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QuickTake:
The Springfield City Hall display features the history of Hope & Safety Alliance, formerly known as Womenspace, which was founded in 1977.
Four life-size wooden silhouettes of women stand in the hallway of Springfield City Hall.
Each cutout, painted bright red, honors a person who died from domestic violence in Oregon in the 1990s, their name and story written on a gold plaque.
They were handmade by volunteers with Womenspace — now called Hope & Safety Alliance — as part of the Silent Witness initiative. Womenspace representatives took the silhouettes to Washington, D.C., in 1997 to participate in the national “March to End the Silence” to raise awareness about domestic violence.
The cutouts are part of an exhibit commemorating Hope & Safety Alliance’s 50-year history in Lane County, positioned alongside information on the national women’s movement. The exhibit is on display through October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
“What better way to spread awareness than to highlight the work that’s been done and the work that still needs to be done,” Cassondra Nielsen, Development Director at Hope & Safety Alliance, told Lookout Eugene-Springfield.
“My hope for it being here in City Hall is that you don’t know who’s walking by,” Nielsen continued. “Maybe there’s a stay-at-home mom bringing her kids to the library, and she never considered that maybe she’s in an abusive relationship. Maybe she thinks that she’s the problem, and something in here speaks to her, and she thinks maybe I should call. And I mean, even if it just impacts one person, that’s worth it to me.”
Seven women founded the local effort to provide services to survivors of domestic violence in the 1970s with a crisis line answered in the home of one of the founders. That same number is still the organization’s crisis line number today.
“It was just this small group of women with the idea that things could be different, and they made it happen,” Nielsen said.
The group established the nonprofit Women’s Resource & Shelter Space in 1977 and opened its first shelter in a home near Coburg Road. Hope & Safety Alliance Executive Director Kim Lax said the organization officially became Womenspace in 2000 but had been known by the name.
“For me, it was really important to honor the women who started this organization and the amazing volunteers and past executive directors and past board members, and then to celebrate who we are today,” Lax said of the exhibit.
To put the display together, staff met with past executive directors and volunteers, who shared papers to help form the timeline. Longtime volunteer and board member Sue Thompson, who was integral in building the Silent Witness figures, contributed photos of the 1997 march.
The exhibit also features newspaper articles related to the organization’s work in the community, “which I loved, too, because it shows the different language that was used,” Nielsen said.
“You’ll see a lot of ‘battered women’ as opposed to ‘survivors,’” she said. “It was a lot more victim language.”
Also framed on the wall are handwritten thank you notes from survivors to Hope & Safety Alliance.
“We always save them, and it’s a good reminder, too, because even though it’s good work and it stays with you for a lifetime, there’s also really hard days,” Nielsen said. “Being an advocate is a difficult thing to do, and there is a lot of burnout, and there’s a lot of trauma, especially when most of our staff are survivors themselves.”
Lax said the organization is still doing the work that those seven women started 50 years ago and has evolved and expanded its programs. Last year, Hope & Safety Alliance took over 7,000 crisis line calls, she said, which come from survivors, community partners and neighbors and family members seeking help.
Womenspace changed its name in 2021 to Hope & Safety Alliance.
“We just wanted to be more inclusive because while 93% are women who come to us, we also have male survivors and nonbinary,” Lax said. “It doesn’t matter who you are, how you refer to yourself. If you need help, we’re going to help you.”
The organization opened an advocacy center in the 1990s, which operates Monday through Friday on Pearl Street in Eugene. Hope & Safety Alliance, which has 25 staff members in addition to volunteers, provides emergency shelter and offers financial and housing support services, shelter support groups and respite care for children.
Hope & Safety Alliance will host its 50th Anniversary Gala on May 1, 2027.
