In 1976 a group of women working in San Francisco, came together to address the urgent need for a shelter in the East Bay. A year later they founded A Safe Place (ASP) in Oakland. Run solely by volunteers, they set up a crisis line to  offer crisis counseling and information to battered women and their children. Permanent staff was hired off the funding from foundations, individual donors, and corporations was secured.

 

In 1980, thanks to local support in the media which helped publicize the need for funding, an anonymous donor enabled ASP to purchase its own shelter with the capacity to house 20 women and children. Today, despite severe funding cutbacks, ASP continues to expand its programming and services to protect anyone who experiences domestic violence or intimate partner abuse. Please support our work in any way you can.