A Women’s Empowerment graduate celebrates her new home at the nonprofit’s Trellis Gardens transitional workforce housing program. Women’s Empowerment receives a grant from SAFE Credit Union for the program. Photo courtesy of Women’s Empowerment

SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) – Women’s Empowerment received a grant of $20,000 from SAFE Credit Union to provide housing readiness training, transitional workforce housing and financial empowerment training to Sacramento women who have experienced homelessness.

Women’s Empowerment’s comprehensive program helps women access safe homes they can afford now for their families while they secure jobs with upward mobility so they can eventually afford permanent housing.

“We are so grateful to SAFE Credit Union for recognizing the powerful role affordable housing plays in our community and the many facets that go into making it work, from financial empowerment to housing readiness training and transitional programs,” said Lisa Culp, the executive director of Women’s Empowerment. “Thanks to grantors like SAFE, we can continue to offer our long-term solution to homelessness that also meets immediate needs as we navigate Sacramento’s ongoing housing crisis.” 

Each woman begins with Women’s Empowerment’s two-month employment-readiness and empowerment program that helps women who are unhoused pick up the tools to secure a safe home and steady job. She receives free transportation assistance and childcare for children up to age five in the group’s onsite child development center. She works one on one with a social worker, housing specialist, employment specialist and volunteer career mentor, and attends a range of classes on job-readiness, financial empowerment, housing readiness and more. She receives health services and can join support groups. 

Graduates of the initial program can return for services at any point in their lives when they need additional tools, including counseling, job search and retention support, access to a professional clothing closet, financial coaching, support from a housing specialist, health services, financial assistance for housing support, paid job training and transitional workforce housing. 

Women’s Empowerment offers the most comprehensive job-readiness program in the Sacramento area designed specifically to help women break the generational cycle of homelessness for themselves and their children. In 2024, 155 graduates secured employment or enrolled in advanced training or school and 89% of graduates maintained or improved their housing.

Since 2001, 1,955 women have graduated from the program with more than 4,000 children. Women’s Empowerment is funded through private donations from the community and grants. To make a donation visit http://www.Womens-Empowerment.org. 

“SAFE is thrilled to be able to help women get a strong start on a healthier and higher quality of life,” said Lauren LeBov, a community impact manager at SAFE Credit Union. “We are especially committed to community programs like these that demonstrate our philanthropic goals to support affordable housing and life-skill development initiatives.”

SAFE Credit Union supports organizations and individuals working to improve the community and themselves, with a focus on organizations that align with its pillars of philanthropy, including financial literacy and stability, workforce development, affordable housing and youth/young adult education. SAFE provides support through grants, sponsorships, direct donations, and volunteerism and invests in the future of community members with scholarship programs.

For more information, visit safecu.org/community/community-impact.