FAQs

Our mission is to empower victims of domestic violence to make safe and permanent changes in their lives and the lives of their children by offering wrap-around, comprehensive and cohesive services including support, understanding, education, and awareness.  Our vision is to eradicate domestic violence in Madison County by working with community partners to provide support, education and learning opportunities, and job preparedness for survivors of domestic violence through our 3 phase program.

Phase 1 is Safe and Sheltered. We address crisis in this phase by offering shelter, filing emergency protection orders or contacting the police, and/or seeking medical attention if needed.  We are safety planning and seeking out resources that will meet the immediate needs of the person we are helping.

Phase 2 is Transitioning Towards Tomorrow. In this phase we work on tasks that will build the confidence and skills needed to financially provide for themselves and maintain safety. For example,  we may work with clients to obtain their GED or apply for university. Or, we may help clients to apply for and obtain jobs by determining what they want to do and what skills they have. We often collaborate with local partners such as the Adult Education Program at EKU, New Opportunity School for Women or Vocational Rehab in order to provide our clients with the best opportunities to reach their goals.

Phase 3 is “Permanent and Proud.” Once our client has reached their goals in the previous phases, we look for safe and affordable housing back out in the community. Hope’s Wings is able to provide some rental assistance for up to two years. We also continue case management with clients by meeting with them in their homes or via Zoom to work on budgeting and financial literacy and to help them navigate life’s challenges.

We know that every victim is different. There is no set timetable for the completion of these phases. 

Of those who complete all 3 phases of our program:

• 78% remain in a violence free home that they are maintaining themselves.
• 89% percent report a decrease in their risk of violence after ending our services.

We have served women, men, and children of all races and various cultures, sexual orientations, and socio-economic statuses. Ages have ranged between birth and 73 years old. Domestic violence doesn’t discriminate. Neither do we.

Being a victim of domestic violence is a requirement to receive services at Hope’s Wings. We start determining  eligibility by doing an assessment or crisis call sheet which allows us to ascertain if our services are appropriate for the person seeking assistance and which of our services they want/need.

Hope’s Wings provides men with the same services it offers women, with the exception of emergency or transitional shelter at our facility. Should a man need emergency shelter, we work with local hotels or community partners to make those accommodations.

Our shelter can house 8 individual women and 4 families (total of 12 adult women and any number of children).

• 1 in 4 women will experience intimate partner violence in her lifetime
• 1 in 9 men will experience intimate partner violence in his lifetime
• 70% of our nation’s children grow up in homes where intimate partner violence occurs.
• Children who grow up in violent homes are more likely to drop out of school, develop behavioral problems, struggle with mental health, use drugs, or become victims/perpetrators themselves.
• On a typical day, there are more than 20,000 phone calls placed to domestic violence hotlines nationwide.
• The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide by 500%.

*More facts can be found on the National Coalition to End Domestic Violence’s website

1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men experience domestic violence. Nearly 20 people per minute are abused by an intimate partner.  Hope’s Wings provided advocacy to more than 700 people in Madison County this past year.

No. We provide advocacy, case management, support groups, and community transitional housing to those who are victims of domestic violence but may not be in need of emergency shelter.  Hope’s Wings is more than a shelter.

A woman can bring her adult daughter to live with her in shelter IF her daughter is still in high school or  has a physical or mental disability that prevent her from caring for herself. We cannot accept male adult children. Hope’s Wings does not currently accept pets. Because many of our residents have allergies or have been traumatized with threats of harm by animals, we work with a local kennel to provide shelter for the animal until we can work with our client to find more safe and permanent living.

Yes. Hope’s Wings serves any person experiencing domestic violence.

Priority is given to those who are fleeing spousal abuse or intimate partner violence. However, we recognize that domestic violence also occurs between family members and can provide services to those who are fleeing such abuse.

We have worked hard to build partnerships with other social service agencies. Some of these partners include: the

Family Support Office, Health Department, New Liberty Homeless Shelter, Room in the Inn, Salvation Army, God’s Outreach, Pregnancy Help Center, New Opportunity School for Women, Eastern Kentucky University, Kentucky Workforce Development, Home Meals, as well as various businesses and churches.

Hope’s Wings is funded through donations from individuals, companies and foundations as well as federal and state grants.  Donations are often dependent upon the economy and so we also are working to build our endowment.

We are committed to the efficient and effective use of our funding. We are proud that  53% of our budget is dedicated to program costs (services that directly benefit clients), 22 % covers our administrative costs and 25% to operations.

Short term goals are to increase our endowment to be less reliant on grants to operate our program and to open a satellite office in Berea to be more available to law enforcement and citizens in that community during an emergency. A Long-term goal for Hope’s Wings (our next “big” thing) is to build a 4-plex apartment unit on our campus so that we can strengthen our 3-phase approach by providing yet another layer of support to the residents in our program.

While priority is given to the residents of Madison County, we have provided safe shelter to victims of domestic violence from other counties and states if they are fleeing due to their safety.

Hope’s Wings has spent years working with local governments to make Madison County a safer place for families. We do our best to be transparent with our donors and community so they know that we are a reliable resource for domestic violence victims. Our presence in the community, our stewardship of funds, and our statistics show that Hope’s Wings is committed to doing what is right for victims of domestic violence and a worthy organization to donate and invest in.