Compassionate volunteers eager to make a difference in women's lives

DWC’s Kitchen served over 260,000 meals in 2020 alone: our incredible Kitchen team serves three nutritious meals seven days a week and offers an important space for women to connect and to share a meal with each other. Kitchen volunteers help with meal preparation (e.g. chopping and measuring); help keep the kitchen clean and organized (e.g. wiping counters, organizing the food pantry and cabinets); and serve our delicious meals to participants. Kitchen volunteering is a great fit for volunteers who like working in a team while also interacting with DWC participants.

The Day Center is the point of entry for women coming through DWC’s doors: it provides access to three meals a day; clean bathrooms and showers, changes of clothes, an address for individuals to receive mail, case management; and medical services. Day Center volunteers support our Day Center team by welcoming participants; helping distribute donations, mail, toiletry items, and meals; participating in and/or leading enrichment activities; and helping create a safe, welcoming space for the women receiving services in our community.

Our Permanent Supportive Housing Program provides 119 units of comfortable, safe, and affordable housing without time limits as residents work towards personal stability. Residence hosts provide a welcoming, supportive atmosphere in the lobby of DWC’s permanent residences, welcoming and checking in with the women, signing for packages, answering the phone and door, and chatting with residents during downtime. This is a great fit if you’re able to work independently and want to work directly with our residents.

As an integral part of DWC’s Workforce Development programming, the Learning Center offers a safe space for women seeking employment to search and apply for jobs and to participate in academic and vocational counseling sessions and job readiness workshops. Volunteers create a supportive, peaceful Learning Center environment by providing one-on-one assistance with computer questions, helping equip participants with the skills necessary to prepare them for school or work, and more. Learning Center volunteers should have some basic comfort using computers and a desire to interact with participants. While not a requirement, this is a particularly good fit for volunteers with previous HR or tutoring/education experience. 

Volunteers support DWC’s social enterprise, MADE by DWC, at pop-up shops across Los Angeles, by transporting MADE products to and from events, selling products, and spreading the word about DWC with pop-up attendees. Pop-up volunteering is a great fit for folks who enjoy talking with new people and are open to one-off weekend volunteer opportunities. This volunteer opportunity also requires volunteers to be comfortable using technology to process product orders (with training provided) and lifting up to 25 pounds.

Donation-sorting volunteers help our team organize the in-kind donations DWC receives, from clothing and shoes to toiletries and household goods. Volunteers should be comfortable being on their feet for the majority of their volunteer shift, and lifting up to 25 pounds. This opportunity has limited interaction with DWC participants, but is a great fit for folks with an eye for creating organizational systems and handling large volumes of items.

On occasion, DWC’s Human Resources team seeks detail-oriented volunteers who can support with organizational projects like administrative tasks, filing, and preparing for audits. This is an ideal opportunity for volunteers who are comfortable handling confidential information and enjoy making magic behind-the-scenes.

DWC’s Housing Navigation team occasionally recruits new volunteers to support their landlord engagement efforts across Los Angeles County. This volunteer opportunity is entirely remote: volunteers assist in organizing and updating landlord engagement materials, and also make phone calls to past and potential future landlords to gauge their interest in helping house women receiving DWC services. 

DWC regularly retains fluent Spanish-speaking volunteers who assist in making our services more accessible to our diverse community. Currently, our team only requests written Spanish translation support in both Spanish-to-English and English-to-Spanish.

DWC welcomes volunteer lawyers interested in providing volunteer legal support to participants, especially in the areas of housing, contracts, immigration, and disability. Volunteers are not asked to represent clients. The extent of a volunteer’s involvement will vary depending on interest and availability, but may include a consultation or a review of an individual’s paperwork. Requests may be remote or in-person, depending on the specific need.