CINCINNATI — For some, escaping a violent situation at home is a reality that means leaving everything behind. Now, thanks to a local nonprofit, new funding and community support, hundreds of women and children will soon have another option to find safety and shelter thanks to a new YWCA location.
"Most families that come to us, come to us with absolutely nothing," said Rickell Howard Smith.
Howard Smith says they've seen it all at the YWCA.
"Several years ago, we had a family at our Clermont County shelter that came to us in bathing suits because that was the only time that mom saw that there was an out to be able to escape with her family," she said.
Howard Smith is a civil rights attorney and the President & CEO of the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati.
"YWCA operates the only domestic violence survivor shelter here in the county and we have since 1978. So we have a long history," she said. "We see people of all socioeconomic backgrounds, religions, genders as well."
The new shelter in Uptown will feature 21 individual units, double their current capacity and offer both privacy and healing for about 600 women and children every year.
"So our new shelter has a trauma-informed design. And what that means is it is specially designed for families to accelerate their healing process where they can feel safe," she said. "A lot of times when families have to enter a shelter, they have to abide by new rules. And they're fleeing a situation where they were controlled. So this new design, which is an apartment-style design, allows the families to have some autonomy, and also, particularly the children in the family to feel as if they weren't uprooted from their homes, they have a nice place to stay."
On average, it takes about 32 days for a family to move-on from the shelter. Howard Smith says this model will shorten that time and make room for others who need their services.
“When I came into this [CEO] role in February, we had already purchased the building but there was no solid plan to move forward. And as I started learning my role and understanding the community need, I knew that this renovation needed to happen very, very quickly,” she said.
But knowing what you need and finding a solution can be two very different things. And that’s where Uptown Consortium Inc comes in.
UCI is a nonprofit community development corporation dedicated to revitalizing Uptown Cincinnati.
Beth Robinson, president and CEO of UCI, explained how Federal New Market Tax Credits will be used for the construction of this shelter, which will cost $7.6 million when all is said and done.
"The credits are designed to attract private investment into areas that need it. So we use those credits to monetize those credits to attract investors. And then we use the investor money to provide gap financing for projects that otherwise may not be able to go forward," Robinson said. "In this particular case, this was such a worthy project and an impactful project to the community that we allocated the $5 million to go towards that."
Any time you’re talking about millions of dollars it can sound pricey, but Howard Smith said it’s a very small price to pay for the safety of families having the courage to walk away from a life they once knew.
"So that [families] can get ready to take the first step towards their safe and secure life," Howard Smith said.
The shelter will also include a pet kennel and trauma-informed playground and basketball court. The shelter is now in the construction phase, and UCI said board members are already looking for the next impactful project in Uptown.
