volunteer
volunteer
emergency shelter
The Anacortes Family Center provides a comprehensive approach to serving women and families with children. AFC creates an individualized plan to help each client reach self-sufficiency, with the goal of ending reliance on social services. Our program includes homelessness prevention, emergency shelter, transformative housing, affordable housing, and support for at-risk youth.
emergency shelter
Our Emergency Shelter offers a safe place for those in urgent need. 70% of the clients we serve have experienced domestic violence, and 80% face some level of mental health challenge. Intensive case management helps clients identify barriers and set short- and long-term goals and achieve self-sufficiency by the end of a 60- to 90-day program. AFC‘s holistic approach includes access to health care, budgeting, life skills classes, legal assistance, and mental health counseling.
the path to success
Within two weeks of arriving at AFC, adult residents must secure employment. Staff and volunteers help prepare them by identifying their strengths and skills, writing resumes, and practicing for interviews. AFC partners with the community to rapidly match residents with local employers. Finding a job early sets clients on a path toward stable housing outside the shelter. 75 – 80% of AFC residents leave our program with a safe, stable home, and a job to support their family.
ending the cycle
All too often clients come to us with a background of generational poverty, family violence, and untreated mental illness. AFC is dedicated to ending this cycle through a one-of-a-kind program designed specifically for homeless children and youth. Our comprehensive kids‘ program includes art, music and play therapy, life skills education, and individualized academic and social assistance, including in-school support and after-school tutoring. Children who could benefit from a trusted adult outside the family in their lives can participate in our YOUTHConnect! Program and be matched with a trained mentor.
