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New Domestic Violence Shelter Opens This Weekend In Chicago

(CBS) -- This weekend, a new shelter for victims of domestic violence will open its doors on Chicago's southwest side.

It's the first time in over a decade that a shelter of this kind has been built in the city.

CBS 2's Sandra Torres reports.

Eight years ago, Versagnette Blackman Bosia would have never pictured this moment.

There she was, speaking at the opening of a new shelter for victims of domestic violence in the city. Nearly a decade ago, she was a victim herself.

"I had nowhere to go because there were no beds available in the city," she said.

Thanks to the organization WINGS, Versagnette was able to get her life back.

The organization "gave me a safe space, a foundation on which to get back on my feet," she said.

It's that same organization that is now opening a new, two-story shelter.

"Our police respond more to domestic violence issues than any other issues, yet as a city we had not opened a new bed or a new facility in over a decade," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Thursday.

WINGS Metro is expected to provide services to 100 people in the first year. The 40 beds in the shelter will be available starting this Sunday.

 

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