Empowering Women, Changing LiveS
Opening Doors uplifts and empowers women and children experiencing homelessness and poverty. Through housing, support, and comprehensive services, we collaborate with dynamic partners to provide hospitality, hope, and opportunity to over 5,000 women and their children. Our work builds a compassionate community and invests in a brighter future, helping women and their families overcome hardship, achieve self-sufficiency, and embark on paths to independence and success.
In Need of Shelter?
Call Teresa Shelter at 563.690.0086
Emergency and extended stay program are based upon availability. For additional resources please call the Homeless Hotline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week dial 2-1-1.
Three Doorways to Hope
Since organizational inception, our work has grown to encompass four locations including our operations center and three separate facilities including emergency, transitional, and permanent supportive housing. Our approach prioritizes key pillars: maintaining sobriety, securing full-time employment, regularly meeting with a case manager, and saving 30% of income. Due to these values, we are limited in our access to state and federal funding, as we choose to uphold our long-term vision over short-term compliance.
Teresa Shelter
Maria House
Francis Apartments
Emergency and Extended Stay Programs
Transitional Houseing for up to two years
Income-based affordable housing
Three Doorways to Hope
Since organizational inception, our work has grown to encompass four locations including our operations center and three separate facilities including emergency, transitional, and permanent supportive housing. Our approach prioritizes key pillars: maintaining sobriety, securing full-time employment, regularly meeting with a case manager, and saving 30% of income. Due to these values, we are limited in our access to state and federal funding, as we choose to uphold our long-term vision over short-term compliance.
News
Counting What Matters: How the PIT Count Supports Our Neighbors
Each year, the Point-in-Time Count provides a critical snapshot of homelessness in our community, helping identify service gaps and guide funding decisions at the local,
Attitude of Gratitude 2025 – Event Recap & Your Impact
With so many exciting things happening at Opening Doors, we’re thrilled to finally share a full recap of this year’s Attitude of Gratitude, and what
Help Us With a Critical Need
Every day, women and children call Opening Doors home. Right now, over 30 individuals are living in our emergency shelter and transitional housing. Together, we
Back to School: Ensuring Every Child Has a Fair Start
As backpacks are packed and classrooms fill with the energy of a new school year, we’re reminded of the excitement and hope this season brings.
Events
Support the Mission of Opening Doors
The women in our programs come from diverse backgrounds, with lived experiences including domestic violence, substance abuse, mental health challenges, and generational poverty. At Opening Doors, we treat each woman and child with dignity, offering personalized, comprehensive case management. Through this process, women are empowered to realize their full potential by setting achievable goals, gaining employment support, receiving life skills training, and participating in financial literacy programs, parenting classes, substance abuse treatment, and health care services. We also provide access to essential resources like food and clothing, helping them move toward stable, independent living.
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Opening Doors Dubuque
Empowering women and their children experiencing homelessness through compassionate care & comprehensive programs. We provide shelter, support, and a path toward stability and independence. Services: Teresa Shelter, Maria House, and Francis Apt
🎓 Education is a cornerstone of our mission- not only for the women and families we serve, but for our current and future team members, too.
Today, we’re excited to spotlight Emma Follendorf, one of our incredible students in the field 👏
“I’m Emma Follendorf, a current graduate student at @clarkeuniversity - I’m completing my field placement at the Teresa Shelter to strengthen my case management skills while earning my Master’s in Social Work. Through this placement, I’m learning how to support and walk alongside a diverse group of individuals experiencing homelessness.
After graduation, I hope to find a supportive work environment as I pursue licensure. I’m still exploring which population I want to work with—but I’m excited for the journey ahead!
Outside of classes and placement, I enjoy reading, caring for my plants, crocheting, birdwatching, and playing D&D. Basically, I’m a regular 85-year-old who’s also hip with the kids.” 😉
We’re grateful for students like Emma who bring curiosity, compassion, and a willingness to learn into our spaces. Investing in education means investing in the future of our community and we’re proud to be part of that path.
#OpeningDoorsDubuque #EducationMatters #FutureSocialWorkers #LearningInCommunity #MissionInAction
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✨ THIS Friday kicks off another year with Dubuque Home Builders and Associates Home Show— thank you for including us in your partnership! ✨
It's the 37th Annual Greater Dubuque Home & Builders Show and we’re honored to be part of this year’s show and invite you to stop by to learn more about Opening Doors and the meaningful work happening right here in our community.
📅 Show Hours:
Friday, February 13 | 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Saturday, February 14 | 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Sunday, February 15 | 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM
🎟️ Admission (ages 12+): $5
Come explore, connect, and discover how we’re creating special spaces that help individuals and families thrive. We can’t wait to see you there!
🔗 Show details: www.facebook.com/share/1NvmgZHYAK/
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Home is more than a roof.
It’s safety. Belonging. A place where you’re known by name and supported through every season.
At Opening Doors, home looks like a family. Women and children walking alongside one another, supported by staff who show up with consistency, care, and compassion. It’s a space where routines are rebuilt, confidence is restored, and hope becomes tangible.
We’re not just providing shelter.
We’re creating a home where people are welcomed with dignity, surrounded by support, and encouraged to grow- together.
Because everyone deserves a place where they feel safe, supported, and part of something bigger.
That’s what home means to us.
🎥 @kodiak_creative
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📣 Tours matter
For the past year, we’ve been inviting our community partners and supporters to step inside our doors, because knowledge is power.
Tours matter.
When you see our spaces, meet our team, and understand how our programs work, the mission comes to life in a way words alone can’t capture.
As a program-first shelter, we are truly one of a kind in our region. We don’t just provide a safe place to stay, we walk alongside women and their children through a continuum of care, offering consistent case management, support services, and transitional housing that help families move toward stability and independence.
And no matter what, having dignified, welcoming space for both our staff who show up every day and for the women and children who call these spaces home- is a mission in itself. The environment matters. It communicates respect, safety, and possibility.
Every tour creates deeper understanding, stronger advocacy, and more informed support. When people see the work, they don’t just understand the mission, they become part of it.
Thank you @conlonconstruction team - Becky Conlon and Poppy Conlon for joining us, asking good questions and helping us grow out mission!
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🎂 Monthly Birthday Cake Partnership 🎂
We are so grateful for Candle Ready Cakes for their generous commitment to donate a birthday cake every month for women and their children in our program.
For many of the women we serve, birthdays haven’t always been celebrated or even acknowledged. This simple but meaningful gesture helps restore dignity, joy, and a sense of being seen.
Because of community partners like Candle Ready Cakes, birthdays at Opening Doors are filled with candles, smiles, and moments of hope. ❤️
Thank you for helping us celebrate life, resilience, and new beginnings- one cake at a time 🍰
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Community partners- this work wouldn’t be possible without you.
Through strong collaboration, woman in our program have the opportunity to either enter the workforce or return to school- continuing their education and taking meaningful steps toward a more stable, sustainable future for herself and what comes next.
To our business partners, colleges, educators, and financial partners: thank you for showing up, working alongside us, and believing in what’s possible. When we work together, lives truly change and we’re grateful to witness it firsthand. 👏
🎥 @jimmynaprstek
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With the help of both the Teresa Shelter and Maria House I know I can do anything if I just stay positive and put my mind to it. With you having “Open Doors” there is hope for everyone who enters the programs.