In the United States, 24 people per minute on average are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotlin[1] e. This averages to more than 12 million people in the United States being victims of assault annually.
Of the over 340 million people who live in the United States, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence notes that one in three women (35.6%) and one in four men (28.5%) have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking. Additionally, close to half of those who identify as LGBTQ+ will experience domestic violence in their lifetime, the coalition says. In the state of Pennsylvania, 119 people died as a result of domestic violence in 2023, according to the PCADV.[2]
These national statistics demonstrate a harsh reality that is reflected in the Centre County community, which is why Centre Safe is committed to providing support, advocacy, and prevention services for the region. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the organization’s founding
“Centre Safe really started way back when in the 1970s. It formally was the Centre County Women’s Resource Center and opened in 1975, and it was created by what was very much a grassroots-led effort,” explains Jennifer Pencek, executive director of Centre Safe. “There was a group of primarily women who just saw such a tremendous need for a place like what became the Women’s Resource Center.”
That need was shaped by the social and cultural realities of the time, realities that made it difficult for survivors to seek help or speak out, she says.
“If you think back to the barriers victims and survivors faced back when it started — some of which actually still exist today — if we think about those barriers of victim blaming and all of the different cultural pieces, there were not many centers or resources for people to go to when they encountered things like domestic violence or sexual assault.”
Since then, Centre Safe has evolved to be more inclusive in who it provides services to. According to its website, in the 2023-24 fiscal year, Centre Safe helped 872 domestic-violence victims and significant others: 695 women, 46 men, five transgender people, and 126 children. The organization also provided services to 270 individuals: 162 adult women, 53 adult men, three transgender adults, and 52 children. Additionally, Child Access Center services were provided to 76 clients.[3] The organization also provides education and prevention services to schools, businesses, faith groups, and other types of community groups.
“Centre Safe became Centre Safe in 2018, and really the reason for the name change was, frankly, the name was becoming a barrier if there were individuals who didn’t identify as a woman but who also needed support and were thinking, ‘I wonder if I could utilize these same services?’ or ‘I wonder if that’s a space that’s safe for me?’” Pencek shares.
“With the name being changed to Centre Safe, we’ve actually noticed a big uptick in male survivors and other individuals feeling that they were ready to come forward and ask for help. And that’s really what our goal is, to truly provide optimal services for all.”
The shift to the name Centre Safe marked more than a rebranding. It reflected a growing awareness of the diverse identities and experiences of survivors. It was a step toward breaking down barriers and ensuring that no one felt excluded from seeking support. That same commitment to inclusion continues to shape the organization’s work today, Pencek explains.
“Of course, you don’t want to erase the fact that women are disproportionately affected by sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking in terms of victimization. But what we’ve always done, and what we continue to do and grow in all the time, is just being really intentional with the services that we provide, with the trainings that we provide, and even for our volunteers and hotline advocates,” she says. “We always want to strive to be as inclusive as possible, and that way we can really be that safety net for everyone.So, however someone comes to us, whatever their lived experience has been, any individual can feel safe receiving services at Centre Safe.”
As the nonprofit has evolved, it has grown from a one-room operation to having three separate locations: the Sylvia Stein Shelter and administrative offices in State College, a satellite office in Bellefonte, and a Child Access Center building in Bellefonte that facilitates safe custody exchanges and visits.
“It is really multifaceted, the services that Centre Safe provides,” Pencek explains. “It’s everything from emergency shelter and help with housing, which includes two different housing programs. And we also do things like counseling and advocacy. We do outreach and education. There’s no-cost legal support. There’s the Child Access Center. So we try to offer any kind of service you can imagine a victim or survivor potentially needing. We work really hard to be able to provide those things.”
Pencek led Centre Safe into its next stage of evolution when she took on the role of executive director in November 2022, after serving the nonprofit for years as a volunteer.
“I actually have a sign on my door that says, ‘Remember the why.’ You know, keep your eye on the ‘why,’ because there are certain days that it feels really heavy — maybe the phone is ringing off the hook and you wonder if you’re even having a positive impact, or someone maybe left the shelter and went back to an abusive situation,” Pencek shares.
“But there’s so many really fantastic success stories,” she adds, quickly noting, though, that “success doesn’t always mean that someone took all those steps forward and they keep going forward.
“Success could be, someone slipped and took a big step back, but they came back to Centre Safe, they remembered the hotline number, or they remembered how we treated them and knew that they would be safe with us,” she says.
For Pencek, who realizes that every individual who utilizes Centre Safe will have different needs, one of the ways the nonprofit best helps people is by following an “empowerment model.”
“We’re really empowering them to do something that we call ‘driving the bus.’ So, our clients are the ones who are in control of their bus. It’s not us telling them what to do or here’s the so-called ‘right choice.’ We’re going to talk with them about what they feel is most helpful for them,” she explains.
Ultimately, Centre Safe aims to help people who come for assistance to make the decision they feel most comfortable with, she notes.
“That’s why we’re here. We’re not going to force someone to do something that they’re not ready to do because they’ve already had power stripped away — whether it was through sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, or combination of all those things. The last thing that we want to do is strip someone of their power even more,” Pencek says.
She notes, “It doesn’t matter what someone’s background is or lived experience. It doesn’t matter their political beliefs or any of those things. Centre Safe is there to be that safety net for them and to help them put those pieces back together and help them see that they are worthy and that they can take those steps.”
Pencek notes that, on average, each year Centre Safe helps approximately 900 survivors of domestic violence, around 200 sexual assault survivors, and 200 individuals and families who need emergency shelter or housing. The organization recently created a Centre Safe 50th Anniversary Fund to mark the past 50 years of continually helping the Centre County community.
“We are raising $2.5 million to really ensure that Centre Safe gets to stay and be that safety net for the community. We are trying to make sure that Centre Safe remains sustainable, and we will be using those funds in very responsible ways, and there are a lot of specific projects we will be doing, but it’s also to ensure that our services, like the Civil Legal Representation Project, get to be around,” she shares. “If you think of our services like a web, what happens when one of those strings of the web gets caught, that could literally put someone’s life at risk and have such a negative impact on the community?”
That vision of Centre Safe as a web of interconnected services highlights the urgency of sustaining its work, which is why, in its 50th anniversary year, the organization is focused on securing its future for generations to come.
“In honor of our 50th anniversary, we want to raise these funds to ensure that Centre Safe gets to continue to be transformational for the next five decades and beyond.”
To contribute to Centre Safe’s mission through the 50th Anniversary Fund, visit centresafe.org/50th-anniversary-fund.
Centre Safe 24-Hour Hotline: (814) 234-5050
T&G
Jessi Blanarik is a State College-based freelance writer.
