First Step Project Summary
2024 Impact 100 Metro Detroit Grant Summary, First Step of Western Wayne County
Project: Purchase, deliver, assemble & install internal furnishings/appliances for new shelter facility
Background: First Step is an organization dedicated to providing life-saving services to survivors of domestic and sexual violence in Wayne County, Michigan. First Step was founded in 1978, by a formerly battered women and the Western Wayne County National Organization for Women, who formed a task group with concerned citizens and government officials from the city of Westland. In its early days, First Step volunteers answered the crisis-helpline from their homes and offered hotels for shelter. Since then, First Step has evolved significantly, now providing a comprehensive array of services to support survivors of domestic and sexual violence at no cost. These services include an emergency shelter, 24-hour helpline, counseling, advocacy, transitional housing, assault response, transportation, children’s programs and support obtaining legal protections. The organization also works to implement systemic improvements in justice, housing, and education systems to better support survivors and hold perpetrators accountable. First Step serves 6,000 to 7,000 survivors in Wayne County each year. First Step’s ultimate vision is to create peaceful families and safe communities. First Step operates a counseling office in Detroit (the Block Building near Cass Tech) and has an advocate supporting survivors in the Detroit Police Department and the Detroit District Court. Significant recent milestones for First Step include the opening of a best-practice domestic violence shelter in 2011 that features beautiful and functional spaces, a playground, healing garden, even a place for the pets of families residing in the shelter. In 2023, First Step signed a lease agreement to open a second shelter in the Samaritan Center on Conner in Detroit. The organization is currently running a capital campaign and has raised approximately
$1,000,000 out of the 3.5 million needed for renovation and program start-up. First Step’s ongoing impact is supported by strong community collaborations and innovative programs like financial literacy for survivors and education/prevention initiatives.
Unmet Need: Each month, First Step receives an average of 190 calls from people seeking shelter that they are unable to accommodate because their existing shelter is almost always full. Many of these callers are from Detroit. Frankly, there are not enough shelter beds in the metro Detroit area that are safe for victims of violence. The addition of a second First Step shelter at the Samaritan Center will nearly triple the number of shelter beds available. Domestic violence is widely recognized as a key driver of homelessness in the city of Detroit. First Step's survey of other metro Detroit area domestic violence shelters indicate that they all have similar numbers of people they are unable to shelter. To meet this tremendous need, First Step took a bold step and leased the 2nd floor of a former hospital uilding in the Samaritan Center on Conner and plans to convert the space to create 21 shelter suites, common areas including a kitchen, children & teen play areas, living room areas, program spaces, and staff offices. This new shelter is expected to shelter 60-85 additional adults & child survivors any given night.
Project Summary: Funds donated by Impact 100 will be used to purchase furniture and appliances for the new facility, including stoves, stove hoods, refrigerators, microwaves, freezers, washers, dryers, storage cabinets, couches, chairs, lighting, decorations, desks, tables, children's indoor play structures, & children’s furnishings. The furnishings will be extremely durable, commercial quality and bedbug resistant. These furnishings and appliances are essential to the opening of the shelter as the common spaces allow shelter residents to cook, connect, and interact with staff and each other. With small individual family suites (the size of a typical hospital room), First Step anticipates that beautifully furnished common areas will provide much needed space for healing & connecting.
Project Impact: It is heartbreaking and frustrating for First Step staff to have to say there is no room in their shelter and to realize survivors may be in danger if they have no place to go to escape the violence they are experiencing at home. This project that would triple First Step’s shelter capacity and will allow First Step to address the basic needs of survivors in the city of Detroit and provide a safe, beautiful, functional shelter where survivors and their children can heal in dignity from the fear and trauma of violence they have experienced.
Sustainability: First Step receives federal and state funding for programs addressing homelessness. The organization is conducting a capital campaign to raise additional funds for construction. The organization has already raised about 33% of its goal of 3.5 million for building costs. We have many other companies that have expressed interest in helping fund some of the construction costs including Masco (will supply the paint), a construction company who is offering to provide construction cost at a discount and a state funding source that has offered to purchase the beds. The agency also hired a Detroit Philanthropy officer who is working to raise funds to support the ongoing program needs.
