Team Leader: John Pepe ( john.pepe1@gmail.com)

Clients: AWAIC Shelter

Location: Anchorage, Alaska

Initiation Date: April 2006

General Description:
AWAIC(Abused Women’s Aid in Crisis) is the largest domestic violence service provider in the State of Alaska. It began as a safe home program in 1977 to provide emergency and support services to women and children made homeless by violence. Their mission is to teach people to live and love without violence. The program interrupts the cycle of violence with safe shelter for women and their children, support and advocacy for all family members, and community education. AWAIC works to empower those affected by domestic violence so that they can make positive decisions about their lives. AWAIC provides confidential individual and group support for women who have experienced emotional, physical, and /or sexual abuse within their intimate or family relationships. Services and programs include 24-hour shelter, crisis intervention, case management and advocacy, children’s programs and legal advocacy.

AWAIC provides services to the diverse population living in Anchorage. In FY05, the shelter population was 30 percent Alaskan Native, 6 percent Hispanic, 5 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, 15 percent African American, 37 percent Caucasian and 6 percent multiracial. Social relationships in the area are typical of mid-sized multiracial cities in terms of harmoniousness.

AWAIC is a nonprofit agency and relies heavily on donation of services to meet needs they could not otherwise afford given their current operating budget.

Project:
The AWAIC Shelter does not currently have sufficient space to receive and store the essential donations, such as water, food, furniture and warm clothing - that are given to domestic violence victims in AWAIC’s Moving Forward program. Other donations such as clothes and household items; emergency preparedness materials, and baby supplies are squeezed in where possible in AWAIC’s main building, which serves as office space and a 52-bed emergency shelter. Currently, many essential donations are turned down because there is no place to store them.

The Southcentral Alaska (SCA) Professional Chapter and Livingston Slone, Inc., a local architectural firm, are working together with AWAIC to address this issue. This project aims to provide an approximately 900 square foot, heated storage building on the existing AWAIC property. The new building would help free up space currently used for storage in the administrative part of the facility. The project is necessary to allow AWAIC to improve its ability to meet client needs. More storage space will lead directly to improved services by allowing AWAIC a greater capacity to accept community donations for the benefit of its clients and free up room for additional administrative work.

The SCA Professional Chapter will serve as project manager for design and construction administration. SCA will develop the building design documents required for permitting within the Municipality of Anchorage (MOA). This will inlcude electrical, mechanical, structural and civil engineering design services.

The SCA Professionals also intend to work on this design in collaboration with the EWB Student Chapter at UAA in a mentorship capacity to further the education and the humanitarian vision of our future engineers.

Project Status:
SCA Professional are currently trying to complete a 65 percent level of design for permitting purposes. AWIAC is actively in search of funding for this construction season.