Blogs

December 21, 2018

Happy Holidays from YWCA USA

As we wrap up an amazing year and embark on a new one, I want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season full of joy, peace, and love. As an organization that has been committed to action, service, and impact for 160 years, YWCA has continued to be at the forefront of movements and made lasting change—and none of this would be possible without all of you. Together, we work every day to live up to our mission to eliminate racism and empower women, and our collective impact helps women, girls, and families across our country each and every day. I am thankful for all that you do, and I encourage you to be kind to yourselves and truly present with your family, friends, and loved ones this holiday season. I look forward to starting the new year together with hope and determination, with bold strategies and resolute action as we continue to serve and advocate for women, girls, and families.

On behalf of myself and the entire YWCA USA staff, we wish you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season and a joyous new year!

Sincerely,

Alejandra Y. Castillo

And with that, we are pleased to provide the following updates:

Join the Women’s March on January 19th in your community!

The Women’s March is one month away, and we are excited to help prepare your local YWCA to participate! The Women’s March has an interactive map to locate sister marches near you, and YWCA USA is preparing a toolkit to send out in the new year with downloadable signs, messaging and guidance to help you tie the energy of the march to your local work!

YWCA USA is working with the national Women’s March organizers, as we carefully review recent negative reports surrounding state groups disaffiliating with the Women’s March over concerns about financial transparency, and allegations of anti-Semitism. We appreciate seeing the strong statements denouncing anti-Semitism and bigotry prominently posted on the Women’s March homepage. YWCA USA is in direct communication with leaders of the Women’s March and our peer organizations in the women’s advocacy, racial justice, and social justice communities.

We want to make sure that the issues that bring us together stay at the forefront of our policy and advocacy agenda before decision-makers in Washington. YWCA USA continues to represent the values of our mission and the tireless and excellent work of our YWCA associations. We will send you more information about the Women’s March in Washington by January 4th.

YWConnect

Join us for our upcoming quarterly YWConnect on January 10 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Tune in to the video conference call to hear the latest information about our continuing strategic business planning process, YWCA Association Mapping Project, set to launch in 2019, Stand Against Racism, and our national conference in June. Register now.

DREAM LEAD Institute

We are thrilled to join Trinity University and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF) in supporting a new, year-round, intensive leadership institute exclusively for DACA recipients called the DREAM LEAD Institute. Thirty young-professional DACA recipients were selected as DREAM Fellows (or “DREAM LEADers”) for their current work in their communities, organizations, and sectors. Learn more in the press release.

Now Open: 2019 Call for YWCA USA Board of Director Nominations

As we continue to search for leaders who align with our values and our vision, we are excited to announce our open call for YWCA USA Board of Director nominations for 2019. In our effort to continue to grow our organization, we are excited to welcome potential new Board Members who share a strong commitment to our mission and are willing to embark on our vision to elevate and strengthen the tireless work of our 210 associations and our YWCA USA staff.

All nomination submissions must be emailed to boardnominations@ywca.org by close of business on Thursday, January 31, 2019. Learn more in the board nomination packet, which includes a "fillable" nomination form to assist candidates in providing the requested information.

Check Out Our *NEW* Policy and Advocacy Agenda and Priorities

Thank you for giving feedback about YWCA USA’s Public Policy and Advocacy Work over the last two years, and for sharing what you hope to work on going forward. A very special thanks to our wonderful colleagues in YWCA USA’s brand new Advocacy Advisory Committee for helping give us feedback. Please take a look at this 2019-2020 Policy and Advocacy Agenda Memo. We are looking forward to sharing more during the January YWConnect on January 10, and in a deep dive on the Public Policy Webinar on January 16 at 3:00 p.m. ET.

Last Chance! YWCA National Conference 2019 Survey

Tell us what you want to see at our upcoming national conference by filling out this survey. This year’s conference will be from June 5-8, 2019 in Washington, DC! Tell us your ideas by the end of today, December 21.

Important Dates

• December 21: Deadline to fill out 2019 National Conference survey
• January 10 at 2:00 p.m. ET: YW Connect (rescheduled from November 28)
• January 16 at 3:00 p.m. ET: Public Policy Webinar
• April 25-28: Stand Against Racism 2019

Questions about what you read today? Contact communications@ywca.org.