By MAGGIE JARUZEL-POTTER
The national YWCA mission -– eliminating racism and empowering women -– is a double-pronged topic that hits home for Naomi Tutu, daughter of Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu.
Tutu -– a black woman who grew up in South Africa during apartheid (legalized segregation) and who also left a physically abusive marriage -– delivered the keynote address at an event sponsored in early November by the
YWCA of Greater Flint. There, the organization’s leaders recommitted themselves and the local branch to upholding the dual mission of the national YWCA.
For Tutu, troubling social issues such as racism, gender and class bias, sexual assault and domestic violence share a common element.
Naomi Tutu |
“There is a confluence of all struggles for justice, and that is to be accepted for who we are –- all of who we are, not just a part of who we are,” said Tutu during her visit to Mott’s home community of Flint, Michigan.
“I am black, I am a woman, and I am someone who has been in an abusive relationship. I am all of that.”
She applauds the nonprofit organization for trying to tackle tough issues.
“When you state that your mission is to eliminate racism, you are taking a courageous stand in our day,” Tutu said.
But for Paul Newman, the YWCA’s acting CEO, the organization is simply concentrating its energy and resources on what it does best. He said it successfully operated racial justice programs in the past and is returning to that field after straying from it for almost a decade.
Newman, a retired businessman, is known for his skills in helping strengthen and refocus nonprofit organizations.
“YWCAs –- here and around the country -– tried to be all things to all people and it just didn’t work,” he said.
So in 2008, during the local organization’s 100th year, the YWCA hired a consulting firm to review its programming, staffing, financial stability, and building requirements.
The initial research and the ongoing strategic planning process have been supported with two Mott grants totaling $113,000 through the Foundation’s Flint Area program. From 1932 until today, Mott has provided 38 grants, totaling $2.5 million, to the YWCA of Greater Flint for a variety of purposes.
“By getting an outside perspective, we validated the issues that we were already facing,” Newman said. “Everything became clear and understandable so we could move forward.”
Results showed that several programs, while desirable, were not financially sustainable, he said. That information led the YWCA to make some unpopular decisions, including draining the swimming pool, mothballing the gymnasium and closing the child development center, Newman said. But other local organizations, institutions, and for-profit businesses were better equipped to deliver those health, fitness and child care services, he said.
By eliminating costly and under-utilized programs, the YWCA freed up resources that could be redirected to three main areas:
domestic violence/sexual assault services, racial/social justices programs, and services for young women exiting the state’s foster care system, said Harmony Langford, director of operations.
While the YWCA has many years of experience in the first two areas, entering the foster care field is new, she said.
But after researching a few comprehensive programs designed specifically for young women who had aged out of the foster care systems in California and Texas, and after learning that a similar program was needed for young women in Genesee County, the YWCA board and staff agreed that it was a logical area for them to pursue, Langford said.
The YWCA sponsored a walk and a run through a Flint neighborhood in October to promote Domestic Violence Awareness month. |
The organization is transforming vacant space in its eight-story building into individual and communal living areas, she said. Additionally, the YWCA plans to provide a full-range of supportive services for the young women, including those related to legal issues, health care concerns, counseling and higher education needs.
“There is a feeling of excitement about this new program,” Langford said. “There’s a feeling of ‘we can do this. We can make it happen.’”
As for the new racial/social justice program, details are still being worked out but this time around there’s a possibility that the YWCA will change its focus from adults to youth, she said.
The emergency services the organization provides for women and children affected by domestic violence and/or sexual assault will continue, along with the educational and counseling services now offered to teenagers on both topics, Langford said.
For decades, the YWCA has operated
SafeHouse, the county’s only short-term residential program for physically abused women and their children. The YWCA also is the county’s primary source of information and services for women who have been sexually assaulted, providing individual and group counseling for abused women, as well as separate services for abusive men.
Langford said the organization’s core domestic violence/sexual assault program is expanding to meet the escalating needs in Genesee County, where unemployment is above the national average and the per capita rate of domestic violence is the highest of any county in the state, according to the Michigan State Police.
“There’s been a huge increase in demand for our service,” she said. “You can track it. As the economy went down, our numbers skyrocketed.”
In the first six months of 2008, 800 people called the YWCA SafeHouse emergency crisis line seeking help. One year later, there were 1,400 calls during the same period, she said. Additionally, SafeHouse typically turns away 400 women and children seeking shelter annually due to lack of space, Langford said, but in 2008 alone 2,020 women and children were denied access because SafeHouse already was filled to capacity. She expects the numbers to be similar or worse for 2009.
By adding staff and expanding the SafeHouse program from one to up to three floors, the program can better meet the need, Langford said.
She and many others credit Newman with driving the process that has helped the YWCA gain solid footing for its present work while ensuring its future sustainability.
“There’s no doubt that he was the best person for the job; the person to take us forward,” Langford said.
She paused, then teasingly added: “We overlook his gender.”