"WACCS is a holistic and integrated crisis prevention resource for some of the most vulnerable members of the community.

The primary goal of WACCS is to provide secure, flexible jobs which pay a living wage to women and families living on the very margins of society.

WACCS will accomplish this goal by creating employment opportunities and by offering all the vital resources such families need - diapers and incontinence supplies; basic skills training; legal and budgetary help; nutrition and health maintenance; mental health support; and affordable childcare.

Our work helps women and children who are barely surviving to normalize their lives, and to create stability for the future.

...if you teach a woman how to fish..."

The Women and Children's Center of the Sierra (WACCS) is a Nevada Non-Profit Corporation.

We are creating a comprehensive and integrated crisis prevention resource for at-risk women, who need more than average support in their attempts to provide for themselves and their families. We will empower these women to normalize their lives through secure, flexible employment opportunities and many other support systems they cannot currently access.

We will help them to transition from merely surviving, to creating & maintaining manageable and stable lives for themselves and their children.

The primary focus of WACCS is to help women into secure, flexible jobs which allow them to earn enough to support themselves and their families. We do this via training and work experience, basic skills, and long term recovery from poverty, abuse, or crisis and their consequences. We will also develop and manage small, socially based, profitable businesses, with relevance to the local economy, which will offer flexible and supported working conditions for poor and vulnerable people. The Charity will be the sole owner of such businesses, and will provide umbrella benefits and services to employees and others. In return these businesses will return 100% of earned surpluses to the charity, as ongoing sustainable income, to finance our ongoing work. These businesses are designed to be an integral part of the ongoing operations of the charity, and to provide the basis for all the other supports needed by our clientele.

We believe it is crucial to work in collaboration and cooperation with existing organizations and services, to avid redundancy of service and to provide all the supports and resources necessary for vulnerable families to sustain healthy, stable lives To this end, we have conducted a Needs Analysis Survey, in which we interviewed 25 of the most prominent and effective local support organizations and agencies, to discover the true nature and extent of the needs and barriers faced by our target clientele on a daily basis. Our programming has been designed as a direct result of this research. We have no intention to duplicate services which are already being well provided by existing organizations, when there are glaring problems yet to be addressed.

The organization's activities are to be carried on for the benefit of vulnerable women, families and disabled people in Reno - Carson - Tahoe - and surrounding areas.

Support resources in development include:

1. Flexible work paying a decent wage
2. Affordable, accessible childcare and sick child care
3. Diaper Bank for infants and the elderly
4. Single women and mothers support networks
5. Holistic physical and mental wellness support, such as aerobics, yoga, pilates classes, nutrition, complementary medicines, counseling
6. Legal and financial supports such as legal counseling, budgeting and managing a bank account