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Welcome,

We are excited to launch our premiere issue of YWCA Today, our quarterly online newsletter. In it, we will bring you stories of successes and challenges; profiles of our fearless leaders, both past and present; and insights into how we can all work together to meet our mission to eliminate racism, empower women and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.

Our mission is just as important today as in the past. Nearly one hundred and sixty years ago, the first U.S. Ladies Christian Association was formed in New York City. Since then, YWCA has focused on meeting the needs of women and girls, to realize self-sufficient, strong, and safe lives, while fighting at the forefront of some of the most prominent social movements in national history.

Today’s turbulent political climate is shocking to many of us in the ramifications for women and girls throughout the United States, and abroad, and presents significant challenges on the federal and state level. Efforts to expand systemic racism and erode advances for women and girls abound throughout our country. We have a fire in our belly to fight to protect those advances and rights for women and girls, and expand protections and opportunities for all, especially those most marginalized.

Today, we continue our work for racial and civil rights and women and girls’ empowerment, economic advancement, health, and safety. While our mission and prioritization of racial justice and empowerment and advancement ties our movement together, YWCA’s across the country are diverse in how they serve their respective community. We often say that if you’ve been to one YWCA, you’ve been to one YWCA. With 216 YWCAs and more than 1300 program sites, we meet the unique needs of each community. We are part of the communities in which we live and our communities are part of us.

We hope you will enjoy this first issue of YWCA Today. We encourage you to pass it along to friends and family and we thank you for being part our mission. We are living in extraordinary times, but we are an extraordinary organization and I know together we will do extraordinary things.

Thank you,

Casey Harden
Interim CEO YWCA USA

YWCA in the News

“I support this program wholeheartedly because women are often overlooked in new business startups. I really appreciate this organization [YWCA] for providing an outlet to help people like me.”
– Nurse practitioner Margo Burrows, who will open Age Less Wellness & Aesthetics Clinic in June, got training, assistance, and help with her business plan from YWCA Southern Arizona

“We see about 9,200 women every year, so this goes a long way in helping us meet those needs.”
– Lori Jones, executive director of YWCA Wheeling, which participated in a drive across the U.S. and the Ohio Valley to promote women’s health and collect feminine products for those in need.

“This [dental] service not only affects their health but also their self-esteem and self-worth when trying to better their lives.”
– YWCA Knoxville Executive Director Alle Lilly. St. John’s Cathedral and Dr. Smita Borole with her Dental Works team provides emergency and restorative dental care to residents of the YWCA Knoxville Keys of Hope Housing Program.

History: The One Imperative

YWCA has a long history of fighting for equal rights. From women’s empowerment and civil rights, to pay equity and affordable housing, to health care and violence prevention, YWCA has been at the forefront of the most critical social movements for over 150 years. An important part of our history and mission is our adoption of the One Imperative in 1970 at YWCA’s 25th National Convention in Houston. This imperative, “to thrust our collective power towards the elimination of racism, wherever it exists, by any means necessary,” is a bold intersectional stance that recognizes that racial justice cannot be and is not separate from any other issues – racism impacts housing, education, health, jobs, institutions, and all aspects of our lives. Eliminating racism is a driving force behind all our work.

YWCA leader Mary Douglas was present at the 1970 convention, and recalled the high pressure and excitement present at the event: “You could feel an undercurrent happening… You know that feeling, when you are in a room and can feel things going on. We knew something was happening.” She notes that in the past, protocol was to have all YWCA associations think over resolutions for a year before the convention, but led by Helen Claytor, Dr. Dorothy Height, and the Black Women’s Caucus, the resolution for the One Imperative was brought up during the convention itself. The resolution was voted on and passed, and led to a renewed effort towards racial justice work. It informs our work to this day. Check out this video to learn more about the history of the One Imperative.

Stand Against Racism

2017 marked the 10th annual Stand Against Racism, and we chose a theme that has been at the core of our work at YWCA since the very beginning: Women of Color Leading Change. Women of color have always been innovators and champions of movements for social change, and we believe that each one of us would benefit from clearing pathways for women of color to access visible, formal, and paid leadership positions in every sector.

We are pleased to share that we were not alone in that vision. Over 500 Stand Against Racism events took place in more than 40 states across the country! From panel discussions, like the one we held here in D.C., to youth events, races, and marches, communities truly stood up and spoke out.

While Stand Against Racism is over this year, don’t worry! You can still learn about women of color leading change from Alicia Sanchez Gill of YWCA USA, Fatima Goss Graves of National Women’s Law Center, Dr. C. Nicole Mason, and Brittany Packnett by tuning into the recording of our Facebook Live, co-hosted by the United State of Women.

Help Protect Women’s Health Care

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed the “American Health Care Act” (AHCA). This bill would repeal and replace major parts of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), rolling back critical gains for women and low income families. Read our statement released on May 4.

We are particularly concerned that the AHCA:

• Lifts caps on out-of-pocket costs and the ACA’s prohibitions on annual and lifetime coverage limits.
• Rolls back federal funding for Medicaid and effectively terminates the Medicaid expansion program for low-income adults.
• Jeopardizes essential health benefits like pregnancy and maternity care, mental health and substance abuse services, chronic disease management, and more.
• Opens the door to higher premiums for people with preexisting conditions.

These changes will disproportionately harm the communities we serve.

But there's still time to stop the AHCA- the bill has not yet passed in the Senate. To protect our ACA gains, we need YOUR help! TAKE ACTION NOW. Tell Your Senator: Defend the Affordable Care Act and Protect Quality, Accessible Care!

In the Bank: YWCA Stories to Inspire!

With this inaugural issue of our online newsletter, we're excited to introduce a project you'll be hearing a lot about over the coming months.

Across the U.S., YWCAs are supporting tens of thousands of women and their families in their communities. Together, one program at a time, we are advancing YWCA's mission of eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. We decided it was high time to share their stories!

Welcome to our #OnAMission story-banking project, where we'll be collecting the stories of inspiring YWCA affiliates and our equally inspiring staff members. We'll also be talking to some of the thousands of women and girls whose lives are changing every day through our programs and services.

Here's a taste of what's to come. We hope you'll read, be inspired and, most importantly, share your own story of how your local YWCA is making a difference. We want to hear from you!

Soon, you'll meet people like Magdeline ("Maggie") Jensen, the CEO of YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Among the many essential services Jensen and her staff provide to low-income families in their booming city is help finding safe and affordable subsidized childcare for working moms. YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh has three different childcare centered programs and they also train other childcare providers.

You'll meet Natalie Bornstein, the social justice and advocacy manager and her colleague Taysir Jama, community outreach specialist of YWCA of Central Maine in Lewiston, a former mill town with a thriving community of Muslim immigrants from Somalia. Natalie's work is a glimpse of how YWCAs are changing their programs to meet the unique needs of women and their children from all backgrounds and starting conversations that nurture the common ground between long-time Mainers and the growing immigrant community.

You'll also meet Jeanine Donaldson, the executive director of the YWCA of Lorain County, Ohio. She, her staff, and a coalition of partners are fighting to stop public symbols of racism in their community. Most recently, they formed the Lorain County Fair Minded Coalition, taking on the organizers of the Lorain County Fair to protest the sale of Confederate-flag-themed merchandise by the fair's many vendors.

Look for these and other powerful YWCA stories in future issues of this newsletter. Use them to inspire your own work. Use them as examples to talk with policymakers at home and in Washington, DC. Share them with your social media networks. And please let us know if you know of a YWCA employee or program participant who has inspired you and who we should profile here.

Shop Treasure&Bond to Help Girls

YWCA USA has been selected as this year’s nonprofit partner for Treasure&Bond, the Nordstrom give-back brand that supports nonprofit organizations that empower youth. When you buy the Treasure&Bond brand, your purchase will support YWCA’s TechGyrls program, which helps young girls learn about, develop confidence and self-efficacy in the critical areas of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM). We’re thankful for Treasure&Bond/Nordstrom’s support in our programs and helping girls build confidence and skills for success in the future! Read more about the great programs that are benefiting!