WELLSPRING WOMEN'S CENTER
Wellspring Women's Center provides respite and services to women and their children based on “hospitality with dignity and love.”
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Wellspring's mission is to “nourish the innate goodness and personal self-esteem of women and their children, providing respite and services in an atmosphere of hospitality with dignity and love." Program participants are referred to as “guests." Guests come from varying cultures, backgrounds, races, and religions, yet they share common bonds beyond low-income status. Many lack healthy family relationships, proper education, adequate job skills or training, and daily stability. Struggles with domestic violence, drug abuse, and untreated mental illness are common. Wellspring's primary challenge and main goal is addressing and meeting the direct impacts of poverty on guests who are wary of sharing too much or trusting more traditional service delivery systems.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Women's Wellness Program
The Women’s Wellness program brings respite and services to poor women. It supports both achievement and maintenance of mental health and wellness of the entire person. It offers counseling, case management, life skills assistance, expressive art therapy groups, and tangible resources to women, their children and families. It serves as a portal to a healthier existence and offers a lifeline to those suffering from stress, depression, physical illness, and other types of mental illness. It guides those unsure how to independently access available services. A team of staff, professional volunteers and interns expediently identify appropriate providers and facilities and often offer direct assistance themselves. A thoughtfully-designed, frequently assessed, and increasingly more needed program, Women’s Wellness has been a blessing in a community gutted by mental health services cuts in a city of nearly half a million residents. Participation in this program, as with all of our programming, is free of charge.
Nutritious Meal Program
The Nutritious Meal Program benefits 200 women and children each weekday. It is a source of healthy food, provided free-of-charge and no-questions-asked. Via surveys and direct feedback from guests, we know that the steady provision of this meal is integral to their well-being. Our guests live at or below federally defined poverty levels. Studies show that low-income households are "food insecure” meaning that there is a lack of access to nutritious foods at some time during each month. This program addresses the hunger, food insecurity, and the real need for nourishing food.
Each weekday morning from 7:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m., a nourishing breakfast meal is served. The menu may include any variety of items such as cereal, yogurt, salad, soup and toast. The meal is served in an attractive, welcoming environment, and the tables are full of an assortment of women and children who share in the meal. About 100 regular volunteers assist with this program, and in-kind donors keep costs down.
Children's Corner Program
The Children's Corner Program provides early enrichment and pre-K learning in a safe and welcoming place for guests' children on weekday mornings. Parents and/or kinship care providers have an opportunity to gain parenting information, support and skills. The Children’s Corner is managed by a staff person with a degree in Social Work.
The program provides stability for kids impacted by turbulence, stringency and uncertainty. It introduces them to routines and boundaries that are both comforting and stimulating. It fosters a love of learning, bolsters confidence, age-appropriate social skills, and lessens fear or dislike of school as children transition into formal learning environments. Parents often color, paint or read with their children. Parents share concerns and questions with staff and volunteers. For many, childhood was anything but ideal and parenting is a challenge. The Children's Corner offers a different view on the role and empowers them to be better parents.
Safety Net Services
Services are available on a case-by-case basis,overseen by staff, and include occasional assistance with transportation, education, employment, housing, health services, provision of hygiene products and diapers.
Where we work
Awards
Advocacy For Women's Needs 2008
Catholic Ladies Relief Society
Community Service 2006
Oak Park Neighborhood Association
Valuable Contributions 2006
Oak Park Pre-School, Inc.
Witness and Service to Oak Park and Sacramento Communities 2005
Sacramento Cottage Housing
Support Of Students With Special Needs 2005
Sacramento City Unified School District Transitional Work Experience Program
External reviews
Photos
Videos
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?
This neighborhood gathering place helps reduce isolation and loneliness by providing a sense of community to women experiencing poverty and its outcomes—physical, mental, emotional, and societal. Wellspring operates four core programs: the Nutritious Meal Program, the Children's Corner Program, the Women's Wellness Program, and the Safety Net Services Program. The goals of these programs are to provide vulnerable women and their children practical assistance combined with compassion and encouragement so they may better navigate life's challenges. It is our mission to create lives marked by dignity and self-respect, thus building a healthier community for all.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
The Nutritious Meal Program provides a healthy breakfast and light lunch as well as cooking classes presented in English and Spanish, sponsored by the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op. The Children's Corner program provides childcare with educational enrichment activities for the children of the guests as well as weekly street soccer and a mini computer lab. The Women's Wellness program provides counseling sessions from a licensed clinical social worker and wellness checks from California State University, Sacrament nursing interns. Case management assistance and referrals are also provided by social work interns for housing, transportation, bilingual services, healthcare, job training, soft skills building, and parenting workshops. The Women's Wellness program also houses Art of Being, which is a 10-week expressive art therapy program for women in the community, a craft club and sewing classes for beginning and intermediate participants, as well as wire working and ceramics classes. The Safety Net Services program provides bus passes, diapers and wet wipes for infants, children, and adults, and feminine and personal hygiene products (tampons, pads, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, soap, shampoo, lotion, razors, and other personal care items).
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Sacramento's Oak Park neighborhood is known for its ethnic diversity, its incredibly rich cultural history, and as a community of collaboration, compassion, and care. It also has high levels of poverty, crime, and unemployment. Wellspring is in an ideal location in the neighborhood for providing respite and services to those in need. Without the assistance of others, Wellspring would not be able to provide the very direct and essential services to children and women of all ages and life situations who would otherwise be forgotten. For over 30 years, Wellspring has evolved into a neighborhood staple, a gathering place for over 200 women and children each weekday morning. Wellspring operates as a drop-in center and is comprised of eight staff, three full-time and four part-time, as well as over 75 weekly volunteers. We also operate via partnerships with organizations and agencies like the UC Davis MIND Institute, the California State University, Sacramento Nursing and Social Work programs, the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, cooking classes provided by the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op, reciprocal referrals with Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services, Communities Against Sexual Harm, Harm Reduction Services, Next Move, Loaves and Fishes, Clara's House, the Oak Park Neighborhood Association, and many more.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Wellspring Women's Center was founded in 1987, by two Sisters of Social Services, Sister Claire Graham and Sister Catherine Connell. One evening they encountered a confused, homeless woman on the streets in downtown Sacramento offering her compassion and concern. Because if this encounter, they felt compelled to do something for her and the many like her. As a result, Wellspring was founded and has developed over the past 30 years into a neighborhood staple: a gathering place for over 200 women and children each weekday morning. Services are offered at no cost to any women and her children/grandchildren, with neither pre-qualification nor prerequisites for program participation. While we predominantly serve women, infants, children, and seniors from of Sacramento's Oak Park community, women from all over the county do seek our services.
In 2015 Wellspring provided:
39,258 Meals
45,411 Diapers
37,710 Feminine Hygiene Products
8,052 Social Work Contacts
(counseling, case management, and information and referrals)
375 art session to over 1,771 participants
465 Health Screenings
3,353 Hygiene Bags
And a Preschool like environment for
585 different children
Looking back on 2016, donors helped Wellspring provide: 38,650 meals; 375 art therapy sessions to over 1,700 participants; $17,428 in art and craft supplies and workshops; 65,516 diapers; nearly 500 health screenings; 53,570 feminine hygiene products; 2,332 personal hygiene bags; over 8,000 social work contacts (counseling, case management, information, and referrals); 344 birthday gifts for guests; and a preschool like environment for nearly 600 different children. Our numbers fluctuate annually, but most go up, and we are seeing more and more of a need for safety net services and housing assistance, especially as Oak Park is gentrifying and rents are increasing.
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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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.
WELLSPRING WOMEN'S CENTER
Board of directorsas of 10/02/2019
Annette Bachmeier Bachmeier
Intel, Retired
Genelle Smith
Wellspring Women's Center Executive Director
Nileen Verbeten
Consultant
Annette Bachmeier
Intel
David McMurchie
McMurchie Law Office
Lisa Wrightsman
Street Soccer USA
Sara Brass
US Department of Veterans Affairs
Kathleen Olson
JP Morgan Chase
Robyn Fleming
AT&T
Mary Ann Keating
Retired, Nonprofit Management
Frances Freitas
Retired, Social Worker
Jordan Lopez
California Health & Wellness
Robert Mendoza
Smart Reach Digital
Sarah E. Walker Walker
Health Net
Board leadership practices
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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