The roots of SAFE Project can be traced back to 1974. Nine female law students at the University of Wyoming (UW) saw a need to raise awareness about rape at UW and in Laramie, so they opened and staffed the Women's Awareness Movement Office on campus to provide educational materials. Around the same time, a community group of activists raised funds to set up a voucher system to pay for hotel rooms for women and children who were fleeing domestic and family violence situations. In 1977, the two groups merged under the name SAFE Project (Sexual Assault Family Violence Educational Project), which became a registered nonprofit in 1980 and a 501c3 in 1981. 

 

SAFE Project received assistance from a number of organizations in the early years. The first office space was donated for two years by the Susan B. Anthony Center at UW. State grants provided funds to hire staff, establish a 24-hour crisis line, train volunteer advocates, and begin educational programs in Albany County. Church Women United, a group that had been educating the community on intimate partner violence, elected to transfer their shelter fund to SAFE Project in 1982. The funds helped make it possible to purchase SAFE’s first permanent shelter building in the late 1980s. In 1991, an office building was purchased on Steele Street to improve accessibility to services for survivors in the community. 

Over time, more space was needed for providing services to an increasing number of clients. In 2010, two separate buildings were purchased and renovated with community development block grants from the Wyoming Business Council and the Wyoming Community Development Authority, funding from the Guthrie Family Foundation, and proceeds from the sales of the former shelter property and the office on Steele. The building at 319 South Lincoln Street was renovated into the present day office. The new shelter property was ready by early 2011 and provided apartment spaces with three times more rooms and beds than the former shelter in order to accommodate more clients and children. In fall 2016, SAFE Project added a dedicated prevention position to work with local schools and a campus services position in a satellite office on the UW campus to provide better access to SAFE services for students at UW, WyoTech, and the Laramie campus of LCCC.

 

Thanks to local groups including Rotary Club of Laramie, a playground was added at the shelter site for children staying there with a parent to have a safe outdoor area to play. By 2017, with help from a Red Rover grant, pet friendly upgrades were completed to allow pets to stay in shelter with clients. From 2023-2024, contractors made repairs and upgrades to the shelter for safety, longevity, and comfort of clients, children, and pets staying there including durable flooring, secure solid doors, brighter lighting, child-safe cordless blinds, and more. To find out how you can help, please visit our donate page.

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