A Long and Rich History of Answering the Call and Meeting Community Needs 

The YWCA of Greater Atlanta was founded without fanfare in 1902 when a group of women met on the campus of Spelman College and organized the Atlanta Chapter of the worldwide organization. On that day, they elected their first president, formed a group dedicated to helping “working girls, middle-class daughters, young wives and mothers, and princesses”; and gave birth to what was to become one of the oldest and largest women organizations in the city of Atlanta.

Few organizations are as closely identified with the history and development of Atlanta throughout the 20th century as the YWCA of Greater Atlanta. The YWCA has touched the everyday lives of many in Atlanta including our leaders, our families and entire communities.

From its very beginnings, the YWCA committed itself to one mission: to empower women and girls. In those early days, young women new to the city were looking for places to live, food, good working conditions, recreation and new skills. Staffed with three women, the YWCA responded in 1903 by focusing its efforts on providing education and temporary shelter for “untrained, inexperienced girls and women.” The agency launched adult education courses to support these women - classes included millinery, stenography, bible, Spanish, economics and book bindery. The organization also initiated a mobile library for women - the year was 1903, and the YWCA boasted 150 members.

Decade after decade, the YWCA continued to live its mission: answering the call, leading the change. In the 1930’s when the depression created mass unemployment and a lack of recreational resources, the YWCA organized groups to help keep the city’s playgrounds open and a Day School for unemployed girls was opened. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, the YWCA began to focus its efforts to support the needs of the underprivileged girls in Atlanta, launching groups like the Y Teens and other camps around the city.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s, Atlanta was at the very center of the Civil Rights Movement.

The YWCA of Greater Atlanta responded to the call for racial equality by pioneering its own efforts to end racial injustice. In 1960, the opening of the YWCA main branch cafeteria to African-Americans marked the first desegregated public dining facility in Atlanta. In 1975, the organization built on this foundation by announcing its one imperative: to thrust its collective power - the elimination of racism wherever it exists.

In the 1980’s, with an unprecedented number of women in the workforce, the YWCA responded to the growing need for quality child care by creating four childhood education centers to provide Atlanta’s families with high quality early learning and afterschool care that was also affordable.

In 1985, the YWCA answered the call and opened the first emergency shelter in Atlanta for women and children to address the rapid increase of homelessness among this population – it was housed in the gym of the historic Phyllis Wheatley located 599 Mitchell Street near the Atlanta University Center. Deborah Richardson, PW Site Director and then board chair, Joanna Adams, lead the charge and ran this program for four years with no funded budget.  In 1989, the housing program is transformed from an emergency shelter to the YWCA Cascade House two-year holistic Women in Transition (WIT) residential program designed to create sustainable change in the lives of families.

1984 debuted “Salute to Women of Achievement” luncheon – the premier event recognizing women who makes positive strides in business and our community. The first Woman of Achievement (Rosalyn Carter, former first lady of the United States and Georgia) along with ten women, were inducted into the inaugural Academy of Women Achievers. This distinguished award is lauded by many and, to date, more than 250 women make up this prestigious group to include Gladys Knight, Jane Fonda, Xernona Clayton, Pearl Cleage, Leah Ward Sears, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Ann Stallard, Billye Aaron, Stephanie Blank, Ingrid Saunders Jones and Judy Anderson. Today, the luncheon draws upward of 800 attendees and has raised as much as $500,000 in 2008.

In 1996, Teens on the Rise is a three-component youth development program was designed to empower youth through social awareness, technology, and the arts. The program’s mission is to use a holistic approach in equipping students with the necessary tools to become well rounded successful individuals who are prepared to meet the demands of the 21st century. The program has since been revamped and renamed Empowered Youth Entertainment, a diversity education program for students (ages 13-19) that makes use of drama to explore attitudes toward racism, violence, discrimination, intolerance, and prejudice. 

September 2005 was the debut of Open Your Purse to the YWCA Benefit and Auction - a fundraiser for the Women in Transition program. The Power of the Purse award is created to honor a woman who successfully completed the program and living self-sufficiently. This event had grown to 450 attendees by 2010 and raised more than $650k in five years.

In 2010, the Bettie Brand Mothers’ Endowment Fund was created by Dr. Candace Kaspers (former YWCA board chair) and her brother (Jeffrey Brand) in honor of their mother, Bettie Brand - first endowment in the history of the organization.  And “Fireside Chat: The Story Behind the Story" becomes a celebration of Women History Month. This event is co-sponsored with the Women’s Bureau, Department of Labor.

Today, the YWCA of Greater Atlanta continues to build on its legacy of innovation and pioneering with a commitment to delivering cutting-edge programs that eradicate homelessness, improve education, and address health disparities.

• The YWCA’s Early Childhood Academy provides Atlanta’s women with quality care they can afford and helps our youngest citizens get the best start in life.
• Afterschool Learning Academy provides a safe, enriching and structured environment for working mothers and their families in seven metro-area sites during afterschool hours.
• A comprehensive teen program, Teen Girls in Technology (TGI Tech) helps young girls bridge the digital gap and arms them with self-confidence and tools needed to become tomorrow’s leaders in science, math, technology and engineering careers.
• As women and children become the fastest growing sector of the homeless population, the YWCA’s unique Women in Transition program at the Cascade House offers shelter, job training, counseling, education and other empowerment tools to help homeless families become self-sufficient.
• EncorePlus reaches out to hundreds of underserved and underinsured women to make sure they are educated about breast and cervical cancer health and wellness.