Megan Navarro
SAN MARCOS — The Hays-Caldwell Women’s Center (HCWC) is one of 84 community-based organizations across the state of Texas that was named a recipient of a Blue Impact grant from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX).
BCBSTX awarded a total of $2 million across the different programs statewide; the 2025-26 Blue Impact grantees were selected following an extensive evaluation process. The grant program is part of the insurance provider's efforts to improve neighborhood environments and community health through support for locally led programs.
Specifically for HCWC, the funding will go toward the women center’s newest program called the Marla R. Johnson Family Housing Center, or Marla’s Place, which opened in 2022 and was named after longtime executive director Marla Johnson, whose vision was to create a safe haven for families to get a new start to their lives after escaping domestic violence.
Marla’s Place is a 17-unit housing complex built for providing a safe, secure, relaxing and comfortable environment all connected to HCWC’s main campus in San Marcos. It provides childcare, early education through an onsite Early Head Start program through Community Action, Inc., free counseling/advocacy services, life skills classes, access to continuing education and more.
“A significant number of survivors were going back into abusive homes because they lacked the resources when they are in an abusive relationship and the highest risk were those moms with young children,” said HCWC CEO Melissa Rodriguez. “The number one barrier was affordable housing, number two was affordable quality childcare and then, right after is also lack of transportation. They were the most vulnerable population of repeating the cycle. Going back because they didn’t really have any other options.”
HCWC was also inspired to create a program like Marla’s Place after trying to find a solution in the local community that took in account the specific needs of domestic violence survivors, but also wanting to create a safe haven and sustain a healthy home for children, instead of them being forced to deal with trauma in their life, Rodriguez said.
She credited a study called Adverse Childhood Experience that came out several years ago, which found that the more trauma that children are exposed to in their lifetime, the higher incidences of not only repeating the cycle of violence, but also physical effects on their bodies as they age and grow older to the point that it could shorten their life by 20 years.
Being able to offer a program like Marla’s Place is important, Rodriguez said, as sometimes, there is a misconception that when people are in an abusive relationship and they come to the shelter, the danger is immediately gone. However, when survivors of domestic violence — particularly women — lose their life to homicide related to domestic violence, it is almost always in the process of leaving that situation.
Therefore, Rodriguez explained that they make sure that safety is a critical component of the services, which includes ensuring that the domestic violence survivors who are staying on HCWC’s campus know how to make sure they are safe.
“We have security to ensure that they're safe while they're on campus and if there's an increase of violence, then we have some safety planning in place as an organization to make sure that we're all aware,” Rodriguez said. “Being out in the community, obviously, in a regular apartment complex, even one that is gated, it’s not always the most secure, so this really allows us to be able to build in those components with our families.”
One of the challenges that HCWC has had with Marla’s Place is finding sustained funding, so it was left with looking at alternative ways, such as foundation grants. Currently, HCWC has been awarded $25,000 from BCBSTX through its Blue Impact grant and $70,000 from the CHRISTUS Health Foundation, making a total of $90,000 going toward the Marla’s Place program.
“It’s going to help ensure that we are able to maintain the resources we’ve funneled over into the programming. One of the most valuable positions that we have over there, we have two advocates, so they're both bilingual and they're working individually with families on their individual goals,” said Rodriguez. “These families, when they come to us, are our higher risk families, so most of them tend to have more comprehensive needs than your typical person that's just experiencing something in their lifetime. It does require a lot of intense case management. So, this [Blue Impact] grant will help us maintain those two dedicated classes to be able to work with families individually to build on their goals, so that they can have sustainable success once they transition out of Marla’s Place.”
“Throughout our 95 years of serving Texas, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas remains committed to the belief that lasting change is built through collective action and community-driven solutions,” said Jim Springfield, BCBSTX president. “We’re honored to support organizations like Hays Caldwell Women’s Center in their focus on affordable, healthy housing for survivors of violence. We know by empowering their expertise and passion to strengthen the San Marcos community’s neighborhoods and built environment, we’re helping inspire healthier futures.”
To learn more about HCWC and its services, visit www.hcwc.org/get-help.
