LIFEWIRE
Together Against Domestic Violence
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Domestic violence (DV) is pervasive and affects thousands of families throughout our community, regardless of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, economic status, race, religion, nationality or educational background. More than 1 in 4 women and more than 1 in 9 men have experienced sexual violence, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner and suffered significant impacts such a post-traumatic stress disorder and injury. One in three adolescents in the U.S. is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner. Children's exposure to domestic violence and maltreatment (one of 10 identified adverse childhood experiences or ACE) frequently results in emotional and behavioral problems throughout childhood and into adulthood.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Survivor Advocacy Services
LifeWire works alongside domestic violence survivors and tailors support to address each survivor’s priorities, challenges, and goals. Services include:
• Survivor-Driven Advocacy: Advocates deliver survivor-driven advocacy based on survivor needs, including emotional support, safety planning, and resource referrals.
• Support Groups and Socials: Our adult and children's support groups offer survivors safe spaces to share their experiences, process trauma, and learn skills to help them heal. We also offer social events.
• Legal Advocacy: LifeWire's legal advocacy services help survivors obtain protection orders, develop parenting plans, file for divorce, address immigration concerns, and other legal matters. We collaborate with local attorneys to offer pro bono consultations.
• Mental Health Therapy: LifeWire offers one-on-one and group mental health therapy for survivors and their children to help survivors heal from the emotional and traumatizing effects of DV.
Domestic VIolence Prevention and Community Engagement
LifeWire partners with area high schools and Bellevue College to ensure that young people have the tools they need to identify and build healthy relationships, support each other and family members, and practice leadership that promotes gender equity and challenges violent attitudes and behaviors. Services include:
• Violence Prevention: LifeWire collaborates with schools to teach violence prevention through the schools’ health education and leadership classes.
• Gender Equity Clubs: We foster Gender Equity Clubs to develop campus cultures that value healthy relationships and promote gender equity.
• Team Up Washington: As a founding partner of Team Up Washington, LifeWire provides Coaching Boys into Men training statewide for high school athletic coaches.
• Youth Training Institute: At LifeWire’s summer youth training institute, students develop leadership skills and knowledge around gender equity and gender-based violence.
Housing Services
LifeWire works with survivors and their children to secure housing free from domestic violence. Services include:
• My Sister's Home (MSH): LifeWire's confidential emergency shelter serves families and individuals facing lethal situations.
• My Friend's Place (MFP): LifeWire's transitional shelter serves families healing from both DV and chemical dependency. Families also receive supportive services.
• Hotel Vouchers: Hotel vouchers provide an immediate crisis intervention option to survivors fleeing lethal situations when shelters are full.
• Flexible Funds: Flexible funds help survivors find or keep safe housing by funding move-in costs, utilities, emergency hotel stays, childcare, or emergency expenses.
• Rapid Rehousing & Rental Assistance: Short-term rental assistance programs support families as they transition into safe and stable housing.
Where we work
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of homeless participants engaged in housing services
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Housing Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Housing for domestic violence survivors and their families: hotel vouchers, emergency shelter, transitional shelter, housing stability flex-funds, rental assistance, and rapid-rehousing.
Number of clients participating in educational programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Adults
Related Program
Domestic VIolence Prevention and Community Engagement
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Number of adults and youth educated about domestic violence in schools, community and faith groups.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Victims and oppressed people, Ethnic and racial groups
Related Program
Survivor Advocacy Services
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Domestic violence survivors served through housing, advocacy, mental health therapy, financial literacy, children and youth programs, and legal advocacy.
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Domestic violence is, first and foremost, about power and control. It is an escalating pattern of abuse where one partner in an intimate relationship controls the other through force, intimidation, or the threat of violence. LifeWire's mission is to end domestic violence by changing individual, institutional and societal beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that perpetuate it. Our overarching goal is to change the culture that tolerates domestic violence while assisting survivors in healing and becoming self-sufficient.
LifeWire envisions a world in which every person lives in a safe environment, free from oppression and with the opportunity to thrive.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
LifeWire programs blend the critical supportive elements of advocacy, counseling, and housing to provide a comprehensive response to the impact of domestic violence and a comprehensive solution to helping survivors and their families become self-sufficient. Our wrap-around services are flexible, survivor-driven, and successful in moving survivors toward independence.
We support survivors: Our advocates partner with survivors on their journeys to gaining renewed strength and empowerment. We listen to survivors as they describe their needs and help them identify resources that will enable them to build safer lives. By tailoring our support to each survivor, we can respond to survivors' unique barriers, challenges, and goals.
We provide paths to safer housing: At LifeWire, we believe that no survivor should have to choose between staying in an abusive relationship and becoming homeless. That's why we've developed a wide range of services uniquely designed to keep domestic violence survivors and their families off the streets and in safe and stable housing.
We promote healthy relationships: LifeWire partners with area high schools and Bellevue College to ensure that young people have the tools they need to identify and build healthy relationships, support each other and family members, and practice leadership that promotes gender equity and challenges violent attitudes and behaviors.
To ensure that our services are culturally competent and accessible:
• LifeWire's services are language accessible by phone and in-person either through staff or contracted interpreter services.
• LifeWire's emergency shelter, My Sister's Home, our transitional shelter, My Friend's Place, and our administrative offices where many survivors come for Mental Health Therapy, Advocacy, training classes, and foodbank pick-up are all disabled accessible.
• We have a thriving Latina Advocacy Program that serves Spanish-speaking families.
• We maintain co-advocacy agreements with culturally specific DV agencies like API Chaya, Consejo, Jewish Family Services, Korean Women's Association, Northwest Network, Refugee Women's Alliance, and the Seattle Indian Health Board. Our partnerships increase LifeWire's ability to provide culturally competent domestic violence services to program participants.
• We have a full-time LifeWire advocate located at the Bellevue DSHS Community Service Office to help ensure we are reaching low-income domestic violence survivors. We meet with survivors to help them navigate the welfare system, conduct safety planning, and inform them of LifeWire's services and resources, including our housing options.
• We provide mobile advocacy where we meet with survivors at locations that are most accessible to them -- whether this accessibility is a matter of convenience, comfort, or physical disability.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Since 1982, LifeWire has provided safety, life-changing programs, and compassionate, supportive services to domestic violence survivors and their children. We are a nationally recognized leader and the largest comprehensive domestic violence service provider in Washington State, offering award-winning children's programs, innovative housing stability services, and ground-breaking social change work.
A 17-member Board of Directors governs LifeWire. We employ 38 full-time and three part-time staff and are supported by more than 350 volunteers each year.
Our housing programs serve as a model in Washington State and across the nation for their innovative design, cost-effectiveness, and responsiveness to the varied needs of survivors. We offer the widest continuum of domestic violence housing responses in our region and refined expertise in helping survivors attain permanent housing stability.
In late 2009, LifeWire became one of four original agency participants in the state-wide Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF) Project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and coordinated by the WA State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV). LifeWire offered our track record of providing rental assistance to survivors for six years and participated in an evaluation of this effective approach. This funding expanded our housing support to include short term, flexible financial assistance for things like deposits, resolving housing debt, income promotion, childcare, and transportation, empowering survivors to maintain or obtain permanent housing. This response, called our Housing Stability Services-Flexible Funds, is now an essential aspect of LifeWire's housing services and is very successful in homelessness prevention and shelter diversion.
In 2015, King County Housing Authority (KCHA) began a partnership with LifeWire to develop and implement a Rapid Rehousing Program applying a Domestic Violence Housing First (DVHF) philosophy of service provision. A limited number of families are provided with a voucher that offers a permanent, non-limited subsidy for housing - allowing low-income families never to have to pay above 30% of their income towards rent. This services model allows our region to participate in a nationally-recognized evaluation process of the impact short to medium-term rental assistance will have for survivors of domestic violence.
We have a specialized collaboration with Sound Mental Health with our Children's Domestic Violence Response Team. The program utilizes a team model to offer integrated advocacy and mental health services. Sound Mental Health therapists use a range of approaches to work with children exposed to domestic violence, including Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Play Therapy, and Kid's Club.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Domestic violence continues to destroy families each year, causing 1,500 deaths and 2 million injuries among women and 600,000 injuries among men in the nation each year, and costs over $8.3 billion per year in direct health care expenses, lost productivity, and lifetime earnings. It is an epidemic that affects people from all racial and socio-economic backgrounds.
One of the challenges we face is the growing need for LifeWire services while facing a community perception that domestic violence is not an issue in affluent residential areas. Educational engagements are increasing each year to overcome this and improve domestic violence identification and prevention. Culture, linguistics, and family sizes are often other challenges, and LifeWire has adapted our housing shelters to better accommodate them.
Providing life-saving services and resources to victims of domestic violence is, by nature, a challenging environment. Our experience in domestic violence services prepares us to assist victims as they face barriers and difficulties on an ongoing basis. Our comprehensive continuum of programs and services help victims as they move from a dangerous home situation to one of safety and self-sufficiency.
Many of our clients feel they must stay in their home—and risk future abuse—because they don't feel they can economically survive on their own. These are genuinely families in crisis. It is incumbent upon us to make sure that our safety net is wide for these families.
Our community's growing lack of affordable housing gives many of these families fewer options when they feel ready to leave our emergency or transitional shelters, making it very difficult for families to rebound quickly and become self-sufficient. In general, we find that the average lengths of stay in our shelters are longer the more competitive the housing market is. The availability of affordable housing has an enormous impact on how quickly survivors can move on to permanent housing.
Yet, as dismal as the situation may seem, LifeWire's programs and services are saving lives each year, families are healed, and children are growing up without fear. Thousands of adults and students are learning about healthy relationships and how to live without violence. We are bringing life and hope to those who had neither.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
LIFEWIRE
Board of directorsas of 12/20/2023
Theresa Anderson
REI
Theresa Anderson
REI
Laurie Miyauchi
Microsoft
Ashica Demira
Private Practice
Brenda Puls
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Grant Yerke
Broderick Group
Rebecca Houghton
Microsoft
Carissa Allen
Microsoft
Carla Becvar
Microsoft
Norm Escover
NAES Corporation
Monique Gablehouse
Evergreen Health
Christopher Henderson, MD
Kaiser Permanente
Crissy House
Microsoft
Karen Melanson
Amazon
Jessica Sullivan
REI
Trey Williamson
Meta
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 12/28/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.