Updated on Grant to Haven

The Women’s Fund likes writing checks. However, even better is getting to see how the funds change lives.

Last year the Women’s Fund provided presented Haven with a $3000 grant to help victims of domestic violence through their client employment initiative.

The grant enabled ongoing client support from their Manager of Resources and Community Partnerships as well as the purchase of twenty-five gas cards to help clients pay for work transportation. Clients receive individual or group counseling services based on their needs. In addition, gas cards were distributed to clients strictly, so they could pay for transportation to and from work. Approximately 30-40 survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault will be assisted thanks to the generosity of the Women’s Fund.

The client employment initiative at HAVEN is a step toward freedom from abuse for each of the clients in need. Many clients at HAVEN have poor employment histories or have not worked in a long time. These employment challenges create a significant barrier for clients who wish to achieve independence from their abusers. While they have provided basic employment services in the past, HAVEN’s new modified Family Justice Center provides a comprehensive Career Center and Resource Room at the same location as their residential shelter and all counseling services.

HAVEN’s Career Center offers career exploration and counseling, professional clothing, a resource library, and a computer lab. HAVEN collaborates with Michigan Works in Waterford and other private agencies that provide employment groups to focus on resume building, the interview process, and dressing for success. HAVEN also collaborates with Career Dress, an organization that provides clients with professional clothing for employment interviews.

More than 150,000 households in Oakland County alone directly experience domestic violence or sexual assault, across all socio-economic levels. HAVEN is Oakland County’s only agency dedicated exclusively to serving victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. As HAVEN serves primarily low to middle-income victims, those seeking their services may need to obtain jobs, education or transportation to improve their economic self-sufficiency.

Over the past 16 years, the Women’s Fund has donated more than $300,000 to organizations helping women. The fund is a permanently endowed fund owned and administered by the Community Foundation of Greater Rochester. Through grant-making, the Fund provides ongoing and future support for programs that aid women while preserving and managing its donations in perpetuity by spending only the fund’s income and annual earnings.

For more information on the Women’s Fund, please visit their website at www.womensfundrochester.org or for questions please call (248) 812-0763 or emailwomensfundrochester@gmail.com. You can also follow them on Facebook at “The Women’s Fund.”