Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel VerWys.
Hi Rachel, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Rachel VerWys has over twenty-five years of work and life experience in diverse contexts and in a variety of communities in Southern California and West Michigan. Her experience ranges from the walking in support with a neighbor; leading teams to serve with excellence and wholistic response, to the complex, building of county-wide collaborations and non-profit organizations.
Her roots extend back to the South East side of Grand Rapids as a little girl playing with neighborhood kids in Oakhill Cemetery and enjoying beach days along Lake Michigan’s shoreline. As a middle school student she was captivated by a “take your daughter to work day” with her uncle, a social worker. This planted the seed that opened her imagination into what could possibly be a future working with the community for justice and developing initiatives which create thriving communities. Her formal education includes a BSW degree (Calvin University) and an MSW degree (University of Southern California) with an emphasis in community organizing, planning and administration. In college an introduction to civil rights leader, Dr. John Perkins, provided an opportunity to join an association of national asset based Christian community development workers and leaders across the country. Her maverick spirit lends her to a bent to pursue justice and love mercy in places and with people who are often marginalized, imagining a possibility of how belonging and transformation can take place. She joined with community leaders and churches in Southern California to launch new city based collaborations that mobilized the strengths of the community for the common good. She loves navigating life alongside her husband, Ryan, and their three sons and daughter. She embraces the fullness of life that comes with 4 kids and loves practicing scrappy hospitality, She desires to follow in Jesus’ footsteps doing justice and loving mercy. When Rachel engages in leadership she does so through listening and service. This leadership brought synergistic and creative partnership to create data driven solutions and coalition building in anti-human trafficking work throughout West Michigan with community organizations, health care and education. In 2021 she joined Safe Haven Ministries as the CEO leading the work to support survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, supporting cross sector community strategies, and preventing abuse before it begins, Her innovative spirit and commitment to serve continues to bring solution based solutions in difficult and complex spaces every day so that our whole community has access to healthy relationships and thrives.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There are often obstacles in the work to pursue just solutions with our community, whether these challenges are known or a surprise along the way. Congressman John Lewis described the work to disrupt injustice and pursue possibility as “good trouble.” Because often the injustice that exists in our communities is not experienced by all people, so the policy or social norm that harms and or marginalizes has an element of disruption and truth telling to bring change. Our broken world has a history of injustice yet sometime the memory of this is not acknowledged or hidden. Therefore in the pursuit of justice and common good there can be a push back, In particular the area of abuse as often been perpetuated by harmful social norms. Victims of abuse and exploitation are not often not believed and face the misuse of power and control in life. The road blocks could be in the people who do harm and are not held accountable, or the intentional policies that do not allow access to resources that create the needed services. The work to support survivors and prevent abuse is difficult and a long road toward change and transformation.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Safe Haven Ministries has been serving West Michigan since 1990 with a mission to prevent and end relationship abuse and human trafficking. I volunteered in our first shelter as a college student in the beginning of the mission. Our vision is rooted in deep community connectedness which strengthens the opportunity we have today to serve with excellence and empower people to take a journey toward healing. We are always been committed to a wholistic response to partner and collaborate for change so that our work with each individual is done with care and excellence and we engage to prevent violence before it begins. In early 2022, we added programs to serve victims of sex and labor trafficking, as well as safe transitional housing through a community partnership model. Our survivor centered services have allowed Safe Haven to serve thousands of clients each year with over 24,000 nights of safe shelter last year.
We are also committed to stopping violence before it begins. Through our robust prevention & education program, working across multiple sectors in health and human services, criminal justice systems, education institutions and workplaces we trained and education over 11,000 individuals last year.
We have partnered in collective impact work to change the criminal justice system to better support survivors and also bring accountability to those who harm. This cross sector collaboration invites every sector to build solutions and overcomes barriers and develop survivors centered response. Safe Haven has also developed comprehensive housing solutions in the midst of an affordable housing crisis and has filled a desperate need survivors identify when they seek services.
The introduction of transitional housing two years ago provided two families with up to a two year supportive housing opportunity so their barriers could be eliminated and a parent and their children could seek a thriving life experience. We now have served over 23 households with housing resources beyond safe shelter.
Safe Haven and our partners are a diverse collective of individuals who meet the complexity of abuse in our community as crisis calls are answered, donations fill our wish list, and our shelter provides safety. Our mission is possible because we collaborate with multi-sector community partners, community leaders, neighbors, churches and survivors. We have 35 years of experience to disrupt abuse and serve those experiencing domestic violence and human trafficking; and also align the resources necessary to address root causes which prohibit healthy relationships in our community.
Our strategic vision is grounded in our values, creating the possibility for partnership to change social norms and foster belonging. We value the inclusion of all survivors. Through education, empowerment and community collaboration, we believe all individuals have a right to a healthy relationship. Our commitment is to data-informed strategy that centers survivors toward belonging and equitable solutions. Our movement stewards our resources toward catalytic impact, especially for those who have been historically marginalized. I am proud of the courage I lead with to hold the tension of complexity and not be deterred to imagine possibility and create change, solutions and transformation.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I believe in providence. That our broken world is held by a super natural power that sees us and orchestrates hope and miracles. I believe in “God winks” – that there is a movement beyond us that brings us to places of intersection with people and in places at the right time. That in each day we can be thankful that the sun has risen to greet us and the orbit of the universe is ordered and sustained. That we have seen mercy and grace in God’s great love for us and yet we have not fully arrived at restoration. We have the mysterious invitation to be a part of pursuing a world free of oppression, dismantle injustice and bring love, belonging and care.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.safehavenministries.org
- Instagram: safehavengr
- Facebook: Safe Haven Ministries
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/safe-haven-ministries/posts/?feedView=all
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf15rMRAmATTfBcVPGpo2tQ/featured
