Women’s History Month: Telling HERstory

Forty-five years ago, Karen Perkins saw a need to help women and their families who didn’t have the resources to escape violence and poverty.  She, along with three volunteers, founded The Women’s Center of Tarrant County to address those needs—starting with an information and referral Helpline. The organization quickly expanded services as they taught women the skills to needed to get a job.  A year later Karen took over a fledgling rape crisis program from the City of Fort Worth. Under her leadership, the organization became one of the premiere rape crisis centers in the country.

Through the years, The Women’s Center has built on Karen’s legacy:

• Teaching more than 2.8 million children how to recognize, respond to and report abuse.
• Providing therapy and crisis intervention to more than 300,000 people to help them overcome trauma and transform their lives for the better.
• Helping 40,000 women , many of these are single heads of households, and men find new career opportunities that supply their families with sustainable income. Coupled with financial coaching and resource connection, clients create a financially stable future for their families.
• Teaching life skills to more than 3,700 women and children as they transition out of homelessness.

As the needs of the community have grown, we have excelled at providing innovative programs to meet those needs while staying true to the mission of the Center. We’ve grown from a ‘staff’ of 3 volunteers to 100 employees, allowing us to better meet the needs of Tarrant County residents. And we continue to be good stewards of our finances to ensure the financial sustainability of the organization.

But as an organization, we’ve realized the biggest impact we can make in women’s lives individually is to help create a trauma-informed community. Karen set an example of collaboration when she co-founded Women’s Policy Forum in 1987, bringing together female leaders not only from business, but also government, non-profits and community volunteers. The goal was for women to learn and understand the issues that affect Tarrant County, and use that knowledge to affect change within the community.

That collaborative spirit continues to inform the Center’s work. The partnerships we enjoy with many local organizations – including local law enforcement agencies, government entities, health systems, school districts, universities, child advocacy centers, other non-profits and social service agencies – allow us to share knowledge and tactics that help us provide a continuum of care across Tarrant County.

We continue to advocate for women’s rights, working to understand the issues that affect their progress and implementing programs that support financial and emotional wellness. And we continue to embrace the values of our founder, Karen, who believed that all girls and women have the potential to be the best they can be, and that by strengthening them, we strengthen our entire community.

This month, we celebrate HERstory – the incredible vision of our founder, the tireless efforts of our staff and the amazing courage of each woman whose life has been transformed as a result of coming to The Women’s Center.