In 1977, a small group of individuals felt there was a need in our community to offer support to battered women and their children. They started taking turns answering a crisis hotline that was forwarded to their homes. Some made room in their own homes for the women that had no place else to turn. It was soon realized that the need was greater than anyone had imagined. In November 1977, The Women's Shelter of the Corpus Christi Area, Inc. became incorporated. With grants from the City of Corpus Christi, Nueces County, and several area foundations including the Earl C. Sams Foundation, a building was purchased and renovated, opening to shelter battered women and their children in January 1978. As the third battered women's shelter to open in the state of Texas, the agency went on to provide safety and support to hundreds of victims over the next several years.

In 1982, with a grant from the Hogg Foundation the agency began providing direct services to children residing in the shelter facility.

The Support Center, intended to provide individual and group counseling to nonresidential victims of violence, was established in 1983 with the support of the John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation. In 1986, Victims of Crime Act funding was received to reach out into the eleven outlying counties of the agency's service area. Two part-time Advocates provided peer counseling, information and referral, advocacy, and community education to victims residing in these areas.

By 1990, there was an ever-growing list of women and children in need of shelter. Programs had grown to the extent that there simply was not enough room in which to provide services. The addition of the Sexual Assault Intervention Program in October 1993, serving adult victims of sexual assault, increased the need for more space. A building campaign ensued with the goal of designing and building a facility specifically intended to be a shelter. On August 1, 1994, the new facility opened with a capacity of housing up to sixty-five women and children.

As agency services expanded, the need was recognized to offer services to perpetrators of family violence. A Batterer's Intervention and Prevention Program (BIPP) was initiated on September1, 1995, providing an educationally based group format for participants.

By 1999, the expansion of services and associated staff resulted in crowded conditions in the shelter facility and the search began for another building to house administration and supportive services. With a generous gift from Ed and Janet Harte, the Harte Building at 813 Buford St. was opened in August 1999, allowing the agency to offer expanded services. Secondly, November 1999 saw another Ed and Janet Harte capital addition; the completion of a recreational room in the shelter facility intended for use by teenagers.

In 2000, the agency focused on expanding outreach services into the rural areas, with the establishment of offices in Alice, Beeville, Kingsville, and Sinton and the addition of six Advocates in order to fully staff each location. The agency has made great strides over the years and seen tremendous growth in the array and scope of services available for victims of family and sexual violence and we continue to move forward in pursuit of our mission.