The Shelter recently received a check for $350,000 from the Naples Children & Education Foundation, founders of the Naples Winter Wine Festival. This funding will provide a variety of children’s programs and services at The Shelter.

Thirteen women recently graduated from The Shelter’s Allstate Financial Literacy classes, sponsored by the Allstate Foundation. As a result of these classes, we continue to see participants meeting their financial goals. Most of our participants are meeting their goal to make monthly deposits into their Individual Development Account (IDA), which will be matched by The Shelter through the Allstate Foundation at the end of the one-year class.

Each month, participants meet with their Economic Empowerment Advocate to discuss personal financial goals, which may include things like resume building, job readiness, repairing credit, English classes, securing or advancing employment, and furthering their education to enhance their skills set.

Participants are also following the budget established with their advocate and are saving money, many of them for the first time in their lives. One participant saved enough funding to take part in the Habitat for Humanity program and now has a home for herself and her daughter.

The program also helps survivors create an emergency fund that will make it possible to leave their abusers. Victims of domestic violence who have more financial independence from their abusers are more likely to leave and remain violence free. To empower survivors, The Shelter has partnered with the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the National Network to End Domestic Violence and the Allstate Foundation to provide survivors with financial literacy.

Thanks to a grant from the Allstate Foundation, participants attend four financial classes in October and then continue with monthly individual counseling sessions with The Shelter’s Economic Empowerment Advocate for one year. At the beginning of the program, participants open an Individual Development Account at a designated bank and save on a monthly basis. After a year of saving, the women receive a match. The amount of the match depends on the funding received by The Shelter. Economic empowerment groups are also held in emergency shelter.

During the classroom portion of the program, participants learned about identity theft, budgeting and saving, banking options, credit basics, investments, car maintenance, insurance, taxes, housing, job readiness and more.

Leaving an abusive relationship is a process, not an event; survivors often return several times before the separation is permanent. Economic dependency is the strongest predictor of a survivor’s decision to remain, leave, or return to an abusive relationship.

CLICK HERE to learn more about The Allstate Financial Literacy Program. For more information on The Shelter, call 239-775-3862 or email sdorfman@naplesshelter.org

Thank you to the Board of Mission & Outreach at Naples United Church of Christ for their grant award of $3,000 to benefit The Shelter’s emergency shelter. The grant will be utilized to purchase one filtered bottle filling stating  for the emergency shelter and one ice machine bin that will be utilized by shelter residents, participants utilizing our onsite services and staff.

Last year, funding from the NUCC Board of Mission benefitted The Shelter’s Transitional Housing program and Emergency Shelter.

Transitional Housing provides addresses one of the top needs for survivors of domestic violence.  Since 2008, The Shelter’s Transitional Housing program has provided safe, affordable, and supportive transitional housing for survivors of domestic violence and their children who are facing homelessness. It is the goal of Transitional Housing to maintain an empowerment-based, safe and secure living environment for domestic violence survivors.

The Emergency Shelter is a state-of-the-art 60-bed residential shelter located at a confidential site in Naples; serving all of Collier County, FL. In addition to providing a safe haven, The Shelter provides:

On April 19, 2015, several of The Shelter’s Immokalee Outreach Office team members met with Todd Evans and Sara Howell of Pro Literacy to discuss the “Stay’N Connected” initiative, which expands access to Adult Literacy Services.

In March 2015, The Shelter launched Stay’N Connected as an eight-week pilot program to assist native Spanish-speakers, who often face barriers getting out of an abusive environment because of limited English language skills.

For more information on Stay’N Connected, CLICK HERE

 

 

Thank you to Ann Bares, Vice President Volunteer Engagement with United Way, and 15 volunteers from the law firm of Bond, Schoeneck, and King, who volunteered two hours of time to The Shelter’s Options Thrift Shop, June 24. The volunteers organized artwork in the warehouse, tested the store’s electronics, color coordinated the men’s and women’s clothes on the floor, among other much appreciated services. We are grateful for the efforts of this fun, enthusiastic and hard working group.