YWCA is on a mission and YWCA Madison is making it our own!
YWCA Madison is committed to eliminating racism and empowering women. The way we pursue this commitment is by seeking justice over charity, empowerment over enabling. It is instilled in everything that we do and propels how we do our work.
Our goal is to eliminate barriers that exist for individuals looking to become self-sufficient, expand the thinking of individuals looking to explore privilege, and advocate around issues that most affect marginalized communities.
We remain rooted in rich history, but our approach to serving our clients is holistic, strategic and innovative.
Nationally, YWCA advocacy issues include lobbying for pay equity and hate crimes legislation, increased funding for Head Start and passing the Violence Against Women Act. Locally, through our programs, we are changing lives and restoring hope for women, their families, and our community!
Employment & Transit ↘
Women and people of color who participate in our training programs gain tangible job skills and access to employment fields in which they have traditionally been underrepresented.
As we look at the impact of sexism and racism, women, and particularly women of color, experience adverse economic impacts. By focusing on empowering women economically, YWCA Madison hopes to improve the economic wealth of individual families and our community. Women’s economic empowerment speaks to a woman’s ability to make strategic choices, improve her economic situation, and alter existing power structures that create barriers to economic justice. Economic empowerment is more than simply having a job. Our goal is to create economic justice that equals equity and fairness.
YWCA Madison achieves these goals by providing employment and training programs and safe transportation solutions. YWCA Madison’s employment training programs work with people who want to find, change, or maintain their careers so they can support their families and be part of our community’s economic mainstream. To achieve these goals we offer a wide spectrum of programming, including: Driver's License Recovery, YW Transit, and YWeb Career Academy.
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Driver's License Recovery Program
Driver’s License Recovery Program is available to people working to reinstate suspended driver’s licenses through a systematic partnership.
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YW Transit
YW Transit is a community-based transportation program serving Dane County. There are three services YW Transit provides.
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YWeb Career Academy
YWeb Career Academy is an employment service program that trains women and people of color to become web developers/designers.
Housing & Shelter ↘
Everyone needs a place to call home—a safe haven and shelter from the storm, a place to settle and be nurtured. YWCA Madison has designed several services that address this need and help women and their families find their place in the world.
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Empower Home
The Empower Home program focuses on providing housing stabilization and eviction prevention services for survivors of domestic violence.
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Family Housing Stability
FHS is a shelter diversion program that serves homeless families before entering the shelter system.
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Family Shelter
Families facing homelessness get housing and case management through YWCA Madison's Family Shelter.
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Housing for Women
YWCA Madison offers safe and affordable apartments for single women in our downtown location.
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Rapid Rehousing
Rapid Rehousing is a six-month program providing families with rent assistance and supportive case management services.
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Steps to Stability
Steps to Stability (S2S) is a tenant-education program for families experiencing housing instability.
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Third Street
Third Street provides affordable apartments, a safe neighborhood, and support services for families.
Race & Gender Equity ↘
YWCA Madison’s Race & Gender Equity programs support people, communities and organizations in transforming relationships, cultures and structures towards intersectional racial justice, collective healing and liberation.
For more than 18 years, the Race and Gender Equity department at YWCA Madison has created opportunities for deep racial justice learning and unlearning, as well as offering collaborative consulting services for transformative change that centers, deepens and broadens racial justice, equity and belonging within organizational systems and cultures.
Our services invite people, communities and organizations to embrace the need to develop an ongoing racial justice practice that is rooted in both:
Recognizing, unlearning and dismantling beliefs, behaviors and practices that perpetuate racism, harm and inequity.
Identifying, learning and strengthening beliefs, behaviors and practices that co-create equity, healing and belonging.
Our philosophy and method of service across our programming is holistic (whole person and systems capacity building), experiential (content, skill building, embodied, as well as emotional based learning focused on the development of ongoing practice), collaborative (co-creative partnership, community of practice and shared accountability) and restorative (healing centered practices for conflict transformation).
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Black Thought Wall Madison
The Black Thought Project transforms public and private spaces into sanctuaries for the expression of Black thought.
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Creating Equitable Organizations
Collaborative consulting services to center, deepen and broaden racial justice, equity and belonging within organizational systems and culture.
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Racial Justice Learning Resources
Connect with resources and opportunities for racial justice learning.
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Racial Justice Series
Learning experiences to support the development of a foundational understanding of the system of racial inequity, and what we can do to transform it.
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Racial Justice Summit
Each year, YWCA Madison hosts a Racial Justice Summit that brings together community stakeholders to work on eliminating barriers that foster racism.
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Stand Against Racism
Stand Against Racism provides the opportunity for communities across the United States to find an issue or cause that inspires them to take a stand.
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Amplify Madison Academy
Amplify Madison funded a combination of professional development, organizational collaboration and community engagement for teams of women.
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Women of Distinction
Women of Distinction Leadership Awards were established to increase community awareness and appreciation of the diverse contributions of women.
Restorative Justice ↘
Why does YWCA Madison use Restorative Justice?
YWCA Madison uses restorative justice to address the school-to-prison pipeline. The school-to-prison pipeline describes a pattern of criminalization of K-12 students linked to decreased graduation rates and increased likelihood of future involvement with the criminal justice system. Students of color, LGBTQ students, and students with disabilities are disproportionately impacted.
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Community-Based Programming
Every 12-16 year old issued a municipal ticket by the Madison Police is eligible to participate in restorative justice as an alternative to court.
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School-Based Learning
YWCA provides ongoing student and staff support at some of our partner schools in order to facilitate a transition to a restorative approach.
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Professional Development
YWCA Madison offers three-day professional development training workshops for educators, community members and parents.
Advocating for Change ↘
Take Action by visiting the Advocacy Action Center page.
Social Action and Advocacy are the cornerstones of YWCA. Since our inception almost 150 years ago, “service” has been linked to “action.” In communities across the United States, YWCAs continue to work to improve social and economic conditions for all people. As the nation’s oldest and largest national movement, YWCA USA is comprised of about 300 local associations, regional leadership and a national office in Washington D.C. – – who all work together, across the nation to strengthen our voices in the nation’s capital and in state and local governments.
YWCA USA brings first-hand knowledge of how federal level policies and programs affect women, girls and their families in communities across the country. Historically YWCA has fought for issues such as the abolition of child labor, the 8-hour workday, and desegregation.
Today, YWCA’s across the network carry their long tradition in social action and advocacy to meet the twin goals of women and girl’s empowerment and racial justice.
YWCA Madison’s Advocacy Action Team
YWCA Madison Advocacy Action Team strives to make a positive difference in the lives of women, children, and families. Our effort is to support and make recommendations on policies that contribute to the empowerment of women and the elimination of racism. The Advocacy Action Team also works to promote effective policies that will improve the economic and social conditions for all people. We take action on key public policy issues based on the YWCA’s Mission, grounded in programs within the YWCA Madison, and aligned with our public policy platform as well as the YWCA USA’s Legislative Priorities.
The YWCA Madison’s Advocacy Action Team’s focus is on:
Zero Tolerance Policies – The Advocacy Action Team will take actions to reduce racially disproportionate discipline in schools and racially disproportionate contact in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Learn more about what we are doing to take action on Zero Tolerance Policies.
Housing and Economics – The Advocacy Action Team will take actions in support of policies and programs that empower women and families in their search for affordable housing and economic stability.
Comprehensive Immigration Reform – YWCAs across the country are deeply committed to advocating for a common-sense immigration process that keeps families together here in the United States, provides adequate protections for immigrant victims of sexual violence and trafficking, and that creates a roadmap for citizenship for the 11 million people who aspire to be citizens. Learn more>>
Sign up for the Advocacy E-News or learn more about volunteer opportunities with the YWCA.
Take Action & Contact Location Officials
YWCA Madison’s Position
YWCA supports policies that contribute to the elimination of racism. This includes but is not limited to policies that eliminate racial profiling, increase immigrant rights, retain and strengthen affirmative action, reduce hate crimes, and result in increased education on racism and its elimination.
YWCA supports the maintenance and strengthening of affirmative action laws to protect people from discrimination on the basis of race and gender.
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Register
We know that voting is critical to ensuring a healthy, safe, empowered future for us, our families, and our communities. Make sure you, your friends and loved ones are registered to vote and make sure to show up to the polls!
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Volunteer
Volunteers are an important part of our team and critical to meeting our mission. There are many ways you can volunteer and we will do our best to match volunteers interests with our program needs.
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Give
Your support can Create Change and will help make a positive difference in our community. YWCA Madison’s programs offer hope and support to some of our community’s most vulnerable and at-risk residents every day.