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Transitional home for woman on brink of closure
A transitional home for women and children in Oakland is just days away from the threat of closure.
OAKLAND, Calif. - A transitional home for women and children in Oakland is just days away from the threat of closure.
The Courage House is a home dedicated to victims of domestic violence or women experiencing homelessness.
Resident Natasha Olivier Parks said the home is necessary for Bay Area women and their children working towards independence.
The organization is usually funded through grants and donations. Executive Director and Founder of the umbrella nonprofit Courageous Women Association, Toshonna Ross, said they are in a holding pattern until grants come in and are in desperate need of cash to get by.
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The home provides services and resources for women and children who are unhoused, victims of domestic violence or sex assault, and those working towards sobriety and trying to gain independence.
Ross is also a domestic violence survivor herself.
"I knew I needed to provide some thread of support for other women like me," she said.
Ross said her small, but mighty team of three people works to place people in permanent housing and develop careers.
For Olivier Parks, it has been a place for healing and recovery.
"This is your first step to finding out you have a home, so once you get ready you can actually have your own home and be stable," she said.
Since the house opened back in 2019, more than 4,000 women and children have come through the Courage House. More than 10,000 have received other services through the association.
She also said the COVID-19 pandemic dwindled the number of volunteers, making it more difficult to provide services to the influx of people in need.
"We get probably around 800 or 900 calls a year from women needing housing, so it’s far beyond what we can do, but here we are," said Ross.
She said if the house is closed, the families living inside will be forced back on the streets, or worse, back into violent and dangerous situations.
"These families that we’re supporting still have to live here," she said.
Back in 2022, cash donations helped keep the house open up until this point. Now, Ross is asking the community again for support, as her volunteer grant writer works around the clock to secure long-term grant funding from the city and state.
"This place needs to exist, it really does," Olivier Parks said.
Ross said the house needs $10,000 by March 1 to pay for rent and utilities, until grant funding kicks in, which is expected in a couple of months. She encouraged people to donate directly on the website or via GoFundMe.
"If 100 people gave only $100, we can meet our goal before the March 1st deadline, or we will be forced to leave our home," Ross wrote on GoFundMe.