History
History
In 1912, in a small, one-room office at the Louisville YWCA, The Center for Women and Families (CWF) began helping victims of domestic abuse. Since its inception, CWF has grown to five locations in Kentucky and Indiana and has expanded its mission to serve victims of intimate partner abuse and sexual assault in nine Kentuckiana counties.
The Center’s Timeline
| 1912 | Opens office at downtown Louisville YWCA |
| 1975 | Begins rape crisis and creative employment programming |
| 1977 | Opens the first domestic violence shelter in Kentucky |
| 1983 | Establishes services in New Albany, Indiana |
| 1988 | Moves to a new more secured downtown Louisville campus on West Breckinridge Street |
| 1989 | Incorporates as a private nonprofit organization; opens office in Shelbyville, Kentucky |
| 1998 | Begins providing transitional housing at West Louisville Campus |
| 1999 | Dedicates new Southern Indiana shelter |
| 2000 | Launches endowment and capital campaign to fund expansion |
| 2005 | Dedicates the Joan E. Thomas, M.D. Campus on Second Street in downtown Louisville |
| 2007 | Opens region’s only community-based Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Clinic in partnership with University of Louisville Hospital |
| 2009 | Opens office in Bullitt County, Kentucky |
| 2014 | Evacuates the Joan E. Thomas, M.D. Campus due to weather-related water damages; relocates to temporary spaces throughout Louisville |
| 2015 | Rededicates the Joan E. Thomas, M.D. Campus; moves back into the newly renovated building |
