May 27, 2022
Rainbow Services greatly appreciates your continued support of our mission and wanted to share some incredible milestones, articles, and photos throughout our history. Moving forward, we have many incredible plans to expand and improve our capacity to serve survivors of domestic violence and their children, so please consider supporting our efforts today!
Rainbow Services began in the ’70s when a support group held at the Harbor YWCA noticed that spousal abuse was a recurring theme in their discussions. Participants developed a network of safe rooms, offering spare beds in the homes of concerned women as refuge for neighbors experiencing violence. The project director for the Harbor YWCA, Martha Prumers, made supporting these women a priority in her work. With the help of staff and volunteers, she began the Womentalk speaker series, the Women’s Center for service referrals, and a task force to specifically address issues around domestic violence. In 1978, the Harbor YWCA opened a shelter for battered women, and Prumers was appointed as its program director.
