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Project CARE

QUICK ESCAPE

Project CARE (Community, Accessibility, Responsiveness, and Education) is a community collaborative providing support to individuals with disabilities impacted by/or at-risk for violence. Project CARE’s mission is to provide trauma-informed and responsive services to individuals with disabilities who are victims/survivors of domestic violence, dating/ intimate partner violence, stalking, and/or sexual assault, or are at risk for victimization. Project CARE is driven by the vision that people with disabilities be empowered to access and benefit from highly effective services that are welcoming, comprehensive, and without barriers.

Project CARE is a collaboration of several agencies located in Hamilton County which include:

  1. Hamilton County Department of Developmental Disability Services
  2. Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services
  3. End Slavery Cincinnati
  4. YWCA Greater Cincinnati Domestic Violence Shelter
  5. Cincinnati Art Museum

Women and men with disabilities experience violence and abuse at higher rates and for longer durations than women and men without disabilities. Identifying patterns of coercive control and supporting victims of violence using evidence-based initiatives is crucial in protecting health and breaking cycles of violence. Project CARE operates from a collaborative framework whose mission is to transform services into a seamless system that fully meets the needs of women and men with disabilities and Deaf women and men who are victims/survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, and human trafficking.

Project CARE believes that self-advocacy is of paramount importance and therefore strives to create leadership positions for individuals to serve as a means to promote self-determination, empowerment, and disability movement core values. Part of the broader disability rights movement, the self-advocacy movement is unique in that it has been led and informed by individual and collective experiences of people with various disabilities including intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. Project CARE’s Self-advocacy team is the driving force behind all initiatives and programming. Much of Project CARE’s Self-advocacy work consists of providing support, advocacy, and community outreach to others through support groups, educational classes, art-based initiatives, and other community events. Project CARE provides ongoing opportunities for connection with peers so as to reduce isolation and help others form networks of support.

Project CARE provides the following services:

  • Support Groups
  • Community-Based Art Healing Programs
  • Self-advocacy Program
  • Opportunities to Connect with Peers
  • Training to Community Agencies
  • Outreach & Intervention Services
  • STARR Classes–Safety Training & Risk Reduction Classes for Healthy and Safe Relationships

For more information regarding educational classes, support groups, community art-based programs, volunteer opportunities, or crisis intervention services, please contact projectcare@ywcacin.org.

* Note: All services offered by Project CARE are free and accessible via Zoom or other online technologies. 

Program Leaders:

  • Holly Watson, (513) 361-2117
  • Briana Moss, (513) 361-2156