Rooted in History
YWCA Columbus’ work is informed by a long history of providing essential community services. For 140 years – YWCA Columbus has met the moment again and again to serve the most critical housing and childcare needs in our community, empowering generations of leaders along the way, and pursuing social justice to produce lasting systemic change. YWCA’s services may seem diverse but are linked by a common thread – dedication to promoting racial justice and personal empowerment.
Since opening its first boarding house in 1886, YWCA Columbus has consistently served unhoused women – which is the population that still occupies its downtown Columbus Women’s Residency. Its original boarding house was also home to on-site childcare, which allowed women to independently pursue work – even in the 19th century – and meet other goals to further their freedom and dignity. In 2005, YWCA Columbus answered a community call to serve families experiencing homelessness at its Family Center on the city’s east side. Since then, it has served over 7,500 families, helping them stabilize, find housing, and start anew – and it is still home to on-site childcare, so families in residence can more effectively meet their housing and workforce goals.
Empowering Voices & Breaking Barriers
In addition to its on-site Safe & Sound program, YWCA Columbus also offers before- and after-school programs in Columbus, Westerville, and Gahanna that nurture children’s learning and development through STEAM activities, social-emotional learning, and community engagement. With more 30 years of experience providing affordable, dependable, high-quality programming, YWCA inspires lifelong learning, promoting social action and advocacy through community service projects.
Shaping Tomorrow’s Leaders
Spurring action also informs YWCA Columbus’ advocacy and social justice work, which relies on community involvement to build transformative and lasting change. Producing social change requires us to change hearts and minds and dismantle the systems that uphold white supremacy. YWCA’s role in advancing social change is threefold:
- to tell the truth about racial injustice.
- to center the voices of marginalized people.
- to activate change agents on journeys of self-liberation and social justice.
One of YWCA Columbus’ hallmark empowerment programs, Bright Futures, empowers middle and high school girls and nonbinary youth to learn about systemic oppression and develop the leadership skills needed to create lasting change in their communities.
Young people have consistently expressed an appetite for education on the history of oppression and how to lead efforts for societal change. Bright Futures provides critical education that is largely absent from traditional school curricula through engaging, age- appropriate workshops that cover identity, systemic racism, gender norms, intersectionality, leadership, and positive community organizing. Participants explore their own identities during these workshops and learn power-building strategies that equip them to become effective and knowledgeable advocates for themselves and their communities.
Learn more and take action today at ywcacolumbus.org/brightfutures.
