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When someone is trying to leave an abusive or dangerous situation, the first step is deciding to go. But coupled with that decision is finding out how to get to safety. If getting to a safe place, shelter or counseling requires multiple bus transfers or planning around transit schedules, it may feel impossible to get away. Deciding to get help is one thing, getting to it is another.
Hope Rides, a national partnership between the Alliance for HOPE and Uber, launched to help solve that problem. Through Hope Rides, Uber gives participating Family Justice Centers free ride credits that those Centers can use to support survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking in their communities. This partnership helps enable individuals and families reach the services they need, including trauma-informed care, shelter, medical treatment, legal help, counseling and other services.
“Transportation is a lifeline to survivors who are seeking safety, hope, and healing,” said Catherine Johnson, president and CEO of Alliance for HOPE International.聽
The role of Family Justice Centers
Family Justice Centers were designed to spare survivors the exhausting and often traumatic process of navigating multiple agencies in multiple locations and repeatedly retelling their story to access the help they need. By bringing services together under one roof, Family Justice Centers make it easier for survivors to connect with advocates, law enforcement, prosecutors, counselors, legal assistance, childcare support and other critical resources in one place, helping them find safety, support and a path forward.
The model only works, though, if the survivor can get there.
The biggest obstacle is geography. Dr. Denise McCain, director of the Prince George’s County Family Justice Center in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, has seen the problem up close. She runs the only court-led family justice center in the country, located about 10 miles from Washington D.C. which serves one of the largest jurisdictions in the state. But this center is not easy to get to on public transit alone.
According to Dr. McCain, “Inaccessibility creates barriers, and it prevents them from getting the help that they need.”聽
She shared a story of a client who had spent years planning her exit, finished a job-training certificate program and finally landed work. Then, on the morning of her first day, her abuser slashed her tires.聽
That would usually be a huge impediment. But because of Hope Rides, “we were able to send Uber to her to get her to work for her first day,” McCain said. As a result, the survivor kept the job, moved out, and in McCain’s telling, is now doing well. Most people never think twice about a ride to work; in this case it was what her new life depended on.聽
A program that鈥檚 growing
This story is one of many.
Since launching in July 2025, Hope Rides has provided more than 3,000 rides to survivors and covered more than 30,000 miles.
The credits aren鈥檛 limited to rides. Through Uber Eats, a center can send a hot meal, diapers or basic necessities to a family in crisis.
This year the program is expanding to serve 30 Family Justice Centers across 17 states. This expansion will bring Centers within reach of thousands more people across the country.
That expansion was announced this spring at CASA Pinellas in St. Petersburg which is where Florida’s only Family Justice Center is located. CASA CEO Lariana Forsythe said a ride can determine the outcome of a case. Without one, she said, a survivor may have “to tell their story over and over” across a string of offices, often making the process become too overwhelming to finish. Getting people to the center, she said, is the step that every other step depends on.
More than a ride
At Alliance for HOPE International, the work is grounded in the Science of Hope, the belief that a person’s future is not defined by their past and that hope grows when people have both the will and the way to move forward. As Alliance President & CEO Catherine Johnson explains, “Survivors rarely lack the will. Hope Rides helps provide the way.”
Survivors who use Hope Rides said it makes a real difference for them 鈥淚f I didn鈥檛 have a way to get there, I don鈥檛 know if I would have ever reached out for help. That ride made it possible for me to take my first step toward safety,鈥� said one survivor who used Hope Rides in Oregon.
For Uber, the program is one part of a broader effort to improve safety for women and other vulnerable riders, alongside in-app safety features, reporting tools and partnerships with anti-violence organizations. For the survivors who use it, the math is simple. A ride can be the difference between an appointment missed and a first step taken.
Readers can learn more about the program at
