news/events

39th Annual Holiday House Tour - Cancelled

The YWCA Chester County regrets to announce the cancellation of the 2009 Holiday House Tour scheduled for December 12, 2009. We appreciate your prior support of this event. We hope we can count on your continued support as we provide service to the Chester County community. If you have any questions, please contact Tinesar Forrest, Executive Director, at 610-692-3737 or ywcacc@comcast.net.

TEAM

TEAM (Teaching Enrichment Activities and More) provides bi-lingual academic support on a daily basis to over 30 local children during after school hours. Volunteers are needed—especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays. For information how on you can volunteer with TEAM, please e-mail Amy Perkins at ywcaccteam@comcast.net.

Recent Changes

Dear Friends of the YWCA:

I would like to take a few moments to update you on recent changes at the YWCA/CC. You may have heard rumors that the YWCA/CC is closing. We are not closing! Upon the resignation of Sarah Sands in February, the Board of Directors took the opportunity to step back and do some reflection and assessment. With the assistance of an outside consultant, we looked at all aspects of the organization. Given our findings – and issues in the larger environment – we felt we needed to make some very difficult decisions:

First, we decided to place our building up for sale. We realized that the space was not being effectively utilized and that we could put this asset to better use. The property is now listed for sale and we have already had some interest. We hope that the property will move quickly and have worked closely with our real estate agent to ensure it is priced competitively for today’s market.

We also took a hard look at our financial situation and realized that we had to make some difficult programmatic decisions. We chose to suspend programming for the summer (including our summer camp) and give ourselves the time to review all of our programs to ensure that they are meeting both the critical needs in the community as well as our own quality standards. That assessment continues.

While assessing the organization and envisioning a new and vital future, we lost several board members due to term expiration and resignation. We appreciate their invaluable contributions to the YWCA/CC over the years and know that we can continue to count on their support going forward. We are now in the process of identifying and prioritizing needs within our board and recruiting new board and committee members.

In the midst of this transition, the YWCA/CC is still making strides. We have strengthened our partnership with the First Presbyterian Church in West Chester and are excited to announce that we are currently offering our after-school program (TEAM) at the church. We are also in discussion with members of the Board of Directors of the Melton Center about how to strengthen our relationship with a goal of future program collaboration. And planning for our 2009 Annual Holiday House Tour is already underway!

And last – but certainly not least – we are proud to announce the hiring of Tinesar Forrest as our new Executive Director. A Missouri native, Tinesar joined the YWCA/CC staff in June and brings 15 years of non-profit related experience and a love for human services. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration. Her recent employment experience includes serving as Associate Project Manager at Urban Strategies, Inc. where she managed projects in Camden, New Jersey and Baltimore, Maryland; and as Director of Programs at Connecting Generations in Wilmington, DE. Tinesar brings a myriad of experience and talents to the YWCA and I am excited she is a part of our team.

Thank you again for your long-standing support of the YWCA Chester County. We will continue to need your encouragement, your enthusiasm and contributions as we move forward in rebuilding programs and ensuring the ongoing legacy of the YWCA. Please contact me or Tinesar if we can provide any additional information or answer any questions. You can reach Tinesar at the YWCA at 610-692-3737 or ywcacc@comcast.net and I can be reached at 610-357-6585 or ezadofea@gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Ellen Zadoff
President, Board of Directors

YWCA USA Lauds President Carter's Condemnation of Racism Aimed at Obama

Statement by Lorraine Cole, Ph.D., YWCA USA, CEO:

September 17, 2009 - Former President Jimmy Carter has condemned Representative Joe Wilson’s reprehensible “You lie!” outburst during President’s Obama’s recent Congressional address as “based on racism.” Such animosity, Carter said, is based on “the fact that [Obama] is a Black man and... the belief among many White people that African-Americans are not qualified to lead the country.” Terming Wilson’s comment “dastardly,” Carter described it as an “aftershock of racist views that have permeated American politics for decades.”

We agree. Racism is alive and still thrives in America.

Racial animosity toward Obama has become increasingly vitriolic and public since his Inauguration, especially among anti-immigrant protesters and anti-government activists who compare him to Hitler and deny his U.S. citizenship. In addition, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, gun sales and the anti-government white supremacist militia movement are surging across the country, fueled by fears of a Black man in the White House, the changing demographics of the country and rumors of gun confiscation promoted by cable TV and radio hosts who ferment and legitimize anti-government propaganda.

It is time for each of us to search our hearts and confront racist attitudes and deeds that threaten the core of our democracy. Further, we must take action to stop their further spread and tyranny. YWCAs across America continue to be in the forefront of increasing racial understanding and promoting racial tolerance and remain committed, unequivocally, to the elimination of racism wherever it exists.

YWCA USA Recognizes Historic Election Milestone

Lorraine Cole, Ph.D., YWCA USA, CEO reflects on the election:

“On the night of November 4, 2008, the nation traveled light years from those days as a Black family prepares to move to the most prestigious address in Washington D.C., the White House.”

Dr. Dorothy Height, who led the national YWCA Office of Racial Justice throughout the Civil Rights era. Prior to her move to New York to take that position, she served as the Executive Director of the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA, which was the "colored" YWCA in Washington, D.C. In describing life in racially segregated Washington D.C. at that time, Dr. Height recounted that there were only three public places in the Nation's Capitol where a Black person could be served a meal: the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA, the 17th Street YWCA (which was the white YWCA) and Union Station.

The YWCA, as a tax-exempt not-for-profit organization, cannot endorse any political candidate or political party. But, no tax status can deny us the significance of this moment in history. The YWCA has been an active participant in every phase of racial progress in this nation, from abolition to this most historic election. What a defining moment to savor!

Although it still will be a while before "eliminating racism" will be an irrelevant focus of the dual mission of the YWCA, this turning point takes it out of the "dream" state. Let us rejoice in knowing that our next President was judged "by the content of [his] character," in Dr. King's prophetic words, and that we were alive to bear witness to it.

Fourth Annual YWCA TEAM Open House

The YWCA Chester County held our Fourth Annual TEAM (Teaching Enrichment Activities and More) Open House on March 13th. Eighteen TEAM families and their children attended this event along with volunteers from West Chester University. Parents were able to view displays the children worked on throughout the year. The displays included: Winter Wonderland, One World Mural, Thanks Books, Symbols of the Season, The Art of Me, Courageous People and Women’s History Month. BABA The Clown provided entertainment. TEAM provides bi-lingual academic support on a daily basis to over 30 local children during after school hours. For information how on you can volunteer with TEAM, please call or e-mail Tinesar Forrest at 610-692-3737, ywcacc@comcast.net.

You can help the YWCA Chester County! You can…

• Donate healthy snacks to the TEAM program
• Renew your YWCA membership
• Assist the WOW instructor during the computer classes
• Read to the TEAM children
• Donate educational games
• Assist TEAM children with homework and computer activities
• Donate a gift card to a local grocery store
• Give to the Angels Campaign
• And more!

Call or e-mail Tinesar Forrest for more ways you can help 610-692-3737, ywcacc@comcast.net.