THEN AND NOW YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.
Then and now, we are members of YWCA USA. Our national organization came together in 1906. By that time more than 100 individual local associations were already in business and addressing the needs of young women arriving to work in America s growing industrial cities. From its earliest days, YWCAs provided services and advocacy to advance women s economic empowerment. YWCA racial justice work and advocacy began in the 1880s, and has been a national and publicly stated priority of YWCA since the 1940s. We are all part of the organization that, from the beginning, not only provided programs to empower women and girls but also at the same time worked actively and effectively toward overall social change. It has been this combination of social service and social change efforts that ensures empowerment. Back then, YWCA local associations: Worked to improve unsanitary conditions in factories and abolish child labor and long work hours with no rest periods, Provided safe housing (first boarding house for young women), skill-building activities, and child-care (first day nursery), Began the tradition of hearing from women who, as members, could easily speak on their own behalf, and Pushed for a new minimum wage law for women in order to keep them from unscrupulous employers and prostitution, efforts that grew into solid support for pay equity laws. Over the years, these YWCAs were joined by new local associations, and collective efforts were applied to: Introduce sexuality education as an integral part of health programming and improve access to birth control Organize the first interracial conference in the south and establish the One Imperative, a bold declaration of our intent to dismantle racism Initiate the first women's pension fund Take bold, public stands on civil rights, working conditions and pay equity, to uphold a woman s right to make her own reproductive decisions, to support GLBTQ rights, and to stop violence against women and hate crimes. YWCA remains a female-led and governed organization to ensure ample access among women to leadership development roles and significant community decision making positions - in a world with still too few invitations. Except by approved, special exception, YWCA voting members and directors of YWCA boards must be women.
Excerpts from Imposing Evidence Where You Can Belong, YWCA Published by the Sophia Smith Collection Archives, Smith College, Northampton, MA. 2007 Authors: Sherrill Redman, Maida Goodwin, Amy Hague, and Amanda Izzo The YWCA is a challenging organization to describe. Since its founding in the urban industrial centers of mid-19th-century England, it has been chameleon-like, adapting its focus, programs, and methods to suit the needs of different times and places. Though the relative importance in the name of the "Y" and the "C" have waxed and waned over the years, it has always been primarily about Women and about the strength derived from working in Association with others. The YWCA may have been most closely associated with cheap lodging and swimming pools, but, it has always been, in the words of the World YWCA, a worldwide movement seeking to "develop the leadership of women and girls... to achieve human rights, health, security, dignity, freedom, justice and peace for all people." The "C" in YWCA is firmly rooted in a long tradition of liberal religious activism which emphasizes the compassion and egalitarianism approach that every person counts. The Association's Christian purpose lead the organization into involvement in politically controversial issues such as fair labor practices, the rights of refugees, civil liberties, racial inequality, and women's rights. This interpretation of Christian duty also manifested itself in a "concern for women everywhere, so that associating is not merely with members of one's family, one's social class or church, or even with one's nation or race." Welcoming New Americans An early initiative among YWCAs was the establishment of International Institutes, which helped immigrants, especially women, learn English and become truly settled in their new country. YWCAs in Lowell and Lawrence, Massachusetts were just two of these service providers. The Institutes were.a small house of its own, located within the district where foreigners live, and widely known amongst all nationalities. People drop in all day long, at noon, and on the way home from work in the evenings if only to sit and see what is going on..
World Service and Fellowship Progressive era ideas combined with feminist principles influenced the mission of YWCA USA s international work from its earliest days. U.S. Secretaries (today s executive directors and CEOs) were sent abroad to assist in founding "self-supporting, self-directing and selfpropagating national movements." Experience working side-by-side with indigenous colleagues convinced American YWCA secretaries of the "limitless potential for women's contribution to the development of their countries if they could have access to the tools and training from which most have heretofore been excluded." It also reprompted them to view their work in a political context and reinforced YWCA USA s progressive stance on international issues. Industrial Writing Group Summer YWCA Conferences for working women offered "a chance for a real vacation." Mornings were for lectures and discussion groups on issues of interest to workers, on social and religious concerns, and on other YWCA topics. Afternoons were for recreation, and evenings for skits, concerts, devotions and campfires. Asilomar, in Pacific Grove California, was built for YWCA USA by Phoebe Randolph Hearst (funding) and Julia Morgan (architect) as a YWCA summer conference center for young women and has a rich history all its own. Women and Young Women Committed to Action One example occurs during World War II, when the U.S. government ordered the evacuation of Japanese- Americans from the Pacific Coast into relocation centers. YWCA and its Japanese-American staff set up temporary associations in the centers to provide educational and recreational opportunities for internees. After World War II, a variety of factors both within and outside of YWCA contributed to declining membership, particularly among young women. They no longer perceived YWCA as relevant to their struggles and concerns. In addition, changing social norms and the widening generation gap made communication particularly challenging. In this program memo YWCA staff, members, and volunteers are urged to "tune in" and "think young:" Are We In it? I must speak to you from an impatient posture. With URGENCY. TODAY. We are the YOUNG WOMEN'S Christian Association. We have a responsibility to be concerned with the needs of YOUNG WOMEN in our communities, TODAY. Are we in it? Are we within the thinking, the feeling, the actions, of the YOUNG in our communities, in our nation, TODAY? In a Peace Conference recently, the young were there. To heckle. To confront. To challenge. "Why are you eating in this expensive dining room? Why are you talking? Why aren't you DOING?"
YWCA: 1970-Present The One Imperative As the twentieth century progressed, YWCA USA came to believe the only effective way to improve conditions for Black women was to address America's race problem directly throughout the organization. Work that had been done side-by-side but not together evolved into interracial work with the adoption of YWCA's Interracial Charter in 1946. Two decades later, impatient with the slow progress toward meaningful integration within the organization, 500 Black women met just prior to the 1970 National Convention and formulated a resolution to present to the full YWCA membership. The resolution was adopted the following day and continues to this day as YWCA's One Imperative. Deeds must match words... We are solidly united in determination to close the gap between the YWCA ideals as stated in the purpose and YWCA practices. We will no longer tolerate false liberalism. Recognizing that the YWCA cannot be all things to all people, we demand that it put its full force behind one issue inherent in all of the imperatives stated in the 1970 Convention Work Book. That imperative is the elimination of racism wherever it exists and by any means necessary. Throughout the 1970s local Associations worked along with YWCA USA s national office to increase efforts and impacts to achieve racial justice. Several other national initiatives were launched as well, such as domestic violence prevention and services and the Encore + program to provide opportunities for exercise and support for women who had undergone breast cancer surgery. Throughout the 1980s work on racial justice continued through public policy action on legislation, through collaborations, and by hosting the YWCA Racial Justice Convocation which brought together key civil rights leaders, public officials, and university representatives to develop blueprints for racial justice training. Additional national initiatives implemented during this period included the Institute for Public Leadership, designed to increase the number of women candidates running for public office.
The 1990s saw the establishment of the YWCA National Day of Commitment to Eliminate Racism, a response to the beating of African American Rodney King and acquittal of the four white Los Angeles police officers accused of the crime. The YWCA Week Without Violence was also created as a national effort to unite people against violence in YWCA communities. With the millennium came a national structure reorganization effort to facilitate a renewed commitment to overall YWCA strength, visibility, collective power, advocacy, leadership development, and enhanced connections with the World YWCA. As one means to these ends, YWCA hallmarks of racial justice and empowering women, especially through women s economic advancement, were formally established. Ensuring the health and safety of women and girls was added in 2015, as a part of the newly established YWCA Mission Impact Framework. These specific priorities are constants among YWCAs and are the common threads that unite us across the country. They reflect our strategic purpose and they serve as a YWCA distinction. These core efforts start with ensuring that each YWCA s current operations and programs reflect the priorities of racial justice and women s and girls empowerment, and that their programs and/or collaborations support economic advancement and the health and safety of women and girls. YWCAs design and implement specific Framework initiatives that meet the needs and opportunities present in their particular communities. Today, women and girls come to YWCA in times of transition for safe housing, job training, and career counseling. They come for affordable YWCA mission-based child care and skill-building programs. They come in times of crisis as survivors of rape or domestic violence. They come to get and stay healthy. And, they come to develop leadership skills and to engage in public advocacy for women's and civil rights. YWCA has a welcome place in the lives of individual women and girls, and is ensuring a necessary and visible place in the social and political arena so that the growth, leadership and power achieved among those we serve becomes a recognized asset throughout our communities and across the nation. It is this combination of social service and social change that ensures empowerment, and, our ability to achieve our mission. Please note: This information is presented only as a resource and/or sample. As YWCA needs and situations differ, this information is not to be considered as advice, a prescription, or as any type of recommendation. This resource may include content that has been adapted or developed from several articles and guides by other authors for reference by YWCAs, and copyright restrictions apply. Be sure to engage appropriate counsel/expertise for the development and implementation of any YWCA plan, event, policy, procedure, practice, contract, agreement, and/or action.