About The Mariposa Center for Safety

The YWCA Pueblo first began to take shape in the minds of a small group of forward-thinking women on an autumn day in 1914.  Initially this group of women set up a home and cafeteria for women in the Kenwood Hotel on what is now 219 West 3rd Street.  The hotel served as “a home away from home” for women who came to Pueblo in search of work or a place to live while their husbands served our country during World War I.  On June 3, 1921, a devastating flood swept through Pueblo destroying much of downtown, including the Kenwood Hotel and a year later the YWCA acquired our current building located at the corner of 8^th and Santa Fe. In 1978, the YWCA Pueblo followed the lead of many of the YWCAs in the United States and converted from a home for women to a Domestic Violence Crisis Shelter. 

In August of 2021 the board of directors of the YWCA of Pueblo made the decision to voluntarily leave the national affiliation of the YWCA so that the organization could focus on local needs with a local mission.  The board began to work with founders and supporters to discuss the change and in March of 2023 the organization officially changed their name to Mariposa Center for Safety. 

Presently Mariposa Center for Safety continues to operate a 24-bed shelter which was moved from its original location at 8th and Santa Fe in 2020 to an undisclosed location. Teresa’s Place Child Safety Exchange operates our of our primary administration building to serve families. We have also sought collaborations with other community partners such as Health Solutions, the United Way, Catholic Charities, and ACOVA so that we can better serve our community and through these partnerships we are able to provide warm handoffs between community partners. We have also expanded the focus of who we serve to include men, and survivors of family violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking

The purpose of Mariposa Center for Safety is to reduce domestic violence, family abuse, sexual assault, human trafficking and empower individuals and families. The Mariposa Center for Safety provides intervention and prevention services through the provision of safe, confidential shelter, case management, domestic violence education, court accompaniment, advocacy, and community referral. The three predominant goals of Mariposa Center for Safety are: (1) to operate a comprehensive domestic violence intervention and prevention program that protects the safety of those affected by violence, (2) to raise awareness and educate the community about domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking and help minimize the incidence of such violence, (3) to enthusiastically, embrace human equality in all its programs, and promote diversity within the organization.