About Us

Founded in 1974, Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh (WC&S) was one of the first six shelters in the United States for battered women. Since that time, WC&S has been at the forefront of the Battered Women's Movement, creating and implementing innovative and effective programming aimed at preventing domestic violence and providing services to domestic violence victims.

Each year more than 5,200 individuals - women, children and some men - utilize our services for domestic violence victims.  Domestic violence has been ongoing throughout the ages, all over the world; it wasn't until the early 1970s that domestic violence was even given a name and recognized as a national problem.

The mission of Women's Center and Shelter is to end intimate partner violence in the lives of women and their children.

To accomplish our mission, Women's Center & Shelter:

• Provides sanctuary from domestic violence for women and their children within a supportive community where confidentiality is guaranteed
• Informs women of the resources available to them
• Works with all appropriate organizations/agencies to create resources for women victims of domestic violence and their children
• Accompanies women as they proceed through the legal system
• Works with children to help them learn alternative responses to violence
• Educates the public about the needs of women, particularly those women who have experienced domestic violence
• Works for systems change to alter societal attitudes, behaviors and responses