Statements
Mission
YWCA Nashville and Middle Tennessee is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. It is the vision of YWCA Nashville and Middle Tennessee to focus on women and girls who desire to create a better quality of life for themselves and/or their families; to achieve self-sufficiency; and to increase their financial strength. YWCA will also be a spokesperson for those women who have no voice. Further, we will raise the awareness and diminish the incidence of violence and racism.
Background
YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee has been a leading voice of women in the greater Nashville area for 125 years, helping women and families build safer, more self-sufficient lives. Founded in 1898, YWCA's first program provided affordable housing to white women who moved to the city to work in factories or offices, or to attend school. A separate YWCA, the Blue Triangle Branch, opened near Fisk University in 1919 for African American women. The two YWCAs in Nashville remained segregated for almost 50 years. African American leaders of the Blue Triangle YWCA were at the forefront of social activism and racial justice in this period, developing programs to support their community and advocating for women's suffrage and anti-lynching legislation. During the civil rights era of the 1960s, the two YWCAs merged into one organization to work together on serving the needs of all women and children. The integrated YWCA created Cable, Nashville's professional networking organization for women, in 1979, and the first domestic violence shelter in 1980. By the year 2000, YWCA built the Weaver Domestic Violence Center. Twenty-one years later, it opened Abbie's Safe Home, a pet shelter for survivors' pets on the campus of the Weaver Center.
Here is a short video summary of YWCA Nashville's 125 Years of Impact: https://youtu.be/nr8klHng8SE?si=v9hNdlP_njkESoiq
Here is a historical timeline of YWCA Nashville: https://www.ywcanashville.com/who-we-are/history/
Today, YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee provides an array of trauma-informed programs and services to vulnerable women, children and families seeking to heal from domestic abuse, achieve educational goals, attain self-sufficiency, grow in confidence, and overcome gender and racial barriers to success. As one of the area's oldest and largest nonprofit agencies, YWCA serves over 6,700 unduplicated individuals each year.
Impact
In the past 12 months (FY2023, July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023), YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee achieved these accomplishments:
- 14,731 nights of shelter were provided to survivors at Weaver Domestic Violence Center
- 6,563 volunteer hours were spent helping staff deliver all YWCA programs and services
- 4,859 phone calls to our 24-hour Crisis and Support Helpline were answered
- 1,466 nights of shelter were provided to survivors' pets at Abbie's Safe Home
- 910 community members participated in Stand Against Injustice Lunch & Learns to learn about systemic racism
- 574 school-age girls participated in Girls Inc. across 28 Metro Nashville Public Schools
- 420 school-age boys participated in AMEND Together across 23 Metro Nashville Public Schools and community centers
- 407 adults and children experiencing domestic violence were sheltered at Weaver Domestic Violence Center
- 225 adults participated in the Family Learning Center's adult education and career services programs
- 170 women received a total of 188 professional Dress for Success 'suitings'
- 32 cats and dogs were sheltered at Abbie's Safe Home, our two-year-old pet shelter on the campus of the Weaver Domestic Violence Center
- 16 adult learners passed the HiSET® exam and earned their high school equivalency (HSE) diploma
These were some of the measurable outcomes we achieved in FY2023:
- 93% of girls participating in Girls Inc. increased their connection with others.
- 91% of community members participating in Stand Against Injustice Lunch & Learns increased their understanding of racism.
- 87% of adults in shelter who received case management identified resources and strategies for ongoing emotional support.
- 79% of adults in shelter who received case management identified resources to increase their financial self-sufficiency.
- 79% of boys participating in AMEND Together increased their awareness of gender-based violence.
- 52% of children and teens in shelter completed a trauma debriefing. Trauma debriefings enhance parent/child communication and emotional processing. They also break the silence surrounding domestic violence and help families end the cycle of violence.
Our goals for the current year (FY2024, July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024) are to:
• Increase the immediate safety of survivors of domestic violence by continuing to operate the Weaver Domestic Violence Center, Middle Tennessee's largest emergency shelter for domestic violence victims; a 24-hour crisis hotline; a text line; and an on-site pet shelter named Abbie's Safe Home (opened in August 2021)
• Launch two new group therapy programs at Weaver Domestic Violence Center: The Nurturing Parent Program (a family-centered, trauma-informed group therapy initiative designed to build positive, nurturing parenting skills), and the Rainbows for All Children program (a support group for youth as they navigate grief and heal from loss)
• Assist women in transition to self-sufficiency by providing them with professional attire and a support network through our Dress for Success program
• Provide bilingual high school equivalency (HSE) education and career services to adult learners through our Family Learning Center, breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty and illiteracy
• Help girls navigate gender, economic, racial and social barriers to success in 25+ Metro Nashville Public Schools through our Girls Inc. program for girls ages 8-18
• Engage boys and men to be a part of the solution to end gender-based violence through our primary prevention program, AMEND Together, in 20+ Metro Nashville Public Schools and community centers
• Promote racial equity and justice in the wider community, and the elimination of racial disparities, by inviting participants to learn about systemic racism through our Social Justice & Advocacy initiatives (Stand Against Injustice Lunch & Learn series, 21-Day Anti-Racism Email Challenge, Stand Against Racism Community Rally & Advocacy Fair, and more)
Needs
YWCA Nashville's most pressing needs are:
- Funding - We need more unrestricted funds to adapt our programs to ever-changing, ever-expanding community needs. Much of our current funding is restricted to specific programs which hinders our ability to allocate funds laterally (across programs) when necessary to make up for unexpected losses. We recently increased the operating costs of each program via an increase in staff compensation in order to make our wages more competitive in today's post-COVID market.
- Staff recruitment, retention & workflow - It is essential for us to recruit and retain high quality staff that can provide the highest level of client service delivery. While raising staff compensation has helped significantly with staff retention, there is still a backlog of open positions that need to be filled in order for our current staff to maintain a manageable workflow.
- Aging technology infrastructure - YWCA Nashville's technology infrastructure needs to be replaced/upgraded. We need to replace 30-40 computers, existing firewalls and switches, add wireless network nodes, and increase the bandwidth of our internet service to accommodate increased use of cloud-based applications.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Human Services - Family Violence Shelters and Services |
| Secondary Category: | Housing, Shelter - |
| Tertiary Category: | Youth Development - Girls Clubs |
Areas Served
Weaver Domestic Violence Center is open to all victims of domestic violence in need of shelter. Most are Davidson County residents, however, some victims come to us from other counties and/or states seeking safety. The Family Learning Center is open to anyone who lives, works, or attends school in Davidson County. Girls Inc. and AMEND Together serve girls and boys who attend one of the Nashville public schools where the programs are offered. Dress for Success is open to women from any TN county.
| TN - Cheatham |
| TN - Davidson |
| TN - Dickson |
| TN - Macon |
| TN - Maury |
| TN - Rutherford |
| TN - Sumner |
| TN - Williamson |
| TN - Wilson |
