Casa Myrna

Working to raise domestic violence awareness and providing intervention and prevention services in Massachusetts.

The Problem

Domestic violence will affect 1 in 3 women at some point in their lifetime, and 1 in 4 experience severe physical violence, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Some 44 percent of lesbian women in the United States, and 1 in 4 gay men, experience violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. A one-day survey in Massachusetts in 2016 found that 742 adults and children found refuge in domestic violence emergency or transitional shelter programs, and 1,228 adults and children received some form of non-residential supportive services to address the domestic violence in their lives. There were 322 unmet requests for services reported, of which 63 percent were for housing.

The Solution

Casa Myrna is Boston’s largest provider of domestic violence awareness, intervention, and prevention efforts. Founded in 1977, Casa Myrna serves over 1,000 survivors each year through three residential programs, housing assistance and advocacy, financial literacy education and job readiness skill building, individual and group counseling, legal advocacy and representation, children’s services, and community-based advocacy, and provides survivors with tools to recover from the trauma of abuse and begin to build sustainable self-sufficiency. The organization’s SafeLink statewide hotline currently answers nearly 100 calls a day from survivors, their family and friends, co-workers and professionals. As the group’s website asks, “We believe that every relationship should be safe and healthy. What do you believe?”