Jenesse Center Inc. helps thousands of women and girls escape the devastating effects of domestic violence and reach a place of hope and healing.

Why we care: Most women and girls who come to Jenesse Center Inc.—the oldest domestic violence intervention program in South Los Angeles—have no resources and have come to us as a last resort.

How we’re solving this: By renovating our shelter facilities to offer beautiful, safe spaces where women and girls get the onsite programs and services they need to feel safe, build skills and find their voices.

Jenesse Center Inc. provides survivors of domestic violence with a comprehensive, centralized base of support to assist them in addressing their immediate crises and changing the patterns of their lives. We seek to prevent and end the cycles of domestic violence through education, research, resources and advocacy provided to individuals, families, the community and agencies throughout the nation.

Jenesse’s has had great success integrating a learning (vocational) center into one of our residential facilities. This state of the art classroom and computer/media lab provides the essential tools and instruction needed to help women and girls achieve their educational and vocational goals. We want to offer more services to our clients through the addition of a new learning center at our transitional living facility. The goal of the Learning Center is to provide women and girls the tools they need to become self-sufficient and change their lives for the better.

The Learning Center will provide a space for various classes including a computer lab, training, library and a media and resource center. Classes offered include, financial literacy, afterschool homework tutorial, vocational-readiness, yoga and exercise, empowerment workshops, sewing classes.

Our Professional Education program offers computer skills and support on resume writing, career counseling, and job searches. Our Financial Freedom Program helps clients focus on how to budget and save money, and our General Education Development (GED), Community College, and Online Degree program helps clients enroll and reach educational goals.

The funds for this project will cover the following: computers, updated software, classroom materials, classroom furnishing, library and tutorial resources, space renovations, instructional stipends and client incentives. Incentives include gifts to motivate and reward clients for reaching goals, such as having perfect attendance, submitting all homework assignments, and improving grades. We would like to offer gift cards to stores to buy school or household supplies.

The Learning Center will help create a self-contained living/learning center where clients can access all the programs and services that they need right where they live.