Our
Mission
NEW is guided by a mission to partner with homeless women to create new futures. We provide a nurturing environment so that women can recognize their worth. NEW transforms lives, by providing housing, fostering the development of life skills, and promoting education and employment, to end the cycle of homelessness.
Our History
The idea of NEW was a novel idea 35 years ago: Give women more than a bed for the night, give them a chance for a brighter future.
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In 1988 in DC, most shelters were only emergency shelters, meaning at 7 p.m., people could get dinner and a place to sleep, but by 7 a.m. the next morning, everyone had to be out, dragging all their belongings with them. There were some daytime drop-in centers here and there, “but if you were trying to get your life together and find a job, it wasn’t exactly an easy thing,” said Mary Popit, who was the Executive Director of NEW from 1996-2005.
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A group of (now unknown) women working in the emergency shelters for women saw this problem first-hand and decided to do something about it. They asked city officials if they could start a transitional housing program, giving women a place to live for three months, allowing them more time to get their lives in order.
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The city gave them 611 N Street and some money and the story goes that on July 4, 1988, these women were making up four beds. The next day, four women came through NEW’s doors with a desire to get their lives back on track. Each one got a case manager, an education consultant, an employment professional and a housing professional.
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New Endeavors by Women was born.
We believe all women can embrace who they are,
can define their future, and can change the world.