Friendship Center Annual Report Highlights Growing Demand for Local Domestic Violence Services

The Friendship Center served 733 known individuals in 2025, a figure that tells only part of the story. As the only agency serving victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking in Lewis and Clark, Broadwater, and Jefferson counties, the organization is the sole alternative to dialing 911 for anyone in immediate crisis due to interpersonal violence.

In 2025, the center fielded over 3,700 conversations through its 24/7 crisis line and provided 8,259 services, including legal advocacy, in-hospital response for survivors of sexual assault, safety planning, emotional support, and community referrals. The center also provided 13,929 nights of shelter to 168 individuals fleeing violence. By comparison, the center served 722 known individuals the previous year, fielded about 1,800 crisis line calls, and provided 150 adults and children roughly 8,500 nights of shelter, underscoring a sharp climb in demand across every metric.

The numbers arrived alongside a stark warning about the center's financial footing. Federal funding makes up around two-thirds of the center's budget. Executive Director Gina Boesdorfer noted that clients have fewer resources to turn to as community capacity dwindles, pointing to the closure of Career Training Institute and the ongoing shortage of affordable housing as compounding pressures on survivors.

Boesdorfer said that active litigation has kept all current federal funding intact, but the center has noticed delays in the opening of solicitations for different funding programs. Some private foundations that previously supported the center have shifted their priorities, leaving a gap the organization has not yet backfilled, though Boesdorfer said individual and community donors remain "the bedrock of our agency."

On the program side, the 2025 report highlighted two new service expansions. After piloting a new approach to staffing its 24-hour crisis line with dedicated advocates outside office hours, holidays, and administrative closures in 2025, the center is expanding that structure to include weeknights in 2026. The center also piloted housing pets in its onsite shelter in 2025. Boesdorfer said the move has allowed at least three cats to move into the shelter since the policy changed. The annual report notes that only about 20 percent of shelters nationwide accept pets, and research shows that 20 to 60 percent of survivors will delay leaving a dangerous situation because they don't know where to place or how to protect their animals.

Founded in 1971, the Friendship Center has served Lewis and Clark, Broadwater, and Jefferson counties for more than five decades. Anyone experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking can reach the center's 24/7 crisis line at 406-442-6800.