Expanded Services Prove Pivotal to Arlington’s Response to Abuse and Homelessness
Content warning: This post includes vivid descriptions of physical abuse.
Doorways for Women and Families Meets Growing, Increasingly Complex Needs
“My son was diagnosed with special needs,” shared Danielle, an Arlington mom of two who is also raising her nephew, at Doorways’ Campaign for Brighter Futures Breakfast. “There was a moment when I was restraining my son, who was having a meltdown. My son actually…leaned forward to try and bite my ex-husband, and so my ex-husband punched him in the face in retaliation. And that was it. That was the moment for me that I was like, ‘I won’t live with this. My son shouldn’t have to live with this.’ He didn’t deserve that.”
“That was the moment for me.”
Danielle, a Doorways graduate, is one of several clients who shared their story at the Campaign for Brighter Futures Breakfast. Hundreds of community members listened as Doorways’ clients and leadership described the challenges facing neighbors like Danielle; how Doorways is responding to their needs through the Campaign for Brighter Futures; and how the community’s support is making a transformative impact.
Danielle came to Doorways with her children to escape from her abusive ex-husband. Beyond basic safety and shelter, she found special accommodations for her son who has autism, dedicated children’s services to help all of her children heal from the abuse they had experienced and witnessed, and support services to help her gain confidence and learn how to maintain her budget and provide for her family on her own. She is now living in her own apartment through Doorways’ HomeStart Supportive Housing Program, empowered and safe.
“While difficult to believe, there are thousands of women, men and children right here in our prosperous community who, to achieve a brighter future, need a safe place to call home and the help of committed and compassionate professionals,” said Michelle Sagatov of the Michelle Sagatov Group, co-chair for the Campaign for Brighter Futures. “The challenges they face don’t always get the most attention, and often times, their voices are not heard. But these challenges, while profound and complex, can be overcome.”
Sagatov expressed Doorways’ deep gratitude for the supporters who gave a total of $6.5 million during the first two years of the Campaign for Brighter Futures, and called on the community to keep up this momentum. “Our work is not over. In this, our final year of the campaign, we must raise an additional $3.5 million in private support in order to ensure that our vital response continues for those in crisis as long as there is a need,” said Sagatov. “Our collective will to turn tragedy into triumph, and despair into hope, will directly fill the gaps we currently face as well as ensure no call for help goes unanswered.”
This past year, Doorways helped more than 3,600 people—almost double the total people the organization served just 3 years ago. In recent years, Doorways has received nearly 1,500 calls per year to its 24-Hour Domestic & Sexual Violence Hotline (703-237-0881), an increase of more than 60 percent compared to 3 years ago.
“I know these numbers are shocking and not what we expect to hear, especially in a place like Arlington, where so many do so well. Yet, behind these rising numbers, there is positive change happening. By empowering people to know they are in danger, they are empowered to seek the right help. This is positive change,” said Doorways’ President and CEO, Caroline Jones. “I have never felt more proud to live in Arlington—a community with such determined compassion and will to look out for our neighbors,” said Jones. “This is absolutely our community to shape, and your support empowers us to reach our neighbors—to be inventive and bold when we see a need emerging or going unmet.”
Through the Campaign for Brighter Futures, Doorways is addressing this increasing demand for safety, the growing complexity of the needs of survivors and families seeking self-sufficiency, and the uncertain, restrictive funding climate that threatens the nonprofit’s ability to deliver lasting change in clients’ well-being. With funds given to the campaign, Doorways is maintaining their current and newer services that bring people to safety and meeting the long-term, more complex needs of their clients, especially the increasing number of youth and teens seeking help. Doorways is also working to ensure that its many doors will always remain open to all those who need their help tomorrow and in the months and years to come.
“Each part of our mission—from our hotline to our shelters to our services—is essential to the safety, healing and ultimate stability of the women, men and children we serve, especially the increasing number of youth and young families that need housing and support,” said Diana Ortiz, Doorways’ Client Services Director. “We are getting more and more calls for help, and we are able to answer with new and strengthened services. When people are unsafe or in crisis, we cannot tell them to wait. Our programs are transforming lives; we cannot afford to cut their funding. This campaign—our donors, our partners—are making it possible for us to meet our community’s needs in innovative and impactful ways.”
“Each part of our mission—from our hotline to our shelters to our services—is essential.”
“The words ‘thank you’ aren’t big,” Danielle said. “It’s like they don’t mean enough to express how grateful I am for everything that Doorways has done for me and my family, and given me… I think what I’m going to take from this is, it’s so much bigger than just ‘thanks.’”
To join Doorways in creating pathways out of homelessness, domestic violence and sexual assault leading to safe, stable and empowered lives, visit www.DoorwaysVA.org/join-our-cause.
The Brighter Futures Breakfast was made possible by the following generous sponsors: Brighter Futures Sponsors – The Keri Shull Team and Orange Line Living; Ensuring Safety Sponsor – AvalonBay Communities; Economic Independence Sponsors – Clark Construction and the Shooshan Company; Strengthening Long-Term Stability Sponsor – The Michele Sagatov Group with Washington Fine Properties; Future Response Sponsors – Crystal City BID, FVC Bank, McGuire Woods, and Walsh Colucci Lubeley & Walsh PC; Community Partner Sponsor – John Marshall Bank; Media Sponsors – Arlington Magazine and Tania Hossain Photography; and Printing and Graphics Sponsor – Image 360 (formerly Signs By Tomorrow).