2015 YWCA USA Leadership & Capacity Building Institute

Our Associate Director, Jessica Kubel took a trip to San Antonio, Texas for the YWCA's 2015 YWCA USA Leadership & Capacity Building Institute. It is very important for leaders to continue to learn and grow from each other, especially in the non-profit world where our sole mission is to serve our communities and adapt to their needs. Being able to attend a conference like this one allowed Ms. Kubel to speak with other YWs and see what was working at their locations, how they weathered problems, and simply get to know some of our sister Y's better. The conference kicked off with a Keynote speech by Dara Richardson-Heron MD, CEO of  YWCA USA.  She was also able to attend panels such as Financial Leadership, Mission Impact, and  Building Highly-Effective Board CEO Relationships and reflect on what sort of impact their advice could have on the YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley community. 

Beautiful Downtown San Antonio

One of the many informative panels at the conference

Associate Director Jessica Kubel with Katrena Prior, Development Director for YWCA San Francisco and Marin 

The Alamo

Talking the Talk

On February 25th 2015, the YWCA hosted our first Talking the Talk event at the CalTech Center for Diversity. The goal of the event was to provide a safe space for community members to voice their opinions on racial profiling and their interactions with the police. Ernst Fenelon Jr. from the Prison Education Project facilitated the conversation. The discussion was varied and productive and brought up issues that some participants had never encountered before. While the issue is complex, the discussion endeavored to stay solution focused and allow all those that wanted to speak to be able to say what they needed.  After the discussion was over, Tarek Shawky from the ACLU informed those present on their civil rights when questioned by law enforcement with a "Know Your Rights"  presentation.