, support services and prevention, and I’m glad the City is able to support them so they can continue their important work.”

La Casa de las Madres is one of four nonprofits to receive the highest possible award of $1 million, allowing them to overcome the high costs of real estate and grow their operations and services for women and children affected by domestic violence. Community Vision administers the awards through a competitive request for proposals.

“With rents continuing to rise in San Francisco, having the space to support the thousands of survivors of domestic violence each year was becoming increasingly difficult. The City’s support is truly transformational,” said Kathy Black, La Casa’s Executive Director. “We want all survivors to both believe in and actualize a life free from fear and abuse. With the help of the Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative, survivors and their children will always have a safe place to turn when they need it most.”

La Casa’s services have expanded in the last five years, adding partnerships with Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the Bayview Police Station, and the Human Services Agency to their comprehensive domestic violence response and prevention services. In addition to these more recent partnerships, La Casa operates a 24-hour emergency shelter, two crisis lines, a text line, and has advocates co-located at the San Francisco Housing Authority, the San Francisco Police Department Special Victims Unit, the Mary Elizabeth Inn, and select San Francisco Unified School District high schools. A diverse network of public and private funding supports these services.

“La Casa de las Madres provides a crucial lifeline to survivors of domestic violence, especially immigrant women, and helps them navigate the challenging process of securing their independence and safe housing,” said Joaquín Torres, Director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. “We are proud to support this acquisition that enables La Casa to stay rooted in the community they serve and provide more life-saving services to survivors escaping the cycle of domestic violence.”

La Casa aims to reach over 3,000 adult and child survivors of domestic violence each year. While the organization shelters nearly 400 individuals on an annual basis, the majority of their clients are participating in programs run through their Drop in Counseling Center. Increasing the size of this space allows for more support groups, peer counseling and one-on-one therapeutic support. La Casa’s new Center also has a large space for training volunteers and other service providers who work with survivors.

“We want as many people as possible to be able to recognize the warning signs of domestic violence, and know how to refer a victim or survivor to support services like La Casa. Training other community based service providers and volunteers to see, the signs, and provide the right referrals, means that an individual is more likely to get out of an unsafe or abusive situation sooner,” Black explained.

La Casa’s goal is to decrease the rate of domestic violence in San Francisco. Domestic violence affects one in four women each year and is leading cause of homelessness and economic instability for women in the City. In addition to serving survivors of domestic violence, La Casa works to avert domestic violence-related crises before they happen and before the survivor loses their housing, their job, or their health and well-being.

About La Casa de las Madres

La Casa de las Madres provides expert domestic violence intervention and prevention services to more than 20,000 San Francisco community members each year. In addition to a 35-bed confidentially located emergency shelter, La Casa’s services include an active Drop in Center, 24-hour Teen and Adult Hotlines, La Casa’s Teen Program, and community education and outreach. All services are free of charge, multilingual, confidential, and available to all victims of domestic violence. For more information about La Casa de las Madres, visit www.lacasa.org.

About the Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative

The Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative is led by the Office of Economic and Workforce Development in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and Community Vision to deploy a variety of tools to help stabilize nonprofits.

Since 2017, the program has awarded $9.3 million and assisted more than 100 San Francisco-based nonprofits. Information about the initiative and current resources for nonprofits may be found at www.oewd.org/nonprofits.

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