The Clothesline Project

Oct 17 - 24, 2025, view a display that tells a story about domestic violence in Shawnee County. Each shirt is decorated by a survivor, by someone who cares about them, or YWCA Center for Safety and Empowerment staff member. You'll find this display, sponsored by YWCA Northeast Kansas and BlueCross BlueShield Kansas, in the hallway outside the holds room. 

The purpose of the project is to increase awareness of the impact of violence and abuse, to honor a survivor's strength to continue, and to provide another avenue for them to courageously break the silence that often surrounds their experience. 

The Clothesline Project started with one jarring statistic. In 1990 member of the Cape Cod Women's Defense Agenda were shocked to learn that during the same timeframe in which 58,000 soldiers were killed in the Vietnam War, 51,000 U.S. women were killed by intimate partner violence. Now more than three decades after the first clothesline was hung on Cape Cod, organizers have spread The Clothesline Project to numerous countries, highlighting the need for uninhibited access to local resources and increased global awareness.