Blogs

February 8, 2019

We are pleased to provide the following updates:

Statement on Virginia’s Leadership Crisis

YWCA USA CEO Alejandra Y. Castillo and YWCA Richmond CEO Linda Tissiere have released a joint statement in response to the ongoing leadership crisis in Virginia. Read it here.

State of the Union

On Tuesday, February 5th, the President gave the State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress and the American people. While delivering limp promises of unity and shedding the “politics of revenge,” President Trump failed to acknowledge the reality of this administration’s detrimental actions. Read YWCA USA CEO Alejandra Castillo’s statement in response to the 2019 State of the Union.

OVW Has Not Changed the Definition of Domestic Violence

There has been a lot of misinformation in the media lately regarding the definition of domestic violence on OVW’s website. Read our brief memo to understand what really happened, and rest assured that the definition of domestic violence under VAWA has not been changed.

YWCA 101 Coming up!

Our next YWCA 101 webinar is set for Tuesday, February 12 at 2 p.m. ET. This is a great opportunity for local association staff and board members to learn all about the YWCA in just one hour! Topics include:

• Our rich history and legacy
• Our Mission Impact Framework
• Our national scale and reach
• 2019 initiatives, including an update on our new business plan
• Upcoming events, including the June National Conference in Washington, D.C.
• Qualities associated with highly successful associations
• Resources and tools available to support local association leaders The session is both inspiring and informational.

We hope you will join us! Register now.

Support and Celebrate the FAMILY Act Introduction

This week marked the 26th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act, which guaranteed 12 weeks of unpaid leave to workers. On February 12th, the Family and Medical Insurance Leave (FAMILY) Act is expected to be introduced and considered in the House Education and Labor Committee. The FAMILY Act would expand upon the definition to require paid leave for workers who need time away for family or medical reasons. Join YWCA in celebrating this exciting bill introduction, and look forward to more steps towards securing family and medical leave.

Advocacy Actions of the Week

• Join YWCA in supporting the Paycheck Fairness Act: The Paycheck Fairness Act was introduced in Congress on Wednesday, January 30—one day after the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Anniversary on January 29. Join YWCA USA in celebrating the introduction of this bill and take action now: urge your representative and senators to COSPONSOR this bill and VOTE YES!
• We Need a Long-Term Solution: Federal Shutdown Watch: YWCAs around the country are in recovery from the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history. On Friday, February 15th, the nation could enter yet another federal government shutdown, sending YWCAs and the clients we serve back into jeopardy. Join YWCA USA in calling for the long-term solution women, children, and families need and deserve.Contact your senators today and urge them to ensure there is no break in VAWA funding to organizations serving survivors of violence by putting pressure on leadership to come to a long-term solution to fund the federal government.

Google Impact Challenge: YWCA McLean County

Congratulations to YWCA McLean County on being a winner of the Google.org Impact Challenge Illinois. As one of 10 selected, YWCA will receive $75,000 to help further our mission through their YWCA Labyrinth Social Enterprise, which gives formerly incarcerated women the opportunity to be gainfully employed by building skills in a supportive workplace. In the program women learn marketable skills such as bookkeeping, marketing, and product development.

YWCA McLean County will now be competing with the other winners for an additional $250,000 in funding! Votes will be gathered here and each person can vote once per device from today through Thursday, February 14 at 11:59 p.m. Help support them by casting your vote from every device you own, and by spreading the word with everyone you know, to vote for YWCA McLean County!

Post Local Jobs on the National Job Board

YWCA USA maintains a national job board where positions from every association can be posted. This page is highly visited and a great way to source mission-committed people for the jobs you need to fill. Local associations are welcome to send open job postings (in a word document) to webmaster@ywca.org, where they will be posted on the national job board on www.ywca.org. These postings can be for any position level and can include local contact information for follow up by applicants.

AARP Purpose Prize

The AARP Purpose Prize honors exceptional individuals who have tapped their wealth of experience to create new and unique solutions to long-standing problems and challenges. In 2019, five winners will receive $60,000 each to celebrate their achievements and broaden the scope of their work. Additionally, recognizing the incredible volume of high-quality applicants doing amazing work, AARP will also select a set of Fellows to round out each year’s “class.” Fellows will receive $5,000 each and will also a have access to several supports and technical assistance. Nominations for the AARP Purpose Prize are due March 31, 2019. For additional questions please contact Hasha Riley at hriley@aarp.org.

New from the Resource Library

New in the YWCA Online Resource Library is February's Mission Minute postcard presenting Black History Month. Designed for easy in-house printing and wide distribution, the card provides inspirational quotes from Black leaders and ways to commemorate the transformational contributions of Black Americans. In addition to the PDF copy of the postcard, versions for social media and web postings are also available. Please note that the Resource Library is currently being readied for the implementation of our new intranet platform. For quick assistance to find any resource in the meantime, please contact Martha Breunig.

Kintera Sphere

If there are any local associations currently using the website template that was previously offered by YWCA USA that used the Kintera Sphere platform, please note Sphere is being shut down on March 31, 2019. At that point your website will go away and you will not be able to retreive it or any of the content from the site. If you have not yet migrated to a new platform, please contact Matthew Preiss at mpreiss@ywca.org.

Important Dates

February 12 at 2:00 p.m. ET: YWCA 101

February 21 at 2:00 p.m. ET: Health & Wellness Affinity Group meeting

February 27 at 2:00 p.m. ET: Public Policy Update Webinar

April 25-28: Stand Against Racism 2019: No Hate. No Fear.

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