In 2006, Bellevue First Congregational Church [BFCC] began a partnership with YWCA to open Angeline’s Day Center, providing respite to homeless women from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on weekdays. While this service represented a big step forward to serve homeless women on the east side, the staff was unwilling to be satisfied with the reality of turning the women outdoors, daily, to a night of homelessness on the streets of Bellevue.

In the summer of 2008, BFCC began a series of community meetings to determine what more could be done to serve homeless women on the east side of King County.

A fledgling board of directors sought out Eastside Interfaith Social Concerns Council [EISCC] to serve as the parent organization, allowing the board to begin fundraising in earnest. Two individual BFCC parishioners donated the seed money needed to begin the new program. The Sophia Way opened its doors December 2008, nearly two years from the date of the Angeline Day center’s opening.

The Sophia Way Program

The Sophia Way was designed to meet the needs of clients of the YWCA Angeline’s Day Center, as well as any single, homeless women in East King County. This effective, 10-bed overnight shelter doubles as an educational program, giving women the tools they need to reclaim a sustainable, independent life. Through life skills classes given by community speakers, case management, and staff support, each woman is encouraged on her journey to live in an apartment of her own. The Sophia Way provides a subsidized apartment to women for two years, with continuing case management.

With the encouragement and support of the Eastside Homelessness Advisory Council, and the expertise and mentorship of our partner Congregations for the Homeless, the Sophia Way has now served hundreds of women with support services, and over 70 women in the shelter program, with 45 women currently living in subsidized apartments.