Breaking down barriers, building new lives

YWCA Passage Point opened its doors in Maple Valley, Wash., in 2012 to provide transitional housing and comprehensive, wrap-around services for parents released from incarceration.   

Passage Point serves parents of all genders, but the focus is on those furthest from economic opportunity: BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) women – particularly Black women. The goal is to help parents stabilize and begin to build new lives for themselves and their families. Parents arrive from correctional facilities throughout King County and Washington state, and in some cases from out of state. Some move into Passage Point directly from homelessness; other families are referred from work release or treatment centers.

In 2022, a Providence Swedish grant directly supported 200 households living in Passage Point’s King and Snohomish County shelters and transitional and permanent housing sites by providing grocery gift cards, so parents could provide nourishing meals for their families.

Through case management and educational and employment opportunities, Passage Point helps equip parents with the tools, skills and resources needed to stabilize their lives, graduate to permanent housing and reunite permanently with their children. Residents typically live on campus for about two years.    

“The funding provided to YWCA Passage Point offers daily availability of onsite life coaching, supportive staff, our children’s program, transportation, family counseling and community outreach resources to support residents onward to permanent family housing stabilization,” said Tawesha McClain, Passage Point program director.