Connie’s Corner
Connie’s Corner is a blog by former YW Board Member Connie Tate, who served as Board Chair from 2000 to 2004 and from 2008 to 2009. She is the third generation in her family to serve as a YW Board officer.
Forty-four World YWCA delegates from 15 countries have just joined 8000 women on a recent visit to the UN in New York City for the 54th Commission on the Status of Women Conference for the first two weeks of March. They also met many of our New York YW Board members, staff and friends at special events and gatherings during their time here. From dawn to dusk, they managed to share ideas on every critical issue facing women: from safe birth to protection against violence and famine; to reproductive rights and health; or power in government and economic survival. As leaders in their own countries, these visitors, many in native costumes, took over the UN section of our city and gave New York an infusion of riches and needed ideas in many ways. Read more…
March 16, 2010
On a cold evening this January, a group of YWCA honorees who belong to the Academy of Women Leaders (or AWL), other volunteers and corporate partners and three staff members met at the YW’s Family Resource Center near 10th Avenue in New York to learn about the popular networking service called LinkedIn. We found that we all had questions about the site, ranging from simple techniques to how it relates to Google’s business in China. By the end of the session, we all felt more enlightened about the pros and cons of such networking, and several recommended additional sessions for boards, staff or our companies in the future. Read more…
January 25, 2010
The World YWCA has had an exciting history since it started in 1906, with interesting connections to the New York City YWCA for delegates who come annually on visits to the UN or other conferences. The current CEO or General Secretary is Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda from Zimbabwe and the World YW office in Geneva. The World YWCA President is Susan Brennan from Australia. Read more…
December 25, 2009
One of the major efforts of the YWCA in its work to help women in this country and around the world has been its fight against domestic violence. In our 300 centers, over 500,000 women are served annually, far more than in any other organization, and you can help without giving any money! Read more…
July 28, 2009
In the 150 years since Carolyn Roberts started this country’s YWCA in her home in New York City, this first and largest world organization for women, which now serves 25 million women, has been fortunate to have had the help and leadership of several remarkable heroines. One of the first was Grace H. Dodge, the oldest of six children in a family whose wealth stemmed from producing copper. As J.P. Morgan said when she died, “She had the finest business brain in the United States, not excepting that of any man.”* Read more…
July 16, 2009
It was the foggiest of days on Saturday in Staten Island and you couldn’t even see land from the famous ferry or the bridges until you got within 10 yards of it. But once on land, the fog cleared, and soon after noon, a five-piece band was playing lively music outside 159 Broadway, the newly renovated YWCA Center in Richmond, about five blocks from the northern shore opposite New Jersey. Children and grown-ups gathered around in the street outside the Center, and orange balloons cordoned off the street from traffic for what was a happy celebration on a warm May weekend. Read more…
May 19, 2009
Celebration was certainly in the air this past weekend in Washington, D.C., from April 30 to May 3 as the YWCA ended its yearlong 150th Anniversary with a National Conference attended by some 270 delegates and several superstar speakers such as Lilly Ledbetter, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and 97-year-old Dorothy Height. Read more…
May 14, 2009
As some of you know, the history of the YWCA is filled with a host of impressive ‘firsts’; that have had an impact on, among other things, women’s equality, interracial leadership, access to training, child care and safe housing, and continually advancing the success of women in the workplace. But the ‘first’ that started it all, was our first supporter, advocate and visionary; a young woman named Caroline Roberts whose vision gave birth to the YWCA – right here in New York City, in 1858. Over the ensuing 150 years, her efforts would result in an organization that not only serves millions in this country but, which would, in time co-join with three other countries in 1894 to form the World YWCA, which today serves 25 million women and girls in 125 countries – quite a legacy for an unsung heroine! Read more…
March 16, 2009