History

The Women’s Center has a rich and impactful history of supporting the most marginalized, vulnerable, and underserved women in Wake County for almost 50 years. What began as a welcoming portal of re-entry for women transitioning out of incarceration has evolved into a multi-service safety and stabilization and crisis intervention day-center for women experiencing homelessness in Wake County.

Today, WCWC seeks to reduce the number of women experiencing homelessness in our community, as well as limit the duration of their homeless experience. We do this by providing shelter during the day, basic human needs, and assistance in identifying, applying for, and attaining appropriate housing from WCWC’s housing staff. In 2025 The Women’s Center served over 1,500 unduplicated homeless women.

The Women’s Center is Wake County’s only day shelter for single women. Services provided include two meals each weekday (and optional to go meals to provide overnight food); clothing; hygiene products including soap, shampoo, showers, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and laundry facilities; medical primary care, behavioral healthcare services, prescriptions, dental and vision services; computers with internet; enrichment classes; job support and employment opportunities; and assistance with replacement vital documents (i.e., birth certificates, social security cards, and ID). Guests are assigned a case manager who works with her in setting obtainable goals to help her address her individual needs,including behavioral healthcare, documentations, legal-affairs, and housing/employment needs. The ultimate goal is always safety first, stabilization, and then transformation through services and programming that address holistic healing for each woman.