Their Mission:

The Downtown Women’s Center (DWC) is the only organization in Los Angeles focused exclusively on serving and empowering women experiencing homelessness and formerly homeless women.

We envision a Los Angeles with every woman housed and on a path to personal stability. Our mission is to end homelessness for women in greater Los Angeles through housing, wellness, employment, and advocacy.

Founded in 1978, DWC was the first:

• Permanent supportive housing provider for women in the U.S.
• Health clinic exclusively for women in Skid Row (and we remain the only one today)
• Critical Time Intervention provider on the West Coast
• Drop-in Day Center exclusively for homeless women in the city of Los Angeles (and we remain the only one today)
• Organization to ask women experiencing homelessness what they really needed and set about meeting that need

Downtown Women’s Center is built on a friendship that grew between a homeless woman named Rosa and an outreach worker named Jill Halverson. This friendship inspired Jill to open DWC and establish a community through which the lives of women like Rosa could be restored. In the 40 years since Jill’s extraordinary act of compassion, we’ve reached thousands of women and transformed countless lives.

Homelessness is not inevitable, but a societal problem that bears especially hard on women. Ending women’s homelessness cannot happen alone. We need committed Los Angeles communities and people like you to help us change inequitable systems and individual lives.

Our Mission:

The men of Cal X SigEp at Loyola Marymount University are dedicated to helping the DWC and their mission. Through philanthropy, service, and fundraising we have and will continue to raise funds, awareness, and recognition for the DWC. Their programs and opportunities for the greater LA community are integral to creating a real change in the lives of homeless women. We will do our part to assist them in continuing to provide and achieve such important resources. We also hope that you, our community & supporters, will assist us in our mission. 

 

For Philanthropic Questions & possible Collaborations please contact Calvin Foss:

cfoss2@lion.lmu.edu

 

The hot-links below are for anyone who would like to work with or donate to the DWC on their own. Anything helps, thank you!

Volunteer Information: https://www.downtownwomenscenter.org/volunteer/

Monetary Donations: https://www.downtownwomenscenter.org/donate/

Goods Donations: https://www.downtownwomenscenter.org/donate-goods/

Shop DWC Made Goods: https://madebydwc.org