Antrece Baggett remembers the evening in 1974, a yr that modified her household dynamic for the remainder of her life.
She was within the fifth grade when her father, in a match of rage, beat her mom with a garments hanger. The subsequent morning, as her mom tried to cowl her bruises with make-up, Baggett was referred to as to the varsity workplace, the place she realized she may by no means go house once more.
Her father had been calling the varsity, threatening to kill her mom and her siblings.
With no home violence shelters out there in Houston on the time, Baggett, her mom and her two brothers have been compelled to stay in numerous properties for security. The police devised a plan to make sure they have been by no means in the identical automobile on the identical time—an effort to forestall their father from working them off the street. She was solely 10-years-old.
“I keep in mind pondering, ‘That is how we’ve to stay now?’ It was terrifying,” Baggett stated. “There was no place for us to go. No shelter, no security web.”
As a pupil at Texas Southern College within the 90s, Baggett discovered herself drawn to the Houston Space Ladies’s Heart (HAWC). She started volunteering at its first shelter, working with girls as a substitute of youngsters as a result of she wished to know why her mom stored going again to her abuser.
“By my analysis, I realized that girls depart abusive relationships a mean of seven instances earlier than staying away for good. Disgrace, monetary constraints, spiritual beliefs and neighborhood pressures usually drive them again.”
Antrece Baggett, Home violence consciousness advocate
Now an American Historical past and African American Research professor at Houston Neighborhood Faculty, she can be the founding director of Ladies and Gender Research. By her work, she educates college students in regards to the historic and societal elements that perpetuate cycles of abuse. She additionally serves on the Grownup Demise Evaluation Crew, analyzing home violence circumstances to establish service gaps and methods to forestall future tragedies.
Quick-forward to 2025. Witnessing the opening of One Protected Place, the Houston Space Ladies’s Heart’s latest facility, was deeply private for Baggett.
“Coming right here helps heal the little woman in me that didn’t have wherever to go together with her mother and her brothers,” she stated.
One Protected Place, a flagship campus anticipated to open in April, is designed to supply survivors of home abuse, sexual assault and human trafficking with secure housing and very important assist providers. The 5.5-acre campus represents the following chapter in HAWC’s 48-year historical past of empowering survivors.
Harris County Choose Lina Hidalgo addressed the county’s involvement in coping with home violence throughout a ribbon-cutting ceremony and facility tour attended by elected officers and stakeholders.
“Since 2020, we’ve invested round $23 million in addressing home violence all through the area,” Hidalgo stated. “That’s not simply the Houston Space Ladies’s Heart, however varied organizations. Since 2022, (investments) have been round rushing up the courtroom backlog on home violence points, serving to construct infrastructure, baby care, psychological well being assist for teenagers and households impacted by home violence. We’ve got an ongoing dedication of $1.5 million {dollars} of versatile monetary assist to survivors of home violence.
The four-story facility consists of 135 housing flats, a 24-hour disaster response and evaluation middle, a Survivor Empowerment Hub providing monetary literacy, behavioral well being, authorized providers and psychological well being counseling for adults and youngsters. Extra assets embody a lactation room, teen rooms, baby care providers and school rooms for a Houston ISD elementary faculty program.
The Texas Council on Household Violence’s 2023 Honoring Texas Victims report states that over 50% of emergency shelter requests go unmet attributable to capability points. In Houston, one in 4 homicides in 2024 has been linked to intimate accomplice violence.
Pam Ellis, Director of Residential Shopper Providers at HAWC, understands firsthand how vital areas like One Protected Place are for survivors. For 38 years, she has labored in prisons, homeless shelters and substance abuse amenities, all with the purpose of serving to survivors rebuild their lives. She recollects how meals performs a vital function in therapeutic, noting that many survivors have skilled meals insecurity as a part of their trauma.
“Meals brings folks collectively. We wish to create a way of normalcy for survivors, regardless of their background,” she stated. “The ability will present three every day meals and snacks, with menus tailor-made to totally different cultural diets.”
Ellis additionally envisions a resident-led committee to contribute to meal planning, reinforcing a way of empowerment and neighborhood.
“If you’re in disaster, you want someplace peaceable, someplace secure,” Ellis stated. “This facility is strictly that. I can think about kids right here enjoying, moms respiration simpler and households rebuilding their lives.”
