Our Story
Janis Clark is the founder and visionary of Safe Homes, a 501(c) (3), community-based, non-profit organization, initially addressing the needs of at-risk youth and their families in the Hilltop area of Tacoma, Washington since 1995. She established a new division of Safe Homes in 2009, Ladies Operation Moving Forward (LOMF) that specifically concentrates on the needs of our women veterans as they transition back to lives outside of the military.
With 30 plus years of military service under her belt, Janis understands the unique needs of our women veterans and how these needs are often overlooked or misunderstood. Janis is a survivor of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) and is a 100% service-connected disabled veteran with a diagnosis of PTSD with Depression because of the MST. These needs include housing, employment, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Military Sexual Trauma (MST) counseling. With Janis’ steadfast commitment, LOMF will address these issues by providing emergency, transitional and permanent housing, culinary arts training, job training, life skills training, counseling, and therapeutic classes.
Janis Clark
Founder/President & Visionary
Janis joined the Women’s Army Corp (WAC) in 1976 as a Finance Specialist. During her last year on her 2nd enlistment, she was promoted to Staff Sergeant (SSG) and attended and graduated from Officer's Candidate School (OCS) in 1982. She accepted her commission in the Washington Army National Guard as a Transportation Officer in 1983.
Janis' most recent tour was January 2003 through January 2004, in Support of Operation Enduring Freedom/Iraqi Freedom and ended her service in the military in 2010. She has over three decades of combined service in the U.S. Regular Army, Washington Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserves. She is also known as “The Last WAC Standing™…Active Duty in 2010”.
Janis received her Master of Science Degree in Human Resources Management & Development from Chapman University (now Brandman University) in Orange, California, her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Management from St. Martin’s University in Lacey, Washington and her Associates from Pierce College, Lakewood, Washington. Originally from South Carolina, she currently lives in the South Puget Sound Region of Washington State.
In the winter of 1994, Ms. Clark was led to minister at the Late-Night program at the Morgan Family YMCA on Pearl Street in Tacoma. It was there that life as she knew it would never be the same again. Ms. Clark learned that one of the young ladies was being molested by her mother’s boyfriend.
It was at the Sunday Morning Service at the Brotherhood Church of God, Safe Homes were birthed and weeks later she was given a vehicle coined, the Youth Career Aptitude Project Services, “Positive Experiences for Youth;” the mode of transportation that reaches out and helps school-aged youth to become more productive, caring and socially responsible members of society.