Upcoming
The Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter (CWES) has been named as a 2011 CARE grant recipient and has been awarded $10,000 to conduct original research examining the challenges of accessing family violence services for women without children.
After tracking turnaways on the Helpline, we discovered the majority of callers being turned away were women without children, commonly referred to as 'singles'. Our shelter has limited dedicated beds for single women, as do many shelters in Calgary and across the province. Similarly, many services that our clients access place priority on serving women with children, leaving a significant portion of victims of family violence without adequate resources or support.
This research project, scheduled to begin in early fall, will examine these barriers to accessing services and seek to better understand what would meet this unique population's needs. We are thrilled with the financial support of the Prairieaction Foundation which funds community-based research into the causes and solutions to family violence and abuse, and is committed to helping find effective ways to reduce the cycle of violence and keep individuals safe.
We look forward to starting this research project and engaging clients, staff, stakeholders, and the community in making this research a success. If you have questions or comments, please contact Lissa Samantaraya-Shivji at lissas@cwes.ca or 403-539-5141.
