Tarrant County’s domestic violence service provider has a new name
Tarrant County’s domestic violence service provider SafeHaven is rebranding as The Archway, the nonprofit announced Monday.
Kathryn Jacob, The Archway’s CEO, said the new name better reflected the group’s work.
“It’s both something that can bear a lot of weight … but it also really presents an opportunity for someone to walk through something to the other side,” said Jacob, who has a Doctor of Social Work and is a Licensed Master Social Worker.
The Archway provides 24/7 crisis support through its hotline, shelter and housing for survivors, support for children, and legal services. The nonprofit operates the county’s only two emergency domestic violence shelters for survivors and their children. None of the nonprofit’s services will change during the rebrand. Last year, the nonprofit answered 13,903 calls to its 24/7 hotline and provided emergency shelter to 1,615 women and children in Tarrant County.
The Archway is part of the Tarrant County Adult Fatality Review team, which will soon publish its annual report detailing the victims who were killed by their partners in 2024. Jacob said there has been a steady decline in fatalities since 2016, with an anomalous spike in 2020, but that fatalities increased slightly this year.
The Archway is also developing a new tool called the Texas Assessment of Dominant Aggressor in collaboration with the RAND Corporation, to help the criminal justice system determine the dominant aggressor in an abusive intimate partner relationship.
“We saw a trend in 2020 here locally where victims were being arrested on scene and being labeled the perpetrator,” Jacob said.
For Audria Tamez Maltsberger, The Archway “literally changed the trajectory of our lives,” she said. Tamez Maltsberger and her three children stayed at The Archway 18 years ago when they were escaping a domestic violence relationship after Tamez Maltzberger’s partner attacked her and left her hospitalized, she said.
“Every single thing that we needed, we received here,” Tamez Maltsberger said.
To other survivors, Tamez Maltsberger said she wanted them to know that they deserve to be safe.
“They’re worthy of love,” she said.
If you’re experiencing abuse or partner violence and need help, you can call The Archway’s hotline number at 1-877-701-7233.
