UP for Women and Children
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I'm Amy Meredith and I'm Andrea Scott and we're the founders of UP for Women and Children!
You may have heard of St John Center for Homeless Men and asked where do the women go?
We asked ourselves that question a few of years ago and that's when UP was born.
We were determined to give women and children facing homelessness a warm welcoming safe place with comprehensive services.
In one year, 1240 showers, 1162 loads of laundry, case management which gives referrals to resources for 439 women and children with an average of 40-60 women a day.
We don't do this work alone. We partner with agencies who perform legal, medical and mental health services onsite at no charge to our guests.
We've out grown our small basement space and desperately need to expand to more than 12 hours a week. This Aetna opportunity will give us the boost we need to get UP out of the basement.
UP for Women and Children
A staggering 93% of homeless mothers have experienced at least one trauma and 81% have experienced multiple traumatic events. In order for these women to feel safe, they need to have a space specifically designed for women only. Until we opened our doors in July of 2018, a space like this did not exist in our compassionate city.
UP for Women and Children is Louisville's first women's only day shelter. UP provides women and children with a warm and supportive daytime safe space to rest, build community, and find the resources they need to reclaim their lives. UP was founded in July 2017.
UP provides showers, laundry, a phone, mailing address, and crucial resource navigation - helping women navigate our complicated system to access housing, employment, financial benefits, IDs, birth certificates, health insurance, basic healthcare, and more.
UP provides a safe place for these women and an advocate to help them find stability and achieve their goals. Even though resources exist, people who are facing the monumental burden of homelessness have very little emotional, physical, and mental capacity to navigate a very complicated system. UP increases access, efficiency, coordination, and accountability of services to the women and children who are tragically not getting the help they need in our city. The need for these services has been evident in the number of people we have served. In our first year, we have served over 400 women and children.
Founders Amy and Andrea started this journey in 2017. As friends with diverse backgrounds, business and marketing and social work, and a passion for helping others; they worked together to found Uniting Partners (UP) for Women and Children. In 2016, Louisville's Continuum of Care identified a women's only day shelter with comprehensive services as the #1 need in Louisville's homeless system. They were met with overwhelming support and in July 2018, UP opened it's doors. Originally anticipating serving 200 women in their first year, UP reached those numbers in their first 4 months of operation.
In 1 years time, UP had 4,481 visits from 439 women and children in 139 shifts. We provided 1,162 loads of laundry and 1,240 showers. Of the 439 women and children we have worked with, 126 individuals have moved into safe housing and 13 individuals have returned home to loved ones. UP has provided 172 birth certificates and 104 ID's for the women and children we serve. All of this in 1 year's time and we are just getting started.
