Houston Area Women's Center

The Houston Area Women's Center (HAWC) emerged from the Women's Information and Referral Exchange Service (WIRES) in 1977. The Referral Exchange eventually became a service within HAWC, providing resources to battered women in metropolitan Houston, Texas. The purpose of the Women's Center is to "provide shelter and support services to survivors of sexual assault and family violence…[to] educate and inform the community in order to prevent and eliminate the causes of this violence…[To] empower women to advance their roles, their rights and their well-being." In 1996, HAWC programs fell into three primary areas, Family Violence, Rape Crisis, and Community Education.

Initially, HAWC consisted entirely of volunteers led by former City of Houston Women's Advocate Nikki Van Hightower. As the organization grew, it gained a one-room office in the University of Texas School of Public Health and Nikki Van Hightower became the first Executive Director of HAWC. Along with this growth, services provided by HAWC expanded, including an eleven-bed shelter for battered women and their children. By 1980, HAWC offered support to victims of sexual assault through the Rape Crisis Program (formerly the Houston Rape Crisis Coalition) and purchased a permanent shelter facility with nineteen beds.

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