The Wellspring | Alliance For Families

Article By Vanelis Rivera
Photographs By Kelly Moore Clark

For nearly a century, The Wellspring has been a lifeline for families in Northeast Louisiana — tackling domestic violence, homelessness, and mental health with compassion, resilience, and unwavering community partnerships.

“Healthy families create great communities,” informs Caroline Cascio, President and CEO of The Wellspring. She speaks on 32 years of working in an organization that has resiliently tackled the most pressing issues in the Northeast Louisiana community for nearly 95 years. And even then, many people still ask her what the organization does. With origins as a YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association), The Wellspring is now a multifaceted nonprofit organization that provides often life-saving resources for people in need, addressing homelessness, sexual assault, domestic violence, relational struggles, and life transitions. At the heart of their mission is empowering individuals and families by cultivating peace, hope, and security. As we near the season of gratitude and giving, keep in mind the steadfast resolve of the women and men of The Wellspring who are undoubtedly making our community truly great, one family at a time.

It all began with women helping women. Initially, The Wellspring was founded during the Great Depression as a YWCA to serve young women moving to Monroe in pursuit of better work and education opportunities. They were provided with housing in what is known as the Luther B. Hall Home, a glorious Queen Anne Revival-style home listed on the National Register of Historic Places in America. In the early 1980s, the organization began its victim service work by providing a peer-to-peer sexual assault hotline, which led to the opening of the Mary Goss Battered Women’s and Children’s Shelter. To this day, the facility is the only safe shelter for the survivors of family violence in the nine-parish area of Northeast Louisiana.

During the early 1990s, the agency worked to establish the SAFE (Stopping Abusive Family Environments) Task Force, a multi-disciplinary collaboration of community partners who coordinate community responses to domestic violence and support victims. The Wellspring experienced a period of expansion with outreach efforts to rural parishes in the area, opening full-time offices in Franklin and Morehouse parishes. In 1998, the Counseling & Family Development Center was established, providing counseling and mental health services for women, men, and children of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. Services include assistance with personal growth, grief, anxiety, depression, family violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. “We’ve really tried to work hard to destigmatize mental health concerns and the need for counseling,” says Cascio. “It’s important for people to realize that it’s okay to struggle, and it’s okay to reach out for help if you do.”

Currently, one of their largest service programs, which has grown in number, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, is the Homeless Services program. In 2023, the program served just over a thousand clients, many of whom were Veterans and children. The program began with a grant from the Department of Children and Family Services, which was geared to addressing the needs of homeless families. “In our community, families make up almost half of our homeless population,” says Cascio. Rachel Niblett, Marketing and Communications Coordinator, notes, “When people think of homelessness, they often picture someone on the street, but that’s only part of the story.” Which is to say, what is often in the imagination of the general public regarding homelessness is often imprecise. Homelessness can look like relying on family and friends for housing. Sometimes, people live in their car while maintaining a full-time job or pursuing an education. “There’s a lot of shame around that, unfortunately,” says Cascio, who speaks to the trauma of not knowing when your next meal will come, especially for children. Since the pandemic, cases have grown in complexity with the rise in mental health and substance abuse issues. Cascio quotes the Assistant Director of Homeless Services, Calvin Williams, “Homelessness is not the root, it’s the fruit.” Their program aims to help people identify those “roots” to resolve the obstacles that stand in the way of self-sufficiency, which is, more often than not, poverty.​

“We’ve got a lot of poverty in this region,” says Cascio, adding that many of our fellow community members are working at or below what is considered an ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) wage. This means that if an individual is employed but has, for instance, a substantial medical bill to pay off, they can no longer afford to pay their usual monthly expenses. Many families in our area are facing that harrowing tipping point. ​

Homelessness can also be the byproduct of domestic violence, an issue that The Wellspring ardently aims to address and change. Through the Rural Victim Services program, survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking can receive transitional and rapid rehousing in East Carroll, Franklin, Madison, Morehouse, Richland, Tensas, and West Carroll parishes. The program also provides community awareness and education by spearheading the SAFER (Stopping Abusive Family Environments Rural) Task Force teams.

The Wellspring is the lead agency of the Family Justice Center (FJC) of Ouachita Parish. Created in 2005, the FJC of Ouachita Parish is one of the first 15 in the nation and one of just a few of the original centers still in operation today. This collaborative comprises community advocates, law enforcement, prosecution, and judiciary representatives who work together to identify gaps in services and hold perpetrators accountable.

Persons referred to the FJC or the agency’s other victim services programs live in fear and find themselves trapped in cycles of domestic violence. Survivors fleeing these relationships can access safety at The Wellspring’s shelter. Those not yet able to leave their situation can work with advocates who will help them develop safety plans and connect them to other resources such as counseling, case management, and legal services. A great number of victims who leave don’t have financial security (one of the many reasons that a lot don’t leave abusive partners). Here, The Wellspring can help them achieve stability by assisting with their basic needs and providing shelter or transitional housing. There are many success stories of women who clawed out of impossible situations and have been able to move to new homes and complete their education with the justified goal of regaining independence.

“We have a very collaborative approach within the community of Northeast Louisiana,” says Cascio, mentioning the District Attorney’s Office, law enforcement, health care, and clergy. “You never know who is going to encounter someone who needs these resources,” Cascio stresses, mentioning the importance of systems working effectively for the sake of our community. She recalls a recent testimony of a mother from elsewhere in Louisiana whose three-year-old daughter was murdered because law enforcement failed to act on reports of domestic violence and stalking. Discussing the failure of systems is difficult, but The Wellspring has been building relationships with community partners for decades. “So, there is a significant degree of trust,” she says. “We all have a part to play.” Partnerships such as those found at the FJC and through the SAFE Task Force can help ensure that such tragedies don’t happen in our own community.

Community resilience and partnership are also crucial to uplifting families and individuals in need. My Community Cares, one of The Wellspring’s newer programs, is a community-driven partnership with Louisiana’s Department of Children & Family Services that connects families with resources, creating a network of service and support, particularly to keep children from entering the foster care system. Here, the community builds community through shared experiences and establishes relationships. Once more, poverty is often a key component of children entering the foster care system, but Cascio reminds us, “Poverty is not abuse.” A parent who cannot provide a child running water may be doing the best that they can. Consequently, the My Community Cares team plays a crucial role in identifying needs and acting as advocates from within the community.

The Wellspring always welcomes help from the community, be it through donations or volunteerism. One of their most crucial volunteer opportunities is the role of Sexual Assault Victim Advocate (SAVA). The incredible individuals who partake are a type of first responder for those who have been sexually assaulted. At the hospital, an advocate acts as the human element during what is often a heavily clinical examination to preserve evidence from the assault. An advocate is also meant to inform a victim of the resources available to them and provide them with personal care packages as they leave the hospital. Donations for these care packages include items such as new underwear, washcloths, travel-size soap, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. The community can also donate kitchen, bath, or other household items, and children’s items for families leaving the shelter or for other program participants in need. And for the new pet shelter located at the domestic violence shelter, any and every kind of pet toys is welcome.

The level of expansion that The Wellspring has reached over the years is impressive, and Cascio attributes it to fostering a work culture of respect and the presence of a resilient staff: “We care about more than just somebody getting a job done. We care about the people who do this work, and we try to provide as much strength and support for our staff as we can.” The organization has weathered its share of challenges, from the havoc of the COVID-19 pandemic to rebuilding from the damage caused by the 2020 Easter Sunday tornadoes. Even now, as federal funding is being severely slashed from sectors that serve the most vulnerable, Cascio remains optimistic. She mentions a gargantuan accomplishment for the organization, when in 2022, The Wellspring was awarded a $1.25 million leadership award by the Day 1 Families Fund. By way of private funding and community support, the dignified work of this organization will keep cultivating peace, home, and security for the people of Northeast Louisiana.

“I’ve learned not only how resilient we can be as an organization, but just how resilient humans are,” says Cascio, who encourages the community to consider the impact of domestic violence and homelessness in our area. After all, what we do for the least among us reflects on the community as a whole.