History

Important YWCA Accomplishments Throughout History

1905 - YWCA of the District of Columbia was established. Donations from Mr. Woodward, Mr. Lothrop, and Ms. Helen Gould opened the first office over the J. Maury Dove Coal Office at 12th and F Streets NW, and paid the annual salary of two staff members.

1907 - Sponsored the city's first adult education course and cafeteria.

1908 - Founded the first Industrial Girls' Club, providing services for package-wrappers and downtown department store workers. Created the first housing bureau with a registry of 72 approved boarding houses, carefully investigated and deemed appropriate for female habitation.

1910 - A donation of property in Cherrydale, VA enabled the YWCA to open a vacation lodge for working women. This property was reluctantly sold in 1947, due to the expansion of the Washington suburbs into the formerly rural enclave.

1914 - The War and Navy Department enlists the YWCA to "cooperate with the government on morals and welfare of girls in war work."

1915 - Golden Jubilee Celebration for the YWCA of the USA, and ten years in Washington, where President and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson were guests of honor.

1916 - Built first swimming pool for women and girls and hired first female elevator operator in Washington, DC.

1930s - During the Great Depression, the YWCA provided counseling, lodging, food service, adult education and physical culture classes for women and girls of all ages. Camp Stay-At-Home provided fun activities for teenagers who could not afford to travel to camp.

1935 - Mrs. Henry Alvah Strong, lead donor, laid the cornerstone for the Strong Residence, an inexpensive housing alternative for newly arrived women in the District of Columbia.

1944 - The YWCA becomes the first non-segregated food service in the nation's capital. The Association sends a plank to both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions calling for full racial integration of the armed forces and for federal abolition of racial discrimination and segregation in interstate travel.

1945 - To meet growing demand for services caused by the wartime expansion in the D.C. suburbs, the YWCA of Alexandria is established.

1949 - Mr. William Pfeiffer, nephew to Mr. Julius Garfinckel, lays the cornerstone of the Hannah Harrison School of Industrial Arts on MacArthur Boulevard, in fulfillment of Mr. Garfinckel's bequest in honor of his mother. The School provides vocational training in the fields of Institutional Housekeeping, Dressmaking and Design, Business Training, and Commercial Foods. The School eventually evolves into the Harrison Center for Career Education.

1950 - The YWCA of Montgomery County, MD is established. Hannah Harrison Career School officially opens.

1960 - The YWCA affirms its support for the nonviolent civil rights movement.

1965 - The YWCA of Fairfax County, VA established.

1966 - The local branches of the YWCA were consolidated in the YWCA of the National Capital Area, in order to provide more effective financing and programming.

1970 - The 25th National Convention of the YWCA adopts the One Imperative: "To thrust our collective power toward the elimination of racism wherever it exists and by any means necessary."

1972 - A new fitness & aquatics center and childcare building opens in Fairfax County, VA.

1974 - The Tower Residence opens, a group home for girls 14-18 who the juvenile courts classify as "persons in need of supervision." The YWCA offers its first child development programs.

1981 - The YWCA of the National Capital Area dedicates a new headquarters building at 624 Ninth Street NW.

1983 - The YWCA/NCA sponsors the first of five "Women of the Year" award programs recognizing trailblazing women.

1990 - The YWCA/NCA celebrates its 90th Anniversary

1991 - YWCA develops a breast cancer education and screening program for low-income women, ENCORE, that was used as a national YWCA model.

1993 - The YWCA contracts with the U.S. Department of Labor to provide training for women in nontraditional employment (the NEW program).

1999 - The YWCA begins a Youth Mentorship Program, to get adolescent girls interested in college preparation and setting career goals.

2000 - The NEW program doubles in size thanks to a grant from the D.C. Income Maintenance Administration to provide training for low-income parents.

2005 - YWCA National Capital Area held its Centenial Celebration featuring a YWCA Cookie Contest and a 100th Birthday Pary.

2007 - The Washington Area Women in the Trades (WAWIT) program was established as a partnership between the YWCA National Capital Area, Wider Opportunities for Women & the Community Services Agency of the AFL-CIO in order to provide hands on construction training to low income women.

2008 - The Workplace Literacy Program (WLP) launched to provide basic job skills training to chronically unemployed or underemployed low income women.