Community Partnership Initiative

In celebration of the YWCA Greater Austin’s 111th anniversary serving to the Greater Austin Community, YWCA is delighted to launch its 2018-2020 Community Partnership Initiative.

“As a part of YWCA’s commitment to institutionalizing the elimination of racism and empowerment for women, we are proud to announce that our YW Volunteer and Training Institute will be providing local community-based, non-profit and educational organizations an opportunity to receive free training and professional development for their staff and volunteers,” stated YW Volunteer & Training Institute Coordinator, Haleigh Campbell.

Who is eligible to be a YWCA Community Partner? Community based, educational or nonprofit entities that:

• Provide services that align with YWCA’s mission of eliminating racism and empowering women.
• Understand that staff development is essential to creating more impactful, responsive and efficient service delivery aimed at strengthening the Greater Austin Community.
• Commit to ongoing collaboration with YWCA for the duration of the partnership.
• Serve the Greater Austin Community and are located in Travis, Hays, Williamson, Bastrop, Fayette, Llano, Burnet and Blanco counties.

Partner organizations will be able to register up to 12 staff or volunteers to attend YW Volunteer and Training Institute workshops, classes and trainings free of charge per year. Licensed professionals will earn continuing education units where applicable. Please visit http://bit.ly/2lOARds for a list of scheduled 2018 learning opportunities to date.

Training has been an essential component of the YWCA Greater Austin’s work since its inception in 1907. The YW Volunteer & Training Institute promotes racial justice and civil rights by building capacity both within the YWCA Greater Austin and in the Greater Austin community to address the root causes of gender and racial injustice from the personal to the professional and institutional. This includes the recruitment and training of volunteers, the provision of continuing education units for licensed professionals, as well as organizational training for community entities.

“Community-based organizations and non-profits are often limited in the funding that they have for staff development and growth,” noted Executive Director, Ángela-Jo Touza-Medina. “We want to leverage our expertise to help our sister organizations in the community acquire skills and tools to better reach, work with and enhance the services they provide the people they serve. We believe this is a way for us to exponentially and strategically increase the impact of our work promoting the health and safety of women and girls and their economic empowerment and advancement,” she concluded.

If you are interested in learning more about the YWCA Volunteer and Training Institute 2018-2020 Community Partnership Initiative, please contact our Volunteer and Training Institute Coordinator Haleigh Campbell at haleigh@ywcaaustin.org.