About the Program
Women’s Services provides shelter, intensive case management, and skill-building opportunities to help women who have experienced trauma achieve and maintain stable housing, relationships, and finances.

CMC’s Women’s Services is the only housing program in Cedar Rapids that serves unaccompanied women in a trauma-informed, female responsive environment, meaning all aspects of the program are designed to meet the unique needs of women. The program can house up to 15 women at a time, and residents may stay in the program up to two years. The Catherine McAuley Center adheres to fair housing guidelines.

Case Management
The Catherine McAuley Center provides comprehensive case management to address the multiple barriers that lead women to experience homelessness. Case management at CMC is conducted in a one-on-one format to meet the resident’s individual needs. Together with the support of WS staff, residents set, work toward, and evaluate their goals in the areas of physical or mental health, employment, and life skills on a weekly basis.

Groups
Group learning is a central part of the Women’s Services program. Groups may be therapeutic or skill-building in nature and are facilitated by CMC staff, alumni, and/or community partners. The purpose is to empower residents to identify and use their strengths, be exposed to activities that help them discover the people they can become, and decrease the barriers to stability that they face. Topics of past groups include cooking, gardening, self-esteem, yoga, and writing class.

The Women’s Services section is currently under construction. More information to come soon!

Women’s Journeys through Homelessness: A Case Report from Linn County, IA

A case study conducted by Bailey Wilson, Women’s Services Program Specialist at CMC, was completed as part of her former AmeriCorps VISTA project, to better understand women’s pathways through homelessness, and address the challenges they may face. Through a series of in-depth interviews, this report aims to uplift and share the journeys of women who have experienced homelessness in Linn County.