The mission of the Downtown Women’s Center is to provide permanent supportive housing and a safe and healthy community fostering dignity, respect, and personal stability, and to advocate ending homelessness for women.

Founded in 1978, DWC is the only resource in Los Angeles that is exclusively dedicated to serving the unique needs of homeless and very low-income women in downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row community.

OUR PROGRAM
DWC is nationally recognized as a prototype for unique and effective programs serving homeless women and ending homelessness. We were one of the first organizations to pioneer permanent supportive housing—a proven and cost effective model to ending homelessness.

Our services include meals, personalized case management, an on-site medical clinic, health workshops and screenings, computer literacy, government benefits advocacy, support groups, job counseling, and

self-expression classes.

DAY CENTER

The majority of the women who drop in to the DWC Day Center live on the streets, in encampments, or in night-to-night shelters. The Day Center provides a respite from the rigors of street life in a nurturing and safe community environment. On average, 140 women a day drop in to the Day Center where three meals — breakfast, lunch and a hearty afternoon snack — are served seven days a week. Women come to use clean, private bathrooms and showers. They rest in day beds, use laundry facilities, make phone calls, secure a mailing address, or get a fresh change of clothes.

•     200 women visit the drop-in Day Center each day

•     85,000 meals are prepared and 32,400 showers are taken annually

•     Popular services include: Meals, Showers, Computers, Telephones and Mail, and Counseling

Current Day Center hours are:
Monday thru Friday, 6am to 4pm
Saturday and Sunday, 7am to 3pm

Day Center Phone:

(213) 613-0761

RESIDENCE
Since 1986, DWC’s Residence has provided a stable community environment with supportive services assisting formerly homeless women to live in safety and dignity. Having a permanent home — not living night-to-night, shelter-to-shelter — is a life-altering experience for residents.
 
The DWC Residence offers a total of 119 apartments and provides permanent supportive housing and a community environment. Residents typically share certain characteristics – a mental illness, physical or emotional disability, and circumstances of aging and misfortune that have led to homelessness. Even so, in important ways, they are a richly diverse population. Differing socio-economic backgrounds account for a wide range of educational levels and life experience. Some of the women have never held a job, as a result of mental and/or physical illness or having relied on husbands or other family members for support. Others have advanced degrees and progressed in professional careers before the misfortunes such as mental illness or domestic violence which led to their homelessness intervened. 
 

•    DWC provides 119 units of permanent supportive housing

•    The average length of stay is 7 years

•    95% of the women we house stay housed permanently— a high

      success rate for ending homelessness

WOMEN SERVED BY DWC

•    4300 women were served in  2011—a 72% increase from 2010

•    Target population: The women who come to DWC are homeless,

      formerly homeless, or experiencing extreme poverty; they cope

      with mental and chronic illnesses, physical disabilities; chronic

      abuse and domestic violence, as well as ageing related-issues

•    Places where they have slept in the past year: 62% Shelter, 

      55% Street, 50% Motel, 38% Friends/Family, 30% Encampment

•    Demographics: 53% African-American, 22% White/Caucasian,

      12% Hispanic/Latina, 13% declined to state or other