Happy 95th Birthday YWCA
With its home under construction, the YWCA celebrates its 95th birthday with a street party in front of the downtown building. The Capital Campaign gets a boost with a $300,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation. Three floors of apartments are complete and ready for residents to move into.
The YW Comes Home
After 20 months of construction, the YWCA moves back to her downtown home. The beautifully restored facility is the result of a successful $10 million capital campaign. The restored building is truly a testament to the generosity and compassion of the community. The renewed and restored building allows the YW to double the size of the homeless child care program, expand housing to 64 units, house the Women's Resource Center and unveil the Chapel Gallery for Visual and Performing Arts.
SAIL Program launched
Special Assessment Intervention Liaison (SAIL), a program of DHR, is designed to help victims of domestic violence through education. The YWCA hires and trains SAIL workers to help connect domestic violence victims with vital services that are available throughout the state.
First Annual Purse & Passion Luncheon
The YW presents the first annual Purse & Passion Luncheon to highlight the YWCA's mission. This inspirational event provides a unique environment to assemble a diverse intergenerational group of women to celebrate the common strengths and desires of women and to collectively celebrate and promote women's philanthropy.
Birmingham hosts National YW Conference
The National Association of YWCA Executives holds its annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama and focuses on racial justice work, women's economic empowerment and networking.
100th Anniversary-A Century of Caring
The YWCA of Birmingham becomes the YWCA Central Alabama. The YW celebrated its 100th anniversary, A Century of Caring, with a number of special events and initiatives, with funding provided by many generous individuals and corporations.
A New Look for the YWCA
The YWCA of the USA unveiled a new brand consisting of a new logo and the renewed focus on the organization's two key mission elements: eliminating racism and empowering women.
Strengthening Our Families, Strengthening Our Communities
Within a year of acquiring Interfaith Hospitality House, the YWCA launches a capital campaign to fund a new facility for the program. Far surpassing the set goal of $6 million, the YW raises more than $15 million with the help of generous donors and supporters.
YWoodlawn and St. Clair County
The ribbon cutting for the new Interfaith Hospitality House is held in September. It opens in Woodlawn as one of the only shelters in the state that accepts single mothers with sons over the age of 10, two-parent families and single fathers with children. This begins the first phase of a broader neighborhood revitalization effort known as YWoodlawn.
After receiving hundreds of calls from domestic violence victims from St. Clair and Blount counties, the YW notices that these victims rarely travel to the central Birmingham offices for support. In October of 2009, the YWCA opens a domestic violence shelter in St. Clair County to serve this population.
Winner of Nonprofit Award
YWCA Central Alabama was honored to receive the Birmingham Business Journal’s Second Annual Nonprofit Award for organizations with revenue of over $5 million. The awards luncheon was held on March 14, 2013, at The Wynfrey Hotel.
CEO Suzanne Durham Retires
In recognition of its work in the Woodlawn community, the YWCA is awarded the American Planning Association’s 2013 National Planning Excellence Award for Advancing Diversity & Social Change in honor of Paul Davidoff.
The YWCA celebrates her 110th birthday in March! In honor of her birthday and to celebrate our strong foundation and sustain our fearless future, we set out to reach 110 planned and/or deferred gifts.
Suzanne Durham, who led the agency for more than three decades, retired at the end of the year. The Board of Directors appointed Yolanda Sullivan, past President of the YWCA Board of Directors (serving from 2007-2010), as Interim Chief Executive Officer to lead the transition.