URGENT Community Event:
Save Columbus Shelters!
The future of emergency shelter is at risk—your voice can help keep the doors open.
Emergency shelters across Central Ohio, like the YWCA Family Center, face critical funding losses in 2025. Without the creation and investment in a new funding solution, many shelters risk closing their doors, pushing thousands of families deeper into crisis.
Thank you to everyone who joined YWCA Columbus on May 28 to explore solutions for sustainable emergency shelter funding in Central Ohio.
If you missed it, you can still take action—download our Advocacy Toolkit to help push for change and protect shelter access for families in our community.
A Conversation on the Future of Emergency Shelter
Join Elizabeth Brown, President & CEO of YWCA Columbus, and Tamara Howard, Director of Advocacy, for an in-depth discussion on the critical challenges facing our community as emergency shelter funding across Central Ohio faces steep cuts in 2025. This conversation will break down what these funding losses mean for families experiencing homelessness and how the ripple effects could impact the broader community. With clarity and urgency, we will explore what’s at stake—and how we can come together to advocate for a sustainable solution that ensures emergency shelters remain a lifeline for those in crisis.
Elizabeth C. Brown
President & CEO, YWCA Columbus
Elizabeth C. Brown became president and CEO of YWCA Columbus in January 2023. Previously, she served seven years as President Pro Tempore on Columbus City Council, fighting for broad-based economic prosperity, gender equity, and racial justice. She also was the executive director of the Ohio Women’s Public Policy Network, a statewide collective impact project to improve women's economic security through public policy.
During her years on council, she spearheaded laws to protect reproductive healthcare, provide paid family leave, connect pregnant women with housing and medical care, defend residents against threats of deportation, support low-income families through COVID disruptions, erase medical debt, and increase access to early childhood education opportunities.
She also commissioned an overhaul of tax incentive policies which resulted in the city’s first affordable housing and living-wage requirements. She has additional prior professional experience in economic development, nonprofit service, and state government.
Originally born in the Berwick neighborhood of Columbus, Elizabeth was raised in Granville, Ohio, and is a proud public school graduate and a magna cum laude graduate of Columbia University. She and her husband Patrick Katzenmeyer live in Columbus, along with their three children Carolyn, Russell, and Maribell.
Tamara Howard
Tamara, Director of Advocacy at YWCA Columbus, champions equity and justice, driving change in racial and gender equality, housing, and education. She forges impactful collaborations, advocates for marginalized communities, and navigates policy to advance progress. A proud Spelman College alum, she values community and meaningful connections.
Director of Advocacy, YWCA Columbus
A Community in Crisis: Voices from the Front Lines
In this powerful and timely video, hear directly from the residents and dedicated staff of the YWCA Family Center as they share personal stories and firsthand experiences from the front lines of the homelessness crisis in Central Ohio. As emergency shelters like ours face severe funding cuts, their insights shed light on the urgent need for a sustainable, long-term solution to protect families experiencing housing instability. This video will provide an opportunity to better understand the challenges ahead and how, together, we can help keep shelter doors open for those who need them most.
