Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, HR would like to take this opportunity to re-share the resources we have available to all employees through New York Life Group Benefits Solutions. We encourage everyone to utilize these resources as needed. A few to highlight:

• Employee Assistant Program – Provides a maximum of 3 sessions, per issue, per year to speak with a counselor.
• Well-Being Coaching – Provides 5 session per year (via telephone), to speak with a certified coach to address health and wellbeing issues (burnout, time management, coping with stress).
• Financial Connect – Speak with a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), and other financial professionals regarding a financial challenge or financial planning. This provides unlimited access to the experts but if additional help is needed, you can request a referral to a financial professional in your local community.

To access these services:
Phone – (800) 344-9752
Website – guidanceresources.com (Web ID: NYLGBS)

Please contact Makyla Zimmerman for any questions regarding these benefits at 614-627-1225 or mzimmerman@ywcacolumbus.org. 

The YWCA Racial Justice Challenge kicked off in April, dedicating time and space to discover how racial and social injustices impact our community – and how we can take action together to dismantle racism – through daily resources (every weekday for 21 days). It’s not too late to accept the challenge, which wraps up on May 12. ACCEPT THE CHALLENGE HERE! 

YWCA Columbus is offering six $25 Meijer gift cards throughout the challenge for staff who participate! Here is how to enter: 

1. Register for the Racial Justice Challenge using your work email address and complete the pre-event survey. You can find the pre-event survey on the Challenge homepage after you register. To be eligible for the raffle, you must register with your YWCA email address and designate YWCA Columbus as your associated agency in the pre-survey. 
2. Participate in a weekly topic wrap-up survey to share a few takeaways you found important or interesting from each week’s topic. Surveys will be distributed via email on the Friday of each week and you will be entered into one raffle for each weekly wrap-up survey you complete (4 total raffles). Completed surveys must be submitted by COB Monday, May 15 to be considered. 
3. Participate in YWCA Columbus’ virtual culminating conversation on Friday, May 12 at 11:30 a.m. Interested participants must register via Zoom and attend the session to be entered into the final raffle. 

As part of this year’s Racial Justice Challenge, we are also compiling songs for our challenge playlist. Please share your favorite justice, protest, or empowerment songs with us! We will follow up with Apple Music and Spotify playlists to keep you jamming along your justice journey. 

• YWCA Columbus testified against House Bill 6, the anti-trans sports bill that would prevent transgender students from playing on the sports team that correlates with their gender identity on the grounds that we do not see this bill as “saving women’s sports,” as it describes itself. 
• We also supported our partners by providing opposition testimony against Senate Bill 83, which would, in part, prevent universities from mandating DEI trainings for students or employees, on the grounds that marginalized students actually desire mandatory DEI trainings, which helps everyone who learns these values treat one another better. 
• We are watching HB6 this month, as it might get voted out of committee and onto the House floor. We are also watching SB83, and House Bill 68 (the anti-gender-affirming bill, which would ban hospitals and medical care sites from providing gender-affirming care for transgender youth). We are also supporting the Ohio Council of YWCAs’ ask for increasing our TANF funding in the Ohio operating budget, which will be debated until it is passed at the end of June. The increased funding would support our programs across Ohio YWs. 

Afterschool Professionals Appreciation Week took place in April, and the education department recognized and appreciated all our staff who work with young people during out-of-school hours, culminating in a celebration on Friday, April 28. 

To wrap up this year’s Racial Justice Challenge, the Justice, Equity, and Belonging team will be hosting a virtual culminating conversation on Friday, May 12 at 11:30 a.m. Interested participants must register via Zoom. 

Join us on Thursday, May 25 at 5 p.m. to discuss The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama. Obama opens a frank and honest dialogue with readers, considering the questions many of us wrestle with: How do we build enduring and honest relationships? How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What tools do we use to address feelings of self-doubt or helplessness? Join the conversation this month and keep an eye out for future book club meetings! 

Our agency is celebrating Juneteenth and Pride this June and will have several opportunities for you to get involved – stay tuned for more information! 

YWCA Columbus will be marching as a team in this year’s Pride Celebration on Saturday, June 17. If you are interested in joining our contingent, please fill out this survey or email mkowaleski@ywcacolumbus.org. More details will be provided as we get closer!