Women's Shelter & Support Center

Women's Shelter & Support Center has long recognized that assisting battered individuals and their children cannot be limited to residential services. While offering shelter services, we recognize there are many in need of safety who cannot or prefer not to reside in the shelter. We provide services to both women who stay in our facilities and to those who do not. Our services are: shelter for battered women and their children; 24 hour hot-line; weekly support and information groups in Rochester; assistance with Orders For Protection and Harassment Orders; court and other systems advocacy; services for immigrant women and their children; transitional housing; and community education speakers. Satellite office are located in Dodge, Fillmore, Olmsted, and Wabasha counties. Confidential and no-fee services are provided regardless of race, creed, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, sexual preference, age, or status.

Women’s Shelter & Support Center shall assist all victims of domestic violence and their children by establishing and maintaining facilities and programs which will provide temporary shelter and other services to these victims, and shall have the purposes set forth in the Articles of Incorporation. Women's Shelter & Support Center was organized in 1976 by three battered women and four women from the Rochester chapter of NOW. WSSC opened its first shelter in 1978 and has grown in response to battered women's needs, yet has preserved its grass roots by involving battered women in every level of the organization.