COSTA MESA : Women’s Shelter Will Open at Rea Center

A shelter to help battered women from throughout the county find jobs is scheduled to open in December at the Rea Community Center.

Frances Hayward, 53, an arbitration lawyer in Laguna Niguel, and her friend, Marilyn Curtin, an image consultant, got permission from the City Council last week to open the shelter at the community center at Hamilton and Victoria streets.

“We’re trying to help women who come out of battered shelters to become economically self-sufficient,” said Hayward. “We thought it would be a great idea to help them with their resumes, find them nice clothes, improve their job-search skills and just be supportive overall with their job-hunting endeavors.”

Hayward said Curtin will help improve the women’s image for their prospective job interviews.

Most clients will be referred by the battered women shelters in Fullerton and Laguna Beach. “The shelters will contact us and say, ‘We’ve got a woman who is ready to look for work,’ then we’ll try to hook them up with a job somehow,” Hayward said.

The City Council at its last meeting approved a one-year lease--which Hayward called “inexpensive”--at the community center. “If it weren’t for the great generosity of the City Council, we wouldn’t be able to do this,” said Hayward.