On Tuesday, November 14th, Doorways hosted its annual Open Hearts, Open Doors event. This year's event had a special goal: to raise funds required to undertake revitalization of the Family Home shelter to serve as the new Safehouse and Safe Kennel. Celebrating 45 years of service to the community, Doorways aims to "increase, improve, and transform the way we serve survivors" in this new chapter, said President and CEO Diana Ortiz.

There's still time to give! Donate now to give the gift of safe harbor, healing, and hope!

Fun with a purpose

"Tonight our fun has a purpose: to amplify the work Doorways does and to keep our mission of creating pathways out of violence flexible, thriving, and readily available 24/7/365," said Diana Ortiz, LPC, M.Ed., Doorways' President and CEO. "While there is a lot of good work happening already, there is a lot of work yet to be done. The needs in our community are rapidly changing and increasing; immediate, safe, and affordable housing for survivors of domestic and sexual violence has never been this pressing."  

"The efforts to continue investing in client-centered, trauma-informed, services for ALL survivors are paramount," Diana continued. "Only five years ago, Doorways Safehouse emergency shelter housed 58 survivors. They needed immediate relief, safe harbor, and services to heal from trauma. And Doorways provided those. Fast forward – last year alone, that number rose to 135 individuals and families." More than half were children.

Raising funds to meet the rising need for safehousing

Doorways met the need "by expanding and increasing our capacity to house survivors through a combination of congregate and non-congregate spaces, by adding mobile advocacy and case management services, by increasing our clinical and therapeutic services, by reinventing ourselves, and by listening and responding to what our survivors need," Diana said. But more is needed.

"Our well-loved 4-bedroom safehouse is simply not sufficient to support all those in need of safe housing today and tomorrow. With lots of creativity and private support, we seek to increase, improve, and transform the way we serve survivors."

Doorways will repurpose its Family Home shelter, which has twice the capacity of the current Safehouse, to become the new Safehouse. Needed renovations include modifications to make more spaces ADA-accessible; updates to the plumbing and HVAC systems; and rebuilding of the Safe Kennel for pets in the new location.

Along with sponsors including Amazon; an anonymous foundation partner who provided $30,000 in matching funds; Clark Construction and Washington Fine Properties | GOLD Group; and many more, Doorways' generous supporters successfully met and exceeded the goal of raising the $80,000 required to revitalize the Family Home shelter to become the new Safehouse. The project, led by Sagatov Associates Inc., is slated to begin in summer 2024.

Thanks to our Open Hearts, Open Doors sponsors and supporters

We offer our sincerest gratitude and appreciation to everyone who took part in Open Hearts, Open Doors, especially our amazing group of sponsors! We could not undertake this 100% privately funded project without your generous support. Thank you for investing in safe harbor, healing, and hope!

Lost Opportunities: The persistence of disadvantaged neighborhoods in Northern Virginia

"Between 2009 and 2021, Northern Virginia experienced considerable social and economic progress, including increases in median household income and rates of educational attainment, accompanied by decreases in poverty and uninsurance rates. But not all communities shared in these gains. Many communities that were already struggling suffered further setbacks, according to a new report by the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) commissioned by the Northern Virginia Health Foundation (NVHF)."

"In some areas, economic progress was accompanied by increases in the size of the white population, suggesting gentrification and displacement of people of color. For example, in the Courthouse area of Arlington County, median household income increased from $87,233 to $132,603 and the poverty rate plummeted from 19% to 5%. However, the share of the population that was white grew from 48% to 68%, while that of the Black and Asian populations declined by 42% and 72%, respectively. (...) Similar displacement appears to have occurred in the historically Black neighborhood of Green Valley/Nauck."

How abortion bans are undercutting efforts to prevent domestic violence

"As more abortion bans have gone into effect across the country, it has become far more difficult to perform a standard element of gynecological care: screening patients for domestic abuse."

"Research shows that OB-GYNs are often the first or only doctors to learn if a patient is facing intimate partner violence."

How gun policies affect the role of firearms in domestic violence

"The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation often turns violence into lethality. So what we know is that over half of women murdered in the United States are murdered by their intimate partners, and more than half of those intimate partner homicides are committed with firearms."