This Women’s History Month, join WTLC in saying thank you to the women who led the charge against domestic violence in the 1970s.
WTLC is proud to be an organization that was founded by women for women. We were created in 1976 by the Orange County Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in response to the high numbers of women and children who would spend their nights in parking lots because it was safer than returning home to an abusive husband. Even our name—Women’s Transitional Living Center—is a nod to our origins as a women-focused agency.
Since 1976, we have grown and learned a lot both as an organization and as a society. We now recognize that all genders can experience domestic violence, and that it can be harmful to uphold the long-accepted narrative that women are always the victim and men are always the abuser. We have opened our programs, both residential and community based, to all genders and strive to maintain a safe, welcoming, and affirming space for all survivors in our community to find healing.
The women who led the movement in the 1970s forced their communities to acknowledge and address the epidemic of domestic violence, and their work entirely shifted the way that we as a society view abuse. Because of our founders’ strength and perseverance, WTLC is continuing to change lives over 40 years later. We are so grateful to these women who refused to accept that violence should be considered a regular part of a woman’s life and who built the foundation for the services we continue to provide today.