BREAKING GROUND VIRTUALLY

The Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center (HCWC) recently broke ground on a project 20 years in the making.

The HCWC is a nonprofit that provides services, including counseling, advocacy, 24-hour crisis response and shelter to Hays and Caldwell county residents who are victims of family violence, dating violence, sexual assault and child abuse.

After several years, the HCWC has raised enough funds to break ground on the Transitional Housing Project that will offer victims of domestic abuse long-term affordable and safe housing. HCWC Director of Community Partnerships Melissa Rodriguez said they were ready to break ground after meeting their funding goal for the building earlier this year, but due to COVID-19 they had to postpone the ceremony.

“We initially planned on doing an actual groundbreaking, in person, of course,” Rodriguez said. “But then this all started happening, so we asked ourselves ‘Okay, now what are we going to do?’ So we decided to do a virtual version instead.”

So they asked lead donors to the project to send photos of themselves, shovels in hand, in order to craft together a virtual ground breaking video commemorating the momentous occasion and those that helped make it happen.

Rodriguez said the video features people from the McCoy Family, who have been one of the center’s most generous donors and contributed a significant portion of the funds needed for the Transitional Housing Project. But donations from Hays County ($600,000) and the City of San Marcos ($400,000) helped put the project within grasp as well as the generosity of the HCWC’s Board of Directors and staff members, who all contributed personal funds toward the project and are featured in the video.

“So we went out and got people from the McCoy family and took their photos and then got city officials and county to participate because there were also significant contributions from both the city and the county and then we had other individual donors who had also contributed in donations,” Rodriguez said. “So we put this together as a way of just commemorating their work in making this dream finally come true for us.”

Rodriguez said the project can not be completed fast enough. What were already issues in combating domestic violence — housing affordability, financial stability and childcare — before have been exacerbated by the pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis.

According to Rodriguez, many victims are forced to make the choice between homelessness and going back to abusive situations.

“For years we've known there are barriers to victims being able to become self-sufficient — and number one on that list has always been housing and number two, quickly behind it, is childcare,” Rodriguez said. “So we knew those two things had to be a part of this project and one of the focuses became families with young children, because we know that those early years are really crucial in the development of children — both socially and emotionally, but even their brain chemistry and their bodies.”

Rodriguez said early childhood development studies throughout the years have repeatedly pointed to children living in violent homes being more likely to suffer emotional and physical difficulties as adults. She said children need a safe and secure environment where they can establish a routine and have a sense of normalcy, and the Transitional Housing Project could help to achieve that.

Instead of victims having to choose between homelessness and abuse, a new transitional housing facility will allow families to have housing with affordable rent for an extended period of time. In addition to safe, affordable housing, HCWC will also provide case management, advocacy and counseling to residents.

Rodriguez said while a family lives in a transitional housing facility, their children will have the opportunity to achieve school-readiness through Head Start and Even Start programs facilitated through Community Action, Inc. She said early childhood trauma intervention has been a cornerstone of the project, because of how vital the first few years of life are to children’s future success and wellbeing.

“Part of what guided us in this project is that we knew that those early years were so critical into their development, and if we could get to children specifically in those early years and provide that quality education and childcare and interrupt that cycle of violence and exposure to trauma, that their outcomes would be greatly improved,” Rodriguez said.

The 22,000 square foot transitional housing project will consist of 18 apartment units that are one to four bedrooms each and preference will be given to families with young children, according to Rodriguez. The center has not nailed down the time frame for long-term housing, but they plan to be able to offer victims of abuse safe, affordable housing for 12- 18 months, or shorter depending on their needs. The HCWC current temporary shelter for victims, the McCoy Family Shelter, can hold up to 10 families at once for approximately 30 days.

Rodriguez said the money they have raised so far will cover the construction of the facility. But she said the campaign will still need to purchase furniture and other items to begin operations.

For more information on HCWC, go to hcwc. org. To view the video go to, youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Z635e9xqk.