About us

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At The Awakening Center, our mission is to provide safe, supportive housing and life-stabilizing services for survivors of domestic violence and young adults transitioning out of the foster care system. We are committed to creating environments where individuals and families who have experienced trauma can rebuild their lives with dignity, security, and hope.

Many survivors and young adults face overwhelming barriers after leaving unsafe or unstable situations. Emergency shelters often provide temporary protection, but long-term healing requires stability, privacy, and consistent support. The Awakening Center seeks to bridge this gap by developing housing solutions that offer not only safety, but also the resources needed for individuals and families to move forward with confidence.

Our vision is rooted in the belief that healing begins in environments where people feel secure and supported. Through our housing initiatives and community partnerships, we aim to create spaces where survivors and young adults can regain stability, access essential resources, and build independent futures. These environments are designed to support both emotional healing and practical life transitions, helping residents reconnect with education, employment, and community support networks.

The Awakening Center is also guided by lived experience. Our founder’s journey through domestic violence and housing instability revealed the urgent need for safe, family-centered living environments where children and parents alike can begin to recover from trauma. This insight drives our commitment to developing housing models that prioritize privacy, stability, and compassionate support services.

Through initiatives such as Awakening House, The Awakening Center aims to create housing communities that provide private living spaces, trauma-informed support, and pathways toward independence. Our goal is not only to provide shelter, but to help individuals and families rediscover safety, rebuild confidence, and create brighter futures.

We believe that when people are given the opportunity to heal in safe environments, they can transform their lives and contribute positively to their communities. The Awakening Center exists to help make that transformation possible.

Many survivors of domestic violence and young adults aging out of the foster care system face housing instability. Emergency shelters provide temporary safety, but they often lack the privacy and stability needed for families and young adults to truly heal and rebuild their lives.

Without stable housing, many individuals struggle to access employment, education, and long-term support systems.

The Awakening Center was created to help address this gap by developing housing solutions and supportive environments where individuals can safely rebuild their lives.

A Letter From the Founder

My name is Renee Blackwell, and I am the founder of The Awakening Center.

For many years, I lived through domestic violence. During that time, my children and I experienced homelessness more than once. We stayed in shelters, moved from place to place, and fought every day to rebuild our lives. Those experiences were some of the most difficult seasons of my life, but they also opened my eyes to something that changed me forever.

While staying in shelters, I noticed something important. Even though we were grateful to have a roof over our heads, the open shelter environments were often overwhelming—especially for children who had already experienced trauma. My children felt safer and more secure when we were able to stay in smaller, more private spaces. They even began calling one place we stayed “the second apartment,” because it gave them a sense of normalcy during a very unstable time.

That moment stayed with me.

I realized that safety and stability are not just about having a roof overhead. They are about creating an environment where survivors—and their children—can begin to heal.

During those same experiences, I also met many young people who were in shelters because they had aged out of the foster care system with nowhere to go. Their stories broke my heart and reminded me how many people fall through the cracks when support systems disappear.

For years, I carried a dream in my heart: to create a place where survivors of domestic violence and young adults aging out of foster care could find not just housing, but true stability and support.

That dream is now becoming The Awakening Center.

The Awakening Center is being built to provide safe housing and wrap-around services for domestic violence survivors and foster youth transitioning into adulthood. Our vision is to create environments where families can heal, rebuild, and move forward with dignity and hope.

This mission is deeply personal to me. I know firsthand how difficult the journey can be—but I also know that healing is possible when people are given the right support and a safe place to begin again.

If this mission speaks to you, I invite you to follow our page, share our story, and walk alongside us as we build something that will help others rise from some of the darkest moments of their lives.

Together, we can create places where healing begins.

— Founder, The Awakening Center