The Path to Success Starts Here

As the largest organization serving homeless women and children in New Orleans, we are dedicated to creating a safe, secure and stable environment where classes, tools and resources build the pathway to success. Our wraparound programs keep families together and empower self-sufficiency—every step of the journey.

Your support makes all this possible!

Our Mission

Our mission is to enable women and their children and intact families including single fathers and boys to transition from a life of homelessness and poverty to one of stability and self-sufficiency. You can support us in this important mission by volunteering your time or donating to our efforts.

Our Story

The New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter traces its beginning to a rudimentary women’s facility opened immediately after Hurricane Katrina. There was an immediate need for food, shelter, and security, and we rose to meet the challenge—protecting women and children and keeping them together.

When funding of this temporary facility ran out during the summer of 2007, Jackie Silverman founded the New Orleans Women’s Shelter, to facilitate the establishment of a long-term program and settled in a newly renovated housing facility. The program was revised with a greater emphasis on case management and increased support for helping women with small children achieve independence.

In 2014 the organization moved to its current main location in Central City at Liberty House, a facility originally developed by the National Council of Negro Women of Greater New Orleans, Inc. In the new location the New Orleans Women’s Shelter more than doubled its capacity, leading us to expand our name and the focus of our programs. Now operating as the New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter, we support women and children equally, allowing families to stay together, grow strong and strive for success.

In 2016, the New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter assumed operation of a second shelter facility in Central City, doubling our capacity again and enabling us to also serve intact and single father-led families and empower even more families to stay together.

Add: In December 2023, the New Orleans Women & Children’s Shelter acquired a new facility in Mid-City New Orleans, formerly the Lucky Inn Hotel, to better meet the growing demand for its services. This upgraded location will significantly enhance our operations with an increased capacity to accommodate up to 100 clients, private bathrooms in bedrooms, a large multipurpose space for programming, improved office spaces, and proximity to public transit. This move marks a pivotal step towards advancing our mission.

We are excited to share this development and call on all supporters to help fund this new facility through our Home at Last Campaign. Achieving our financial goal will require the collaborative effort of donors at all levels. Please stay tuned for more information on how you can contribute.

Who We Serve

NOWCS provides for homeless families from diverse backgrounds and is one of the only shelters that accepts:

• women over the age of 18 who are accompanied by children of both genders under the age of 18,
• pregnant women throughout all stages of their pregnancy.
• intact and single father-led families including boys.

Clients originate from across the metro New Orleans area including Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines Parishes. (Map)

• Over 95% of the persons NOWCS assists are African American.
• 100% are homeless upon program entry and have incomes at or below the federal poverty level.
• Most have uneven employment histories, low educational attainment, and lack of job training, and are unable to afford market-rate housing.
• Many of our clients are homeless for the first time in their lives.
• Two thirds are children.

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