The mission of Women’s Empowerment is to educate and empower women who are homeless with the skills and confidence necessary to get a job, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and regain a home for themselves and their children.

Located in Sacramento, California, Women’s Empowerment’s mission was created by homeless women expressing their needs and a community coming together with the desire to end homelessness—for good.

Our executive director and founder, Lisa Culp, was working at Sacramento Loaves & Fishes when the idea formed. Lisa watched homeless mothers raising their children on the streets. She watched those children grow up, still homeless, to become mothers of new babies born into homelessness. She knew there must be a solution to this cycle of poverty.

A Women’s Empowerment volunteer and student work together during Mock Interview Day.

Working with focus groups at Loaves & Fishes, Lisa listened to women share their stories and their needs. In 2001, she worked with community leaders to create Women’s Empowerment, which proved to be an immediately successful solution in ending the cycle of poverty.

In 2004, Women’s Empowerment became an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Since then, the team has grown to include a board and staff with deep knowledge of the homeless community’s needs, and hundreds of volunteer teachers and mentors—all of whom donate countless hours of their time to ensuring that homeless women successfully rise out of poverty.

Since our inception, Women’s Empowerment has served 1,503 women and more than 3,500 children. In 2017, 92% of women regained a safe home for their children and 77% of women secured a job or enrolled in school/training.

In May 2009 we were named Nonprofit of the Year by the Nonprofit Resource Center. This is one of the highest honors a nonprofit can receive in the Sacramento region.

In 2014 Women’s Empowerment was awarded Organization of the Year at the inaugural Women’s Appreciation Awards by Congresswoman Doris Matsui, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Assemblymember Roger Dickinson.

In 2015 Women’s Empowerment was featured on The Today Show’s “Hope To It” as a national model to end homelessness. Click here to see the segment.

In 2016 we were featured on CNN’s Impact Your World. Click here to read the article.

Last year we were thrilled to be named a California Nonprofit of the Year by Assemblymember Kevin McCarty. We were also honored when Governor Jerry Brown chose Women’s Empowerment as the site of his Women’s Caucus bill package signing ceremony.

Click here to learn more about our programs and how Women’s Empowerment works to end homelessness one woman – one family – at a time.