MISSION STATEMENT

The Women’s Resource Centre’s mission statement is to empower women.

The Women’s Resource Centre’s role is to reduce the incident and adverse effects of sexual and domestic violence.

HISTORY

The Women’s Resource Center is a non-profit charity (*267) that began operations in 1987 as the Rape Crisis Centre, a crisis intervention service for survivors of sexual assault.

In 1992 the name was changed to the Women’s Resource Center to reflect the expansion of the services which included a counseling programme, 24 hour crisis hotline and a community education programme to raise awareness of domestic and sexual violence

In 1994 the Court Advocate Programme was established to provide protection through the courts to victims of domestic violence.

The Family Reunification Programme was established in 1998 to provide assistance to parents of children placed in foster care in order to help reunite the family.

Today the Women’s Resource Center provides trained counselors who work directly with the Sexual Assault Response Team that is comprised of doctors, nurses and the police.

The Women’s Resource Centre is governed by a volunteer Board of Doctors, elected annually by the general membership. An Executive Director and Director of Counseling Services provide supervision and guidance to the staff which is comprised of counselors, a court advocate administrator and administrative support.

Funding for the Women’s Resource Centre comes from an annual government grant and the generous donations of corporations, community organizations and members of the public.

WHO ARE OUR CLIENTS?

The majority of our clients are women, averaging between 30-39 years of age with two or more children. The women we see represent a cross section of the community and work in a variety of positions from the Banks, Government Offices, Exempt companies, to managing their own businesses. Last year we saw over 200 clients in both our Counselling and Court Advocate Programmes.

In our Education Programme our goal is to give seminars in every middle school by the end of 2005.

IS THE WOMEN’S RESOURCE CENTRE AFFILIATED WITH ANY OTHER ORGANIZATION?

The Women’s Resource Centre is part of the Inter-Agency Committee (a member), and a member of the Centre of Philanthropy. We are an accredited organization and received this status in 2004.

FUNDING STATUS

The Women’s Resource Centre receives a Government Grant of $60,000 per year towards our budget of $345,000. The remaining monies are acquired through fundraising, corporate donations, memberships and a small amount from fee for service. We are a locally funded organization are very much dependant to community giving.

NUMBER OF STAFF VOLUNTEERS

We have a small dedicated staff of 7 people. Three full time employees: Clinical Supervisor, Court Advocate Administrator and Office Administrator. Three part time: Community Educator/Consultant, Counsellor, and Executive Director, along with an on-call Counsellor who works some evenings and Saturday’s when required. We have a Crisis Hotline which is manned by trained volunteers from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. weekly a total of 15 dedicated volunteers and a volunteer Board of 12.