NONPROFIT by KELSEY CIPOLLA | photos courtesy of NEWHOUSE
A New Start at Newhouse. Newhouse Shelter’s 88 beds are almost always full. The Kansas City, Missouri-based, shelter provides sanctuary for women and children fleeing from the immediate threat of domestic violence. Often, just a few hours pass between the time one family moves out and another takes its place, says Vicki Kraft, Newhouse president and CEO. Every year, the shelter serves 900 women and children trying to rebuild their lives following domestic violence, a pattern of coercive behavior, usually in a romantic relationship, where one person is trying to control the
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other. Although the majority of victims are women, a growing number of men are also reporting being victims of domestic violence, which can take many forms, Kraft says – financial, emotional, physical, and sexual. “What we see as a pattern is that once it becomes physical, the violence escalates, and, left unchecked, often it will end up in a fatality,” she explains.
WORKING TO REBUILD Families come to Newhouse by police escort. Generally, there has been a violent incident that’s forced them to
