YWCA Columbus Mission and History

1886  |  YWCA Columbus was formed with a society of 5 women leasing a 12-room home for homeless girls.

1910  |  Opened first public childcare program for working mothers in Franklin County

1915  |  Organized the Girl Reserves to develop “productive and dependable young women”

1918  |  Added curriculum to our childcare and became the first Kindergarten in Franklin County

1923  |  Organized the Blue Triangle Branch, a center for African American women

1929  |  Opened and dedicated the Griswold Memorial Building

1938  |  Congratulated by the Columbus Urban League President for serving African Americans in our cafeteria

1943  |  Housed relocated Japanese American women in the Griswold Building

1946  |  Adopted the Interracial Charter, a landmark policy for racial justice

1952  |  Fully integrated our staff, board, swimming pool, and residency

1970  |  Adopted “The One Imperative, to thrust our collective power towards eliminating racism”

1974  |  Mary Miller, YWCA staff member, led the way to Ohio’s ratification of the ERA from the third floor of the Griswold Building

1986  |  Celebrated the first 100 years with the first Women of Achievement Event

1989  |  First School Age Childcare program begins in Westerville, started serving homeless families with the Interfaith Hospitality Network, awarded first-ever HUD grant for our Women’s Residency program

1992  |  First class of Bright Futures Leadership Program

1994  |  Created Racial Justice Dialogues for legal professionals

2005  |  YWCA Family Center opens. Started Leadership Luncheon Series, networking for professional women

2007  |  Family Center awarded the Audrey Nelson Award, designating it a national model

2008  |  Racial Justice Program designated by the National YWCA as a Hallmark Program

2010  |  School Age Childcare program wins Educational Council Award

2017  |  The grand reopening of the Griswold Building took place, after receiving a $25 million dollar renovation. The new building becomes known as The Center for Women.

2018  |  Our Safe and Sound childcare program earns a record 5-star Step-up-to-Quality Rating

We acknowledge the traditional and ancestral territory of the Shawnee, Kaskaskia (kas-kas-kee-uh), Hopewell & Myaamia (My-am-ee) people, the people whose land we are living, learning, and working on today. Despite the intentional genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced displacement of Indigenous nations, as well as the ongoing erasure and inequities endured by tribal communities today, Indigenous people are still here. We want to remind you that colonialism is an ongoing process, and part of our equity journey includes being mindful of our own participation in that process and centering Indigenous voices in our work toward justice. We encourage you to learn more about the traditional territory on which you reside and about Landback, a movement of returning Indigenous land control, as well as donating to organizations that are in support of and led by Indigenous people. We stand in solidarity with the land and water protectors who are working to preserve the planet we all rely on.

We’d like to acknowledge the traditional and ancestral territory of the Shawnee, Kaskaskia, Hopewell & Myaamia people- the people whose land we’re living, learning, and working on today. And despite the intentional acts of genocide from the ongoing Indigenous Holocaust (which has claimed 13 million Indigenous lives so far), forced displacement, forced assimilation, and land theft, indigenous people are still here on this land.

All of us who are non-indigenous peoples that live in what is called the United States is living on land that was stolen, and are settlers. Settlers don’t benefit equally from settler colonialism. Many folks (or their ancestors) were kidnaped and forced into slavery, lived as indentured servants or came here as refugees – so we’d like to explicitly acknowledge that race and class play a large part in which settlers are able to reap the benefit of this stolen land and which settlers continue to be exploited.

We understand that colonialism is an ongoing process, and part of our equity journey includes building mindfulness of our own present participation in that process. We encourage you to take action by:

• Learning about the culture of the Indigenous peoples within your community
• Learning about and supporting the Landback movement
• Donating to and volunteering with organizations that are in support of and led by people of the global majority / POC
• Standing in solidarity with land & water protectors who are working to preserve this planet that we all rely on, and
• Supporting businesses owned by local people of color