Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh

We will strengthen our ability to meet the individual and evolving needs of those affected by domestic violence by investing in the growth of our people, deepening community engagement, and amplifying the voices of all survivors.

We exist to end domestic violence and create safe spaces for help, healing, and hope.

Goal One: Cultivate financial resources and develop structures to enhance organizational stability and sustainability.

Goal Two: Reflect and amplify the voices of all survivors.

Goal Three: WC&S to advance the national conversation about domestic violence and to be seen as a thought- and action-leader.

In the past 12-18 months, Women’s Center & Shelter offered a leadership development series presented by the consulting firm, Aspirant, and the WC&S Director of Human Resources. Topics included Self-Development, Performance Evaluation training, Recognizing and Avoiding Common HR Risks, Personal and Professional Effectiveness, and more to all supervisors and leaders within the agency. Within every employee’s annual evaluation is an opportunity to create a professional development goal, which a supervisor then provides resources around for the employee to achieve. WC&S also provides a leadership training series for all new supervisors, as well as a New Employee Mentoring Group.

In the wake of intimate partner violence-related homicides in Allegheny County – and in light of the increase in overall homicides across the country during and after the COVID-19 pandemic – Women’s Center & Shelter changed the way we work with high-danger survivors who are most at risk for being killed by their partner or ex-partner. Although all Emergency Shelter residents are in potentially lethal danger, this initiative identifies survivors in need of additional and intense coordination among external systems and case management to remain safe. Once the initiative was implemented in 2022, we quickly learned how important and time-consuming it is, and realized we needed to create a management-level position to continue to implement it properly. Made possible through the generosity of a funding partner, the position of Systems Response Manager was created to lead the high-danger initiative, providing coordinated survivor-centered advocacy to clients identified as high lethality/high danger who are working within WC&S departments and community systems including the Allegheny County’s District Attorney’s DV Unit, Pittsburgh Police DV Unit, Allegheny County’s PFA Unit and other specialized court systems, the Sheriff’s Department and other law enforcement agencies, Allegheny County Department of Human Services, and more. The System’s Response Manager safety plans with high-danger victims, coordinates between departments and external partners, advocates for the client, attends legal hearings, provides emotional support, and builds relationships with clients and external partners. This is timely, intense, and literally life-saving work that takes highly coordinated efforts to ensure for the highest level of safety for domestic violence survivors.