YWCA Richmond

The oldest YWCA in the south, YWCA Richmond was conceived in 1887 among a group of eight women whose primary concern was housing for women coming to the city for work. As additional needs arose, the women of the YWCA responded. Today, we provide survivors of domestic and sexual violence with crisis response and life-rebuilding programs that foster emotional, social, and economic stability, and we provide children with comprehensive early childhood education and infant care through the Sprout School. Our vision is of a community that protects the vulnerable, reaches out to those in need, honors personal courage, celebrates women’s success, and embraces diversity and equality.

GOAL 1: Financial Vitality & Sustainability
Strengthen YWCA’s financial foundation
by increasing revenue streams,
implementing a human capital strategy
and updating security and technology
systems.

GOAL 2: Action & Advocacy
Advance YWCA’s impact on social
justice issues that align with gender and
racial equity by focusing on women’s
leadership, economic empowerment,
and the health and well-being of
women, especially women of color
and historically underrepresented
individuals, and their families.

GOAL 3: Service & Impact
Innovate trauma-informed, solution-focused services that align with regional
needs in emergency housing and
prevention of intimate partner violence.
Expanded bilingual clinical and case
management services to also include
direct services for youth.
Implement a scalable model for the
Sprout School and add social supports
to influence a two generational
approach to wealth building for Sprout
School families.

Since 1887, YWCA Richmond has been tackling our region’s most critical social issues – from the individual inequities that affect a woman’s health or safety to systemic problems that affect her family’s future.
We have helped our community confront challenges and adopt innovative solutions that create a lasting path to equity and opportunity. Solutions such as:
• Daycare for working mothers in the 1890s.
• Integrated YWCA branch meetings in the mid-1960s.
• Services and shelters for battered women in the 1970s.
• The first and only preschool for homeless children
in Richmond in the 1980s.
• Mixed-income early childhood education in 2016.
• Infant care for children two-months+ in 2021.

Last year, YWCA Richmond served 6,490 adults, children, and families across the Greater Richmond region. Our work educated the community on the effects of structural racism, moved individuals fleeing domestic and sexual
violence into safe housing, helped navigate employment and the courts system and built resilience through
free counseling and case management. Families attending the Sprout School were faced with tough health and
economic choices. The Sprout School teachers and staff met those needs and provided full year, full day, affordable
early childhood education, and infant care throughout the pandemic. Our work is rooted in equity and justice, and
we honor and celebrate the resilience and victories of those we serve