Grassroots, volunteer-led movement serving women begins in Auburn.

What began as a movement incorporates as a nonprofit known as Auburn Women’s Center, providing rape crisis hotline, peer counseling, and shelter in private homes for domestic violence survivors.

Auburn services office opens; services expand services county-wide. Name changes to Placer Women’s Center.

The first safe house opens is a residential home in the community, sheltering a few survivors at a time.

Agency adds services and adopts new best practices. Secures WWII-era building to safely house up to 20 survivors.

Placer Women’s Center merges with PEACE for Families in Roseville.

Placer Women’s Center changes name to PEACE for Families. Roseville services office opens. Counseling and advocacy services grow with demand. Capital campaign launches in 2003 for new safe house.

“Placer Women’s Center doing business as Placer Extends a Caring Environment.” Phew!

New transitional housing program and supportive services provide bridge to independent housing and financial independence to survivors.

Current safe house opens, doubling capacity to 39 beds in a total of 13 bedrooms.

Roseville services office moves to larger facility with increased staffing. Agency serves 10 sex trafficking victims.

Safe house becomes fully inclusive, housing female, male, transgender, and children experiencing domestic and sexual violence, as well as dependents of all ages, from babies to the elderly.

Agency changes name to Stand Up Placer (SUP) to better reflect inclusive nature, range of services, and role in community. Beds in safe house increase to 48 to meet increasing need. Auburn services office moves to larger facility with enhanced programs and additional staff. 

The State designates SUP as one of the first 10 human trafficking victim service agencies, affording our survivors privileged communication with their advocate. This dramatically increases their safety when seeking support.

Later, the agency opens a human trafficking services office and drop-in center in Roseville, serving child and adult sex trafficking victims, who also have access to the safe house. A tiered housing program provides a transition from safe house to housing independence.

Stand Up Placer serves 230 human trafficking victims, up from 10 in 2015. Our safe house becomes pet friendly. We add a family law attorney and paralegal to staff to aid survivors in court.

Children account for 17% of all SUP clients, up from 10% in 2014. Some come with parents, others as victims of sexual assault or human trafficking. SUP doubles efforts in child advocacy and hires an advocate to serve children in the services offices.

With the arrival of COVID-19, Placer County sees a dramatic uptick in domestic violence. SUP shifts to offering nearly all services virtually.