The new Romona Baker Emergency Women’s Shelter, located on the Crosslines Community Outreach campus, has opened its doors to provide a safe and dignified space for women in need. The shelter, which is the only year-round, low-barrier shelter for women in Greene County, features 39 sleeping pods, a full kitchen, commissary, laundry room, and computer area.

A Safe Haven

The shelter is named in honor of the woman who founded Safe to Sleep in 2011 and has been providing a safe overnight shelter for thousands of women via cots set up in various spaces. The new facility offers more dignity and privacy, with each pod featuring a bed, outlet, personal light, and fan. Consistent guests are assigned the same pod every night, and those with mobility issues are given priority for pods closer to the bathrooms.

Xena Ellis, one of the first guests to stay at the new shelter, was impressed by the facilities. ‘Whoa! This is awesome,’ she said, admiring the kitchen and sleeping area. Ellis, who works full-time at a motel and is working to be reunified with her two children, appreciated the ability to store her belongings during the day and have a safe space to sleep at night.

Case Management and Support

The shelter offers case management services to help women work towards stability, including goal setting, identification, job searching, and housing assistance. The new location will improve case management capabilities, with the case manager having an office on site and access to computers, printers, and working Wi-Fi.

Jessica Luras, the director of Safe to Sleep, emphasized the importance of providing a supportive environment for the women. ‘We want to help them move forward, find housing, employment, and all that stuff,’ she said. ‘We try to be as low-barrier as possible, and we don’t have a cut-off time for when they can come in. We don’t require IDs, and we don’t do mental health screenings.’

Original reporting: Springfield Daily Citizen — read the source article.