Downtown Women’s Center

The Volunteer opportunity: Prepping, cooking & serving meal to women who need help. Our team leader, Salli, is absolutely amazing! She is super organized and detail oriented. She creates nice lunch menu. We work so well as a team!
It feels great to be able to help out in our community. It is nice to meet new friends who have the same passion to give.
The Parking: Private parking lot

For some reason LA makes it difficult to donate. This place made it easy though. Easy drop off process and they’ll give you a receipt if you need one.

Hey ladies,
You know all those toiletries we all hoard from hotels? Well this place will take them off your hands! They provide thousands of showers a year but unfortunately never have enough toiletries for those who use them. Clean out your stash!
I was wary because it’s in a sketch neighborhood but there’s safe and ample parking in their gated lot. I was able to pop my trunk and walk in my bags of toiletries and cans with no problems. The front desk took them off my hands and I was back on the road within a couple minutes.

I thought this was a place for positive resources but it’s not. Watch everything or they will steal. You will be madder when you left then once you came. These ppl need HELP!

Volunteered here today and met the new CEO. She is amazing and has great ideas for the next ten years of this impressive organization. They do a great service for this community. Its a win-​win situation for the women that are in their SET programs. I love their administration and their store. Did I mention that their Creamy Wildberry Smoothy is one of the best I’ve ever tried!
Volunteer here! Support their organization by purchasing from their store or making donations. The savings to the city alone by housing a single woman per day is in the thousands! They are needed and they do great work!

I live across the street from the DWC so I’m a witness to much of what goes on in this neighborhood and I’m also a frequent customer of DWC. DWC is not just a shelter– it’s a place where women get help. In the boutique and café downstairs i often buy fresh sandwiches, salads, or when I need my boost– my cup of tea and baked good. Other people in my building swear by their coffee. Today I purchased a bag full of small beautiful handmade stuffed animals with cut out patterns on them that can also be hung (string attached) like ornaments or decoration. A perfect gift for my baby nieces and their moms who want something unusual and beautiful in their home. Some of the women in the center made them and everything the women make and sell in the store helps support the programs as well. I always find something interesting and it makes it more special knowing who made it and what it supports.

I love volunteering here with the awesome people from my church. I love everything that this place stands for. They help women that would normally not be taken care of. I have to say that this place is blessed by God. You guys are awesome keep up the great work!!!

I was homeless a few years ago. It was during the holiday season and it was a cold month. I got into a very bad fight with my family and had nowhere to turn. I didn’t have very many friends at that time. I came to the Downtown Women’s Center for assistance. All they told me was that they were closed and to go to the Midnight Mission. They didn’t give me any resources. Fortunately, I was able to contact a distant relative and was able to find shelter, but it really made me realize how uncaring the Downtown Women’s Center was. Even if I could not stay there, they should have been kind enough to provide me with resources. Or even care enough to listen. I cried because of how low I felt. At that moment I felt that nobody cared. I had no doubt that if I was being treated this way that many more people were also.
I understand that the missions downtown are overwhelmed by the amount of people needing assistance, but their priority should always be people first.

An amazing non-​profit organization that assists the women of Skid Row. I have had the pleasure of volunteering at the DWC for the past 6 years. It started as a New Year’s resolution, one that I am very proud to have continually kept.
I volunteer as an individual but there are many opportunities for groups as well.
Not only is the DWC a drop-​in center, it is also a residence and education center. It is the center’s mission to professionally develop and train the women so that they acquire the necessary skills to become independent and into the workforce.

DWC is a very beautiful facility, great resources for the women in the community. they have clothing, good food, places for women to rest, shower and utilize the different services they offer. most people there are very nice. the reason why it gets three stars is because i went to drop off some clothes there and there was a woman standing up talking to a room full of women like they were farm animals. i hope i never have to go there but would keep donating clothes because the women need them.

One of my fave places to volunteer at.
Staff workers are usually positive, motivating, helpful and informative.
I always volunteer with the LINKS network w/​my work at Sony Pictures.
I highly recommend getting there a little early to find a parking spot. Small lot, so once spaces run out, you might have to park behind parked cars and it’s a hassle when you gotta run in and out of the building to move your car and/​or track someone to move. There’s a lot of pedestrians, so be sure to be mindful of that as well. Of course the area seems a little sketchy cause it is located in Skid Row, but locals are generally nice. I saw a great amount of people flagging down drivers who ended up on the wrong one way street!
I love LA. Give back to LA! =)

Its that time of year where you may be reviewing all the things you received over the holidays, the new year resolutions you’re trying to keep and doing some first of the year house cleaning.
The DWC can help you with all of those. Use those giftcards to buy something for someone other than yourself, donate those outfits you no longer use that have been stored in your closet for years or better yet donate a little bit of your time and make a change in not only someone else’s life but in your life as well.
Check out their website for more info!

As much as I love to spend my free time eating, drinking and being merry, giving back is the most important.
The DWC is the perfect way to give back for anyone who lives in, works near, and loves DTLA.
It requires an initial Saturday morning training and a second one for the more involved roles.
There are many opportunities, from regular tasks around the DWC to one-​time events. Most volunteering opportunities involve others, so you will likely meet kindred spirits.
So sign up for training! Now you will know just what to do the next time you want to be the change that you want to see in the world.

On Saturday I got the privilege of meeting up with one of my college friends who now works here. This place is phenomenal. If you are thinking about a place to volunteer your time, donate either food or money. please consider this place!
Located in skid row this place is unique to the extensive services it offers for women in the local area.
«The mission of the Downtown Women’s Center is to provide permanent supportive housing and a safe and healthy community fostering dignity, respect, and personal stability, and to advocate ending homelessness for women» — taken from the website
This place offers food, hygiene kits, shelter, housing, and a million other resources. They are soon getting an on call psychiatrist. In taking a tour the place feels like a home. There are several lounge areas with donated furniture and TVs… There is an «oasis» in the back that will soon have vegetables in order to have a sustainable garden.
Please check out their website… take a tour yourself and consider donating your time, food or money here :-)