About Us
Jenny's Place is a not-for-profit community-based service established in Newcastle in 1977.
Jenny’s Place provides direct relief and support to women and children who are experiencing domestic and family violence and/or homelessness (or are at risk of homelessness).
Our passionate team is committed to keeping women and children in our community safe, housed and free from violence. We seek to empower women through honesty, transparency, equality, compassion and decency. We aim to help our clients break the cycle of violence and live secure lives.
Jenny’s Place offers a range of services to women and children. We operate Women and Children’s Crisis Refuge, Single Women’s Crisis Refuge, Supported Transitional Accommodation, Outreach Homelessness Support Program, and the Domestic Violence Resource Centre.
Our Impact (2024/25 financial year)
Accommodated at Jenny's Place Families Refuge
Women and children we're supported by Jenny’s Place service streams
children and presented to Jenny’s Place with their mothers
women were supported through outreach and homelessness services
women accommodated at Jenny’s Place Families Refuge
children accommodated at Jenny’s Place Families Refuge
women accommodated at Jenny’s Place Singles Refuge
Number of First Nations Clients
accessed the Newcastle Domestic Violence Resource Centre
Our Purpose
We provide safe passage and transformational support to help rebuild the lives of women and children living with domestic and family violence and/or homelessness.
Our Vision
The most credible and respected innovator in the domestic, family violence and homelessness service sector, the organisation that leads the way in shaping early intervention and recovery, and succeeds in engaging the whole society to help solve the problems of intergenerational violence in our community.
Our Values
Compassion
Kindness, compassion and a calming presence make all the difference.
Equality
We are champions of social justice. Every person deserves dignity, respect, and opportunity.
Empowerment
Women already hold strength and power – our role is to stand beside them as they reclaim it.
Courage
It takes courage to do this work. Only the courageous lead the way.
Collaboration
Better service for our clients cannot be delivered in isolation.
Our History
Newcastle’s first female Lord Mayor, Joy Cummings OAM, provided them with a two-bedroom property in Islington that was set up as a refuge. For a peppercorn rent of $1.00 per year, the house provided a safe haven for many women and children.
“Words were not important – love has its own language.” Joy Cummings obituary
Jenny’s Place celebrated 45 years of service in the Hunter with a 45th Anniversary Celebration Breakfast.
In August, Jenny's Place was the first-ever charity to trek across the Simpson Desert.
In November, Jenny’s Place held their first inaugural Empowered Walk where the community walks together to raise funds and hear stories of brave, fierce, and strong women who have walked the path of domestic violence and broken the cycle.
Jenny’s Place formed a partnership with Zahra Foundation, Greater Charitable Foundation and Deakin University to deliver the Pathways to Empowerment program in Newcastle for three years.
The Newcastle Domestic Violence Resource Centre moved from the Joy Cummings Centre to a new premises in Newcastle West thanks to the generosity of an anonymous Philanthropist.
Jenny's Place announce partnership with social housing provider, Housing Plus to construct and operate emergency accommodation and support services for women and children escaping domestic violence in the Lake Macquarie community.
The Core and Cluster Sector Capacity Building Grants program supports the construction of new accommodation specifically designed for women and children escaping domestic violence. The Core and Cluster model is an innovative approach that provides women accessing the service with independent accommodation and access to critical services such as counselling, legal assistance, and further education on site. This independent living model is a considerable improvement to the communal refuge accommodation that has been standard in crisis care for many decades and better meets the needs of individual families, providing women and children leaving violence the best opportunity for trauma recovery.
Support Jenny's Place and make a donation now.
