Noah Flug | Independent Newsmedia<\/p>\n
At Hope Women\u2019s Center, a woman in crisis does not need a referral, proof of income or even a clear idea of what kind of help she needs.<\/p>\n
She can walk in, fill out paperwork and begin taking classes the same day. She can meet with a mentor, get help finding shelter, use free childcare while she is on site and earn points to shop for diapers, food, clothes, toiletries and other necessities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very big on no barriers to entry,\u201d CEO Tammy Abernethy said. \u201cWhoever comes in, we serve. Everything is free.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hope Women\u2019s Center began in 1984 as a crisis pregnancy center in Apache Junction. It later expanded its mission as staff saw women and teen girls coming in with needs beyond pregnancy support.<\/p>\n
Today, the faith-based nonprofit operates seven physical locations across Arizona, including its Phoenix headquarters on McDowell Road, and offers 18 programs. Its mission, Abernethy said, is to \u201cengage, encourage and equip women and teen girls\u201d facing difficult life situations.<\/p>\n
That work is becoming more urgent, Abernethy said, as families face higher costs and more women arrive with trauma connected to abuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, we are seeing a spike in domestic violence, which is always unfortunate,\u201d Abernethy said. \u201cThere is a lot of economic stress right now. Everything\u2019s costing more and people are struggling.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city of Phoenix Human Services Department said it has \u201cexperienced a noticeable increase\u201d in domestic violence victim referrals since March, though the division said it cannot determine whether domestic violence cases overall have increased because it is not the central reporting agency.<\/p>\n
Victims in Phoenix most commonly face \u201cfinancial instability, limited or unavailable domestic violence-specific shelter beds, fear and isolation, and challenges navigating the criminal justice system,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n
Those barriers are familiar at Hope, where Abernethy said abuse is part of many women\u2019s stories, even if it is not always the first thing they say when they arrive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey come usually because they hear that they\u2019re able to get free resources,\u201d she said. \u201cThey come for community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hope\u2019s model is built around choice. Women earn points by participating in programs, then use those points to select items they need. Abernethy said that approach is intentional, whether a mother is picking out a child\u2019s birthday gift or choosing clothes for work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted the feeling of empowerment for her,\u201d she said. \u201cShe earns the points. She shops.\u201d<\/p>\n
The center offers parenting classes, emotional health classes, workforce development, counseling, support groups and mentoring. It also teaches classes often required by the Department of Child Safety but removes two major barriers: cost and wait time.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe doesn\u2019t have to wait,\u201d Abernethy said. \u201cShe can start taking the classes right away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hope also has a program focused on preventing children from entering foster care by helping stabilize families before separation becomes necessary. Often, Abernethy said, that means helping a mother experiencing domestic violence, addiction in the home or neglect.<\/p>\n
The nonprofit does not provide housing, but mentors sit with women as they call shelters and help them narrow options based on their circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not just going to hand her a sheet of paper,\u201d Abernethy said. \u201cSomeone\u2019s there with her, encouraging her.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The city said nonprofits are especially important as federal funding reductions strain resources across the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach victim’s needs and pace of recovery are different, and strong collaboration in advocacy, housing, legal assistance and basic-needs support is critical,\u201d the department said.<\/p>\n
Hope does not receive government funding and instead relies on private donors, churches, foundations, volunteers and donations. Abernethy said the organization has more than 2,000 volunteers each year and about 90% of its work is volunteer supported.<\/p>\n
Its fastest growth has come through Hope on the Road, a mobile pop-up model that brings classes, mentoring and connections to services into partner sites such as food banks. The program began in 2024 with one partner. Abernethy said it now serves about 60 sites.<\/p>\n
The growth reflects a larger goal, she said: making sure women in crisis are not left to navigate danger, poverty or trauma alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur vision is that no woman or teen girl in Arizona would ever have to face a crisis alone,\u201d Abernethy said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tHope Women\u2019s Center,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t domestic violence,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Phoenix,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t victim services,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t women in crisis,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t nonprofit,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t mentoring,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t child care,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t economic stress,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t foster care prevention\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Noah Flug | Independent Newsmedia At Hope Women\u2019s Center, a woman in crisis does not need a referral,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1017139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,25710,32551,407004,407005,407001,28359,8622,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,407002,407003],"class_list":["post-1017138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-child-care","tag-domestic-violence","tag-economic-stress","tag-foster-care-prevention","tag-hope-womens-center","tag-mentoring","tag-nonprofit","tag-phoenix","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-victim-services","tag-women-in-crisis"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117139510693753918","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1017138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1017138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1017139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1017138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1017138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1017138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}