News & Events
Brown Rudnick Charitable Foundation Grant
(now owner of subsidiary Gray Lodge, Shelter for Women)
July 1, 2010, the Shelter for Women will become an affiliate of the Village for Families and Children, Inc. The two organizations worked together for nearly a year exploring ways to better provide for the changing needs of at-risk girls. It was jointly decided that the Shelter for Women become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Village for Families and Children – a proactive decision that would ensure that the Shelter’s mission of providing support and services to young and adolescent women survives into the future.
Like the Shelter, the Village is a nonprofit organization with a long history in Hartford – the Shelter 121 years and the Village 201 years. Both programs were founded by Hartford women whose mission was to provide safety and shelter for those in need, particularly women and children.
The affiliation will bring about some change in the programming at the Gray Lodge in Hartford’s Asylum Hill neighborhood. The Village intends to relocate some of its programs for adolescent and young women to Gray Lodge. Two of the initiatives that provide services to young parents and chidlren will be run at Gray Lodge; these programs are Friends of the Family and Child First. The rooms within the Gray Lodge will be repurposed for these programs and some renovations will be needed. The Village will preserve the historic Gray Lodge building along with existing wall and door plagues honoring donors.
Alison Gill Lodge will continue to run as is in Manchester through the Village for Families and Children. It will remain as a licensed therapeutic group home serving young women and girls ages 14-21. The Village for Families and Children offers a similar group home for boys in Hartford and is excited to now extend this type of service to girls.
Many of the Shelter staff and leadership will remain involved. Three Shelter board members and one advisory council member will join the Village for Families and Children board. The remaining board members are invited to join the SFW advisory council, which will remain a leadership council continuing to provide support and assistance in promoting the programs at Gray Lodge and Alison Gill Lodge in the Greater Hartford community.
“Two Hartford Nonprofits Join Forces.” – more information on the transition.
