ASU students provide help and hope to women in crisis throughout Arizona
A Hope Women's Center client poses with her family. Photo by Sadie Such/Sadie Such Photographyc
For more than 40 years, Hope Women’s Center has provided a haven for at-risk women and teenage girls throughout Arizona.
But the nonprofit organization doesn’t always know where to find those in need. And many in need — struggling with issues like poverty, domestic violence and drug addiction — don’t know about the center and the resources it offers.
Two Arizona State University students have worked to change that.
Alexi Vogel and Sophia Ruger analyzed five years’ worth of client data to evaluate how effectively the center’s current network serves clients across Arizona. The students worked under the guidance of Associate Professor Connor Sheehan from the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics.
Vogel, who mentored Ruger in the project, described their work as “location analysis.”
“The big questions that came to us were, ‘Where is the best location for us to open a new center?’ and ‘Where is a spot that's under-addressed or over-addressed’?” said Vogel, a graduate student studying geographic information science in the School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning.
By analyzing the data on “intakes” (the women and girls who use the center’s services), along with their ZIP codes and the number of clients served at each site, the students were able to pinpoint where demand is highest and where there are gaps in service, in order to inform future expansion decisions.
The analysis included mapping where clients travel from, identifying geographic clusters of high usage and examining demographic factors that influence service demand.
The students then presented a report of their findings to Hope Women’s Center leadership with data-driven recommendations.
According to the report, over the five-year period (from 2020–2025), the organization served more than 5,700 clients in five permanent locations — Apache Junction, Coolidge, Phoenix, west Phoenix and Maricopa — and through its Hope on the Road mobile pop-ups, which are deployed in less densely populated areas.
The three center locations with the most intakes — Phoenix, Apache Junction and Coolidge — accounted for 71% of all services delivered by Hope Women’s Center, with the Phoenix center accounting for more than 2,600 clients alone.
Service gaps and opportunities uncovered by the analysis suggested strategic attention in the following priority areas:
- Improved outreach in the West Valley.
- Strategic reallocation in northern Arizona.
- Expanding services in the Coolidge-Maricopa region.
- Investing in mobile locations, which are less expensive than brick-and-mortar centers.
A fruitful partnership
The project was mutually beneficial for the center and the students.
“I very much want to see women succeed,” said Ruger, who is majoring in geographic information science and sustainability. “Especially women who are victims of abuse, like domestic violence. I would like to see them get back on their feet and be able to give their kids a good future.”
The study also allowed her to focus on another side of sustainability.
“A huge aspect of sustainability is social sustainability — how do we uplift the people around us, instead of just focusing on environmental or economical aspects of it?” she said.
Vogel came away from the work with new ideas for her future.
“It has been a really insightful experience,” Vogel said. “Working in the nonprofit world after I graduate was something I had never even considered until now. It’s really great to feel like I'm making a positive impact in the world, especially with the work I do.”
Tammy Abernethy, the CEO of Hope Women’s Center, is grateful for the support she has received from ASU.
“It’s just been a fantastic exchange,” she said. “We have been able to use the students’ ideas and innovations. It has just added value to the work that we do and added value to the students in their different fields of study.
“The data was exactly what I needed. It helps me talk to my board and leadership team. It helps me talk to donors. I can say this is a need that we have identified, and this is the data to support that need.”
Abernethy already had a strong connection to the university — she is a former ASU student, her father was a professor at the university and her two children graduated from ASU. She also sits on ASU President Michael Crow’s Community Council, with a group of more than 40 nonprofit executives and leaders who help embed ASU in the community.
That’s where she met Christina Ngo, executive director of social embeddedness at ASU.
“The ASU Charter emphasizes taking responsibility for the communities it serves,” Ngo said. “(It ensures) that our university’s research and teaching aren’t hidden behind locked gates but are actively improving the lives of Arizonans.”
To that end, the data analysis report was not the first time that ASU students have helped the nonprofit. Other projects include:
- The W. P. Carey School of Business MBA Pro Bono Consulting Club has been providing its services to the center for several years.
- The Next Generation Service Corps staff and faculty from the College of Health Solutions has volunteered on-site.
- A group of Barrett, The Honors College students from the Pi Delta chapter of Sigma Lambda Gamma National Sorority secured a $10,000 grant to expand the center’s Hope Heals counseling program.
According to Sheehan, the project underscores the value of universities.
“This project shows what (higher education) can be at its best — a place where students gain real skills and use them to make a tangible difference in the community," he said.
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