Women Supporting Women In Crisis

In the formation of True Beginnings-Divinity House, we have enlisted several agencies and individuals whose missions are inline with that of True Beginnings to provide the necessary professional services needed to assist in the forward movement, healing and growth of the women who chose to become residents.

Each agency and professional volunteers their time and support as a partner, signing a ninety day to six month M.O.U and confidentiality agreement.

All service providers have been carefully vetted and are required to undergo an orientation prior to beginning services.

The partners of True Beginnings range from Trauma Specific Mental Health, Spiritual Healing, AA/NA, Leadership and Personal Style, Nutrition, GED Tutors, Legal Aid, Real Estate Management, Financial experts, and Family Therapists.

True Beginnings has also partnered with medical insurance agencies such as Health Plan of Nevada, Anthem Blue Cross, and Silver Summit to provide the women with such services as transportation, rental assistance, extensive behavior health assistance as well as help with filling prescriptions for medications and eye wear.

Between 1980 and 2014, the number of incarcerated women increased by more than 700%, rising from a total of 26,378 in 1980 to 222,061 in 2014. Women of color, many of them mothers, are overrepresented among those incarcerated at the federal, state, and local levels.

This is the result of more expansive law enforcement efforts, tougher drug sentencing laws, and post-conviction barriers to reentry that uniquely affect women. As a result, women’s rate of incarceration has surpassed men. While there are more men in prison, the total women’s prison population has grown at a rate of 50 percent faster than men.

The overwhelming majority of women in prison are survivors of domestic violence, and more than 60 percent of women in state prisons have a child under the age of 18. Three-quarters have histories of severe physical abuse by an intimate partner during adulthood, and 86 percent have suffered serious physical or sexual abuse as children.

Furthermore, many incarcerated women are criminalized for defending themselves against intimate partner violence and sexual assault. The intersectionality between trauma, sexual assault, domestic violence, and incarceration that thousands of women in America face, known as the sexual assault-to-prison pipeline, is clearly evident and the need for gender-responsive, community-based services could not be greater.

.