About Us
Our Story
We give women more than a chance — we give them change
Nellie’s is a place of respite and rejuvenation for women and their children navigating a variety of challenges. Through community outreach, skill-building programs, and space for the unhoused to find shelter, clients are empowered to take steps to change their lives. We welcome people who seek guidance as they reclaim their strength and tap into their resilience to find a new path for their life.
The individuals who come through the shelter or access our community outreach programs come to us with unique experiences and needs. Nellie’s mandate to help all women and their children, regardless of circumstances, is what makes the organization’s work essential.
Our Impact
women and their children have stayed at Nellie’s since it was founded in 1973
women and their children stay at Nellie’s annually
people supported by our Community Support & Outreach programs annually
food baskets provided by our food program monthly
women participate in our Healthy Dating & Relationships workshops annually
seniors participate in the Senior Socialization program annually
women enrolled in Women on the Move
bedrooms in our shelter, with room for up to 38 beds
women supported by our housing program annually
After 50 years, we wish we could say that Nellie's wasn't needed as much as ever. But it is.
Our shelter is home for 100+ women and children annually, and families stay with us for an average of about four months. But that’s only a fraction of our impact.
Nellie’s is so much more than a shelter. We provide support for hundreds more women and their families through an ever-growing array of community outreach programs that empower women and break the cycles of crisis.
By providing warm beds, in-shelter support services, transitional housing help, community food programs and more, Nellie’s stands alongside women and their children as they take the brave steps toward the next chapter in their lives.
Our History
50+ years of Nellie's.
Our story began over 50 years ago, when a group of women activists, including June Callwood, realized there were only 40 beds for homeless women in Toronto, compared to the 400+ available to men. Moved to action by this inequality, the women founded Nellie’s, a 16-bed shelter, in 1973.
Originally located in a beautiful historic residential building, Nellie’s was one of the first women’s shelters in Toronto, and it was named for Nellie McClung, who challenged the Canadian Government in the Supreme Court of Canada to have women declared persons under the law. We are proud to honour her through our continued dedication to empowering women.
Nellie’s opens its doors with a 16-bed shelter in a Victorian building on Broadview Avenue. While initially intended for young homeless women dealing with teenage pregnancy, suicide, self-harm, crime, prostitution, ill-health or abuse, staff began to notice that most people turning to Nellie’s were middle-aged and older women fleeing domestic violence.
Nellie’s purchases its building, ensuring there would always be a place to provide shelter.
In response to the overwhelming need over the years, Nellie’s increased its occupancy rate to 36 beds and made the main focus of the organization disrupting violence against women and their children.
Nellie’s opens its Community Support and Outreach office on Queen Street East, providing programming, transitional housing support, a food bank, and more to women and their children who had moved out of the shelter and those living in our community and at risk of homelessness.
Thanks to a generous grant from La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso, Nellie’s launches a children’s program to address the wide range of issues facing children living at the shelter, while also providing them with a safe space to play, explore, and laugh.
Another grant from La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso allows Nellie’s to expand the children’s program to support teens living in our shelter.
Nellie’s secures a substantial government investment for the purchase of a new shelter building and begins raising capital to complete the necessary renovations.
Nellie’s moves into its new building, which has capacity for up to 38 beds across 22 bedrooms (an increase from 36 beds across nine rooms in the old building), giving family units some privacy, and providing ample space for supportive programs and services.
Our Community Support & Outreach office moves to Cosburn Avenue in East York.
Nellie’s shares the successes of its empowerment self-defense work — prevention programming aimed at disrupting the cycle of violence — at the 2023 NGO CSW67 Forum in New York City, an event that runs in parallel to the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
Our food program moves to a new, bigger location at Kimbourne Park United Church, providing much-needed space to enhance our services.