Certified NPO Women and Children Support Center Women’s Net Kobe A new option for housing support! “Rokko Women’s House” opens in June 2024 Rokko Women’s House, a home that supports women and children facing various difficulties to live safely and independently without feeling isolated, has opened.
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The Rokko Women’s House Management Council, which is comprised of Women’s Net, which provides support for women and children, and Kobe Student Youth Center, which provides student support, has established Rokko Women’s House, a home for women and children who are facing difficulties, in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture. We have opened. We provide support to women and children who have difficulty securing safe and secure housing, such as women without money or a guarantor, single mothers and their children, and international students who are struggling to make ends meet, so that they can become independent and make a new start. We aim to create clean, safe, healthy, and cultural housing.
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https://rwh.jp/
What is “Rokko Women’s House”?
“Rokko Women’s House” is operated by the “Rokko Women’s House Management Council,” which is organized by the certified NPO Women and Children Support Center Women’s Net and Kobe Public Interest Incorporated Foundation, and the Kobe Student Youth Center. Our goal is to support these children so that they can live safely and independently without feeling isolated. Targeting single mothers, young women, female students, and international students who find it difficult to secure housing due to various circumstances, we aim to create a home that makes them feel like “I want to live here,” rather than “I can only live here.” This is the communal housing that we were aiming for.
Rokko Women’s House Homepage: https://rwh.jp/
[Image 1: https://prtimes.jp/i/111053/2/resize/d111053-2-1c32cfc6cbd327f83588-1.jpg&s3=111053-2-2f2d30d4a29097196888c4cdf892d6ce-2894×2246.jpg] Until the opening
Since its establishment in 1992, the certified NPO Women and Children Support Center Women’s Net Kobe has been working to protect women’s human rights and realize a gender-equal society. In 2019, we obtained the qualification of a housing support corporation, and we also search for homes for women who are having difficulty acquiring housing. What I have realized through many years of support activities is that having a safe place to live will motivate people to work and learn, which will lead to healthy child-rearing. We also realized that there is a problem of isolation that cannot be solved by housing alone, and that when poverty and isolation combine, the risk of abuse increases significantly.
The Women’s House Project was conceived more than ten years ago after Masai, the company’s representative, visited a domestic violence shelter in Denmark in Northern Europe. Although the exterior was old-fashioned, the interior was beautiful, like a designer apartment, and I was impressed by the spacious living room, kitchen, nice furniture, and fully equipped playroom and counseling room. We took this opportunity to convey our desire to “Let’s create the women’s house of our dreams!” to many people, and continued to appeal for their cooperation.
The Kobe Student Youth Center, a public interest incorporated foundation that co-operates with Women’s House, has been working with us on this concept since the beginning. After hearing about the current situation in which foreign exchange students and students are particularly struggling to make ends meet after the coronavirus pandemic, I started thinking about creating a “community of mutual support” where women from various backgrounds can live together at Women’s House. . Coop Kobe, a local consumer cooperative, offered its unused facilities to Women’s House, and the project was finally started, using the idle facilities for social contribution projects. The support that Rokko Women’s House aims for
Providing clean, safe, healthy, and cultural housing to single mothers, young women, female students and international students, and single women who have difficulty acquiring housing.
We provide a home where women who are facing difficulties feel like “this is where I want to live,” rather than “this is the only place I can live.”
Preventing abuse of single mothers who tend to be isolated and supporting the healthy upbringing of their children
For children of single mothers who tend to be isolated in the community, living with people from multiple generations can be a great learning experience for each other.
Through our many years of support, we have realized that meeting adults you can trust has a huge impact on children’s healthy mental and physical growth. In particular, encounters with people who are not parents or teachers, such as international students and students, can help expand the worldview of children with little experience. Support aimed at achieving financial independence, such as counseling, food assistance, learning support, and employment support
At Rokko Women’s House, we plan to have staff with experience supporting women permanently stationed there.
We will set up shared spaces such as study rooms and shared offices so that not only children but also women aiming to step up can receive learning support.
In the future, we aim to enhance the counseling system and live in an environment where a support person is always present so that women can receive psychological care when they are in trouble.
The interaction space and kids space installed in the house will be open to the local community, creating a place for residents to exchange information and interact with each other and local residents. As women from diverse generations and environments live together, connections are created, and a lonely and anxious situation transforms into one of security and trust. It is hoped that women who are facing difficulties will gain confidence and hope for the future.
At Rokko Women’s House, we also try to engage with local residents and those who are willing to support us in various ways, such as forming support groups and holding events such as book clubs.
Management system
Rokko Women’s House is managed by the Rokko Women’s House Management Council, which is comprised of the certified NPO Women and Children Support Center Women’s Net, Kobeto Public Interest Incorporated Foundation, and the Kobe Student Youth Center.
Certified NPO Women and Children Support Center Women’s Net Kobe Since its establishment in 1992, the organization has worked to create a society where women and children can live their lives in peace and freedom.
～Women’s Net Kobe’s business～
・Consultation business (telephone consultation, email consultation, face-to-face consultation)
・Operation of private domestic violence shelter and step house ・Accompanying support, home visit support
・Residence support
・A place for women with difficulties, single mothers, and their children (operated by WACCA)
・DV/Dating DV prevention education project
Kobe Student Youth Center Public Interest Incorporated Foundation The Rokko Christian Student Center was established in 1955 by the Southern Presbyterian Church of America with the aim of evangelizing young people, and in 1966 it was transferred to the Hyogo Diocese of the United Church of Christ in Japan. In November 1969, the “Student Center Building Construction Preparation Committee” was established, and the new building opened in April 1972. Activities as the “Kobe Student Youth Center Foundation” begin.
The former center held a number of seminars and hosted overnight stays even after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, but due to the deterioration of the building, it was relocated to its current location in 2021. It has been operating as an “open meeting place” for many years.
～Projects of Kobe Student Youth Center～
・Seminar activities
・Management of Japanese volunteer classes
・Scholarship fund project for international students
・Used book market business
In addition, the local company “Coop Kobe”, a local company, will provide the owned building, and “People, Towns and Housing Research Institute”, “CASE Urban Development Research Institute”, and “Kinki University Terakawa Laboratory” will act as business and architectural design consultants. are collaborating.
[Image 2: https://prtimes.jp/i/111053/2/resize/d111053-2-60cecdbd50466fad19b5-0.jpg&s3=111053-2-076601ea000d9c4daccfa575129b6f09-1241×927.jpg] Equipment outline
Opening date: June 2024
Floors: 2nd to 4th floors of a 4-story building
Number of rooms: 40 rooms in total
Shared space: Lobby/study room/community cafe/shared office/consultation room Room type/Rent: There are 8 types of rooms ranging from 30,000 yen to 50,000 yen, mainly approximately 28 square meters, depending on the expected number of residents (no deposit or key money required) About the interior
In creating the Rokko Women’s House, we received great cooperation from IKEA Japan Co., Ltd. and IKEA Kobe. They deeply sympathized with the philosophy of this project, and as part of their support through IKEA Family donations, we designed the space for all 40 rooms at Rokko Women’s House, as well as shared spaces such as the lobby and children’s space, and provided and assembled the products. Thank you for your support. IKEA Japan Co., Ltd. With the cooperation of IKEA Kobe, we were able to create a safe and warm home for many people, which was their ideal.
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[Image 6: https://prtimes.jp/i/111053/2/resize/d111053-2-b6571a5727475b7cfc08-3.jpg&s3=111053-2-f6d96e140474c4271fbdbfd9a2e62dd1-3000×1997.jpg] Aiming to become a national model case
Many women who have suffered violence from partners or relatives, single mothers, and women with irregular or low incomes have little money, no guarantor, and often find it difficult to obtain housing. The effects of the coronavirus pandemic continue, and the number of students and international students who are facing financial difficulties is rapidly increasing, and the number of women who are homeless due to abuse is increasing. At Rokko Women’s House, we would like to provide these women with a living space where they can rebuild their lives while helping each other, and support them in realizing a new life.
Providing housing to people who require special consideration to secure housing, such as low-income earners, the elderly, and those raising children, is facing difficulties throughout the country. Under these circumstances, utilizing existing idle facilities such as Rokko Women’s House is a model for renovating stock and resources that private businesses currently have, such as vacant buildings and former employee dormitories, as well as This will also lead to expanding the options and possibilities for CSR initiatives. By demonstrating that this project provides support for women and children who are facing difficulties, we hope to make it a model project for providing, renovating, and providing buildings that contribute to society. Rokko Women’s House provides women with a safe place to live and is a place of hope where they can support each other and build a new life. Through this project, we aim to create a society where women and children in difficult situations can face the future with smiles, and we hope that it will become a model case that spreads across the country. We will continue to work together with many people to make this dream a reality and move toward the realization of a better society.
More details about this release:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000002.000111053.html