In the early 1970s, women across Minnesota calling a legal information telephone line told staffers that they were experiencing physical abuse from their partners. In response, a group of St. Paul women formed Women’s Advocates to connect these callers with emergency housing and information. In 1974, the group purchased a St. Paul house and transformed it into a groundbreaking shelter for victim-survivors of domestic violence. In the following decades, Women’s Advocates expanded the shelter, initiated education programs, and advocated for policy changes—all with the goal of breaking the cycle of domestic violence.
In 1971, a group of St. Paul women began gathering to explore social and political issues. At a meeting, attorney Delores Orey discussed the lack of public information about marital separation. To address this need, the group of women—who officially organized as the nonprofit Women’s Advocates in 1972—published a booklet on divorce rights and staffed a legal information telephone line.
Women calling the telephone line frequently disclosed that their partners were physically abusing them. Many of these women wanted to leave their relationships but were forced to continue living with violent partners because they had no other housing options. Shelters for women experiencing domestic abuse did not yet exist. To address this, members of Women’s Advocates began hosting victim-survivors at their office and homes. The many women seeking emergency shelter underscored the importance of securing a permanent, larger facility.
In 1974, Women’s Advocates purchased and renovated a house on Grand Avenue in St. Paul to shelter victim-survivors of domestic abuse and serve as the headquarters for their 24/7 crisis telephone line. The house, which had space for up to twenty-one people (women and their children), was filled to capacity on the first night it opened. Women learned about the shelter and telephone line through word of mouth, as well as through brochures and posters distributed at emergency rooms and legal offices.
In establishing one of the first shelters for victim-survivors of domestic violence in the world, the staff, residents, and volunteers of Women’s Advocates were trailblazers. They innovated approaches to issues such as working with police, securing shelter, procuring funding, resolving conflicts with neighbors, occupying groups of energetic children, and cooking communal meals. Staff at Women’s Advocates frequently responded to requests for advice from other organizations that were establishing their own shelters.
Women’s Advocates operated with a nonhierarchical structure common in the social justice movements of the 1970s. The staff worked with each victim-survivor to identify and respond to her needs. The founding members, who were predominantly middle-class white women, realized that their staff was not reflective of the racial diversity of the women they served, so they prioritized hiring women of color. Initial funding came solely from private donations. Within a few years, staff applied for and received grants from foundations and governmental entities.
Increasing public awareness about domestic violence was a focus of Women’s Advocates from its inception. Educational efforts included publishing booklets and brochures; designing college courses; giving presentations at churches, schools, and workplaces; and providing interviews and tours to local and national press. Staff at Women’s Advocates and Sergeant Carolen Bailey overhauled domestic violence training for St. Paul police officers, resulting in improved security at the shelter. Concurrent with educational initiatives, Women’s Advocates worked to change domestic violence policy. It led efforts to establish state funding for domestic abuse shelters and improved legal protections for Minnesota victim-survivors.
By the 1990s, the shelter had expanded to three side-by-side houses. The ongoing telephone line received over 10,000 calls a year, and demand for housing continued to exceed capacity despite the opening of other regional shelters. Women’s Advocates expanded the services they offered to victim-survivors’ children, many of whom had experienced domestic abuse themselves. Resources included housing assistance and children’s services after leaving the shelter.
In May of 2020, the shelter temporarily moved to a hotel to decrease COVID transmission between residents. Many new initiatives were launched around this time, including a crisis chat line, online support groups, a pet foster program, pop-up advocacy events, and a Survivor Advocacy Council to guide organizational decision making. In 2024, Women’s Advocates launched a fundraising effort to open two apartment-style shelters to house up to fifty-eight people, including transgender and non-binary victim-survivors.
Demand for services from people experiencing domestic violence has remained high. As of 2019, 37 percent of transgender people nationwide reported experiencing physical violence from a partner during their lifetimes; in 2024, 25 percent of cisgender women in Minnesota experienced the same.