ORGANIZING A NEW YWCA
Step I
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THE YWCA MISSION
YWCA is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women
and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.
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I.
II.
WHAT IS A YWCA?

An organization with a Mission that intentionally draws together women and
girls of diverse backgrounds to work toward the elimination of racism and the
economic empowerment of women.
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A membership movement of women and girls, the largest in the world.
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Membership is open to all women and girls 12 years and over, representing
full range of diversity in the community. All members 15 and over have the
privilege of voting.
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A YWCA also serves girls and boys under 12 as registrants. Men can be
associates. Members pay dues, set by the local associations. Local
Associations also charge fees to participate in various programs and activities.

Paying membership dues in a YWCA is different from paying dues to a social
club or health spa, for example. Membership dues in a YWCA signify a
commitment to what the YWCA stands for as a membership movement of
women and girls. All programs in a YWCA are based on the needs of women
and girls in the community, and in the context of the YWCA Mission.
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Each local association helps members understand the Mission of the YWCA.
It also demonstrates the distinction of the YWCA as the largest and oldest
worldwide membership movement of women and girls, one that operates
autonomously and develops leadership skills through involvement leaders of
the association.
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A program that responds to concerns and unmet needs of women and girls in
local communities throughout the world.
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An organization that provides leadership opportunities for women and girls.
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A national organization made up of 300 Local Associations and works in
more than 100 countries around the world.
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An incorporated, not-for-profit organization, chartered in the state in which it
exists or operates.
A LOCAL YWCA FUNCTIONS:

With a diverse board of directors, whose names are proposed by a nominating
committee and whom YWCA members then elect. The board sets policies
and has certain other fiscal and legal responsibilities.
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III.

With staff and volunteers, usually working in committees to carry out various
functions, for example, membership or program committees.
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With a constitution and/or bylaws which define(s) its functions and
procedures.
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With programs that are developed in accordance with the Mission.

With members who are recruited and involved in proposing activities that can
meet the needs of women and girls.
HOW DOES ONE ORGANIZE A NEW YWCA?
The first step is to complete a Community Information Form (attached). This
information provides a basis for the Regional Council Office of the YWCA of the
U.S.A. (“Regional Council Office”) to assist you to proceed with further steps.
The form will also help you and the Regional Council Office with answers to
questions, such as:

Does the geographical area need a YWCA?
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Is there sufficient community interest and an adequate number of women
committed to the mission of the YWCA?

Are there unmet needs of women and girls in your area?

Is there the potential for attracting members and for financing an association
in this area?
The next step, if the questions can be answered affirmatively, and if the Regional Council
Office agrees, is to move to a formal organizational stage in preparation for becoming a
Provisional YWCA.
The Regional Council Office will provide written materials, direction, and assistance to
an Organizing Committee (such as how to: recruit members, develop program plans and a
budget, write a constitution/bylaws, work with the United Way and other such
organizations, and interpret the YWCA to the community). The Regional Council Office
will also assist the Organizing Committee in understanding national, regional, and local
relationships and the requirements for becoming a Local Association.
Information on membership, program, national, regional, and local relationships, and
YWCA history is contained in this booklet.
Within 60 days after you have sent the Community Information Form to the Regional
Council Office, you will be contacted to discuss further actions needed.
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NATIONAL, REGIONAL, AND LOCAL RELATIONSHIPS
One of the strengths of the YWCA of the U.S.A. as a women’s membership movement is
that its Regional and National Offices work in partnership with YWCAs around the
country –in 300 communities and on college campuses. In this partnership, each group
hears from the other in regional and national meetings, through reports, correspondence,
and telephoning, and in-person or through on-site services.
Pursuant to the Bylaws of the YWCA of the U.S.A., each local association must affiliate
with a Regional Council:
Regional Council Affiliation. Each Local Association shall affiliate with
one (1) Regional Council pursuant to the terms and conditions of these
Bylaws. As members of the YWCA, each Local Association shall be
bound by and abide by the determinations, policies and procedures of that
Regional Council, subject to dispute mediation rights set forth in these
Bylaws. Each Local Association shall affiliate with a Regional Council in
a contiguous state of its own state; provided that a Local Association in the
states of Alaska or Hawaii shall affiliate with one (1) of the two (2)
Regional Councils geographically closed to it. A Local Association shall
be permitted to affiliate with a new Regional Council not more than one
(1) time in any two (2) year period, except for special cause as
demonstrated to the satisfaction of the National Coordinating Board. Any
such change in affiliation shall require not less than six months prior
notice to the Regional Council losing the Local Association’s affiliation,
the Regional Council gaining the Local Association’s affiliation and the
National Coordinating Board.
The National Office carries responsibility for seeing that YWCAs meet requirements for
affiliation in the YWCA of the U.S.A.
The Regional Council Office is strengthened by program diversity in community
associations, as they assess and work to meet the expressed needs of women and girls in
their service areas. In turn, Local Associations are strengthened by the Regional Council
Office’s awareness of issues and trends garnered, in part, from its work with other
association leaders, and by sharing of program models and other information from around
the region.
Each local association operates autonomously, but in compliance with policies adopted
by the National Coordinating Board. National Coordinating Board members, who set
policies for the YWCA of the U.S.A., are elected by voting delegates selected by each
Local Association, in accordance with the rules for approving voting delegates. (Each
Regional Council selects two members to represent them on the National Coordinating
Board).
Issues under consideration by the National Coordinating Board are discussed at the local
and regional levels by special committees and in Regional Council and/or interassociation meetings, so that action taken by the corporate body reflects local and
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regional thinking. Local Associations also pay dues to the Regional Council to remain
affiliated with the YWCA of the U.S.A., in accordance with a formula adopted by the
Regional Council.
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A NEW YWCA
A new YWCA will:
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provide a strong link with women and girls in the U.S.A. and around the world (The
YWCA of the U.S.A. is a member of the World YWCA where work is going on in
109 countries).
strengthen the work of the YWCA of the U.S.A. in its program services and policies,
as it focuses on racial justice and the economic empowerment of women.
strengthen the work of the Regioanl Councils and Local Associations.
A new YWCA can come into being through:


the efforts of a group of committed women, as they follow the organizing steps in this
booklet; and
the process of moving from an organizing committee to provisional status, and then,
when the proper steps* are taken and approved, to full affiliation as a Local
Association in the YWCA of the U.S.A. and the applicable Regional Council.
*Booklets, Organizing a New YWCA, Step II and The Provisional Period, Step III, will be
supplied for these stages.
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THE YWCA ADVANCES WOMEN’S RIGHTS
When the YWCA began its work in the mid-19th century, it met many needs of women at
that time, for example, women who were:
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alone in a new city, friendless, with no place to live
facing discrimination
in search of a job or already at work in an unhealthy workplace
unable to pay for nutritious food
in need of new employment skills
in need of recreation
in need of sex information and medical services
Today, women have some of the same needs, e.g. affordable housing, job skills,
employment, child care services, friends, and physical fitness.
SELECTED SIGNIFICANT DATES
1858
First Association in the U.S. “Ladies Christian Association,” New York City.
1859
Boston first uses YWCA name.
1860
Twenty-one students, teachers and needlewomen take up residence in the first
boarding house for young girls, New York City.
1864
Philadelphia organizes the first day care center in the U.S.
1869
In the face of “unreasonable prejudice and misinterpretation,” Cleveland
opens The Retreat, a residence for unwed mothers.
1870
First instruction in typewriting for women, New York City. The opening of
an employment bureau managed by a paid secretary is announced by the
Young Ladies Christian Association in New York City.
1873
The first Student YWCA organized by Normal University, Normal, Illinois.
1891
Kansas City opens the first public cafeteria anywhere in the U.S.
1892
Clubs for girls organized for the first time on an Indian reservation.
1893
Brooklyn opens the first school anywhere to train women for practical nursing
careers.
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1894
The American Committee joins with Great Britain, Sweden and Norway to
found the World YWCA. The first American secretary to work on foreign
soil arrives in India.
1911
Bilingual instruction for immigrant families.
1913
The National Board, YWCA, creates a Commission on Sex Education.
1915
The YWCA organizes the first interracial conference ever held in the
Southern states of the U.S.A., at Louisville, KY.
1918
The YWCA’s Social Morality program becomes the official Lecture Bureau
of the division on Social Hygiene of the War Department in order to
“cultivate an attitude of honest, open, scientific interest in the subject of sex.”
1918
The U.S. Ordinance Department asks the YWCA to service a million and a
half women working in war plants. The YWCA sets up 20 service centers
near munitions factories.
1919
For six weeks women physicians from 32 countries consider the physical
condition of women, their emotional health, and their immature attitude
toward sex. The YWCA convenes and finances this first gathering of medical
women: The International Conference of Women Physicians.
1920
At the first national industrial conference in Washington, D.C., 65 elected
delegates, representing 30,000 YWCA industrial members, agree to work for
“an eight-hour law, prohibition of night work, and the right of labor to
organize.”
1934
YWCA support of legislative measures to provide for dissemination of birth
control information under authorized medical direction dates back to 1934.
1942
The YWCA extends its services and personnel to Japanese/American women
and girls incarcerated in 10 Relocation Centers during World War II.
1946
Convention of the YWCA of the U.S.A. unanimously adopts the Interracial
Charter, in which the YWCA commits itself to work for an end to racial
injustice.
1960
The opening of the YWCA cafeteria to blacks in Atlanta in December marks
the first desegregated public dining facility in that city.
1965
The Office of Racial Justice established to campaign against discrimination of
minority groups.
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1970
Convention votes the ONE IMPERATIVE: TO ELIMIATE RACISM
WHEREVER IT EXISTS, AND BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
1973
The 26th National Convention holds a silent march and sets up a defense fund
to protest the treatment of American Indians at Wounded Knee Reservation,
S.C.
1983
The YWCA of the U.S.A. celebrates its 125th anniversary.
1985
Convention votes to provide resources and assistance in coordinating work on
public measures to prevent unwanted adolescent pregnancy and childbirth
among women of all ages and economic levels.
1988
Convention adopts a new national symbol and Core Program that give identity
and cohesiveness to YWCA program.
2001
Convention votes to adopt a NEW YWCA Structure through the Change
Initiative.
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COMMUNITY INFORMATION
1. YOUR COMMUNITY
Name of Community:
Population:
a. Is the population increasing? [ ]
Decreasing? [ ]
b. Is there a United Way or other federated plan for agency funding?
Yes [ ] No [ ]
c. Is there a Council of Social Service Agencies or other community planning
organization? Yes [ ] No [ ]
Please describe the diversity of the population in the community – racial/ethnic,
economic, religious, with percentages, where available.
2. LEADERSHIP
What leadership roles do women carry in the community? (Political, business,
professions, United Way, etc.)
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3. NEEDS AND CONCERNS
a. What are the needs and concerns of women and girls in your community?
b. What needs are not being met, or are being met inadequately? Specifically, indicate
those needs relating to racial justice and economic empowerment of women.
4. A YWCA IN YOUR COMMUNITY
a. What are the most important services and programs a YWCA could offer in your
community? How would such programs enhance the YWCA mission?
b. Who are other like-service providers in your community? Are they successful? Are
there collaborative opportunities with these organizations? Will the community’s
resources be adequate enough to support the YWCA and the other organizations?
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c. Do you know of groups or organizations that would likely support the idea of a
YWCA in the community?
d. What other groups in the community are working specifically on issues related to
racial justice and economic empowerment of women?
e. Approximate number of persons currently interested in forming a new YWCA:
5. What is the location of the YWCA nearest to your community?
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PERSON WHOM THE REGIONAL COUNCIL OFFICE SHOULD CONTACT:
Name:
Address:
E-Mail:
Work Telephone:
Home Telephone
Fax:
This form should be duplicated and discussed in your group of interested women before
sending it to:
Regional Council Office Address
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