History

Seeking to address the serious gap in transitional housing and services for homeless women, New Endeavors by Women (NEW) was created in 1988 by the Women’s Shelter Providers, an incorporated group of directors and staff members from shelters and programs for homeless women in Washington, DC. The founders saw the need for a comprehensive program that offered an array of services to address the myriad challenges faced by homeless women.

NEW’s founders were effective: they convinced the DC government to fund a transitional residential program for women that would allow these women time and a place to stay while they got their lives back together. 611 N Street, NW would accommodate 32 women and become NEW’s home.

NEW is one of the very few programs in the Washington metropolitan area that offers a comprehensive program of services rather than emergency shelter or services focusing on a particular challenge faced by a homeless individual.

Since the founding of New Endeavors by Women, two other programs have been begun by the parent organization: New Expectations (NEXT) and the New Endeavors Shelter Plus Care (S+C) Program. The original program still is known as New Endeavors by Women. The mission of all three programs is to provide the interim step between homelessness and self-sufficiency by providing consistent support and assistance to the women who enter the program.

The success of NEW's programs is unmistakable: since its inception, NEW has helped nearly 1500 women take control of their lives and move out of homelessness.  More than 80 percent of those women have since moved on to independent living situations.