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For more than 150 years, the YWCA has blazed trails for women in Pittsburgh and around the country, writes MAGDELINE JENSEN
The YWCA at 150: Still on a mission, blazing trails for women in Pittsburgh.
The Civil War had just ended, the Transcontinental Railroad was still being built, and a group of perceptive Pittsburgh women gathered to pray and sew for the families of Union soldiers. That simple gathering was more than an act of caring; it was a pioneering venture for women who, at the time, rarely had a voice in civic matters.
From that group of women who came together in 1867 in Allegheny City (now the North Side), the Women’s Christian Association and the beginning of YWCA work in Pittsburgh were born. That was more than 150 years ago, and ever since, the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh has provided a safe place for women, children and families to live, grow and thrive.
Helping women find work
When the Industrial Revolution brought many young working women to Pittsburgh to fill mass-production jobs in the steel industry, safe housing became a priority, and the YWCA found a solution when few other organizations were willing or able to help. The organization purchased a house at 219 Collins Ave. in East Liberty with bedrooms for 30 girls. Rent was $4/month, with a 25-cent charge for a bath or six baths for one dollar. Cooking classes, hot meals, job training, recreation, fitness, day nurseries and a kindergarten, plus classes in French, German, English, literature, bookkeeping, dressmaking and millinery, were offered.
During World War I, as women were going into war plants in greater numbers, the YWCA organized the Monongahela Valley Industrial Council, with recreational centers and club rooms adjacent to many factories and two Industrial Service Centers, providing additional support, on the North Side.
The National War Work Council was established in Pittsburgh to strengthen the home front by implementing national YWCA projects. One was the operation of Hostess House, a place of comfort for servicemen, their wives and friends. Another was the coordination of work for black women and girls, the foreign speaking and white “industrial girls.”
By 1917, many European immigrants worked in the mills, and the YWCA accepted responsibility for bringing them to citizenship. The International Institute, which at one point had employees from 17 countries, was organized to serve immigrant women. Casework and counseling services developed. Social clubs were formed around nationalities where, according to one YWCA document, “warmth and cordiality represented friends and remembrances of home.” The institute was operated until 1940, when it merged with the American Service Institute.
The Depression severely taxed YWCA resources. Still, unemployed, transient women wandering the country looking for work were able to find desperately needed services and housing. From the organization’s archives: “These were the years when the girls were on the road, hitchhiking from city to city, looking for work. The YWCA took them in — gave them lodging, food and an opportunity to regain a bit of courage.” Hundreds of girls took advantage of these opportunities and training programs, which included “free brush-up classes in typing and shorthand; recreational hours were planned to fill many a leisure time; domestic services were taught in the hope of raising standards for better employment.” They also were able to discuss their problems with skilled and understanding staff.
Equality and empowerment
As far back as 1875, the Third International Conference of the YWCA, held in Pittsburgh, promoted “inclusiveness of all — regardless of race, economic status, of nationality or creed.” (However, segregated YWCAs still surfaced.)
Here, the YWCA created a 25-member Committee on Colored Work in 1919. On April 1 of that year, it opened a house at 2215 Wylie Ave. in the Hill District to serve as a YWCA branch providing lodging and job assistance. The committee also established savings programs for women and opportunities for African-American factory workers seeking wartime jobs.
In the mid-1940s, the national YWCA took up the controversial issue of integration nationwide. Though fraught with contention, the national organization was integrated by policy in 1946.
On June 21, 1945, a year before the national policy was resolved, the Pittsburgh Association committed to an interracial policy, which declared: “It is the conviction and the desire of the Association that all branches should have members of all races in leadership and participation.”
In the late 1950s and 1960s the YWCA’s civil rights work took on new vigor. At the 1970 YWCA National Convention, the association adopted what became known as “One Imperative — To thrust our collective power toward the elimination of racism wherever it exists by any means necessary.” In 2003, the YWCA dropped its Blue Triangle for a new logo incorporating the tagline “Eliminating Racism, Empowering Women.”
Building on its early work helping industrial girls, the YWCA in the 1920s also began working with “business girls” seeking white-collar jobs. They became a focus in residences, educational classes, physical education and workplace safety. Before such classes were offered in public schools, the YWCA had a Business Girls Department offering skills training such as typing and shorthand.
Currently, YWCA Greater Pittsburgh initiatives also celebrate leadership and provide opportunities to connect. For example, YWCA’s Tribute to Women is Pittsburgh’s hallmark event honoring distinguished female leaders in their fields. The YWCA also empowers up-and-comers through its Young Leaders Board, a model replicated by other nonprofits.
TheYWCA’s Youth Services and STEM Education initiative ignites students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math. The hands-on, collaborative, project-based learning supplements school experience and aligns with Pennsylvania’s academic standards. Safe, outof-school programs engage students in enjoyable, nontraditional exploration and learning that encourage each student to shine.
TechGYRLS, established in 1997, is a hallmark program of the national YWCA aiming to narrow the gender gap in technology. The local model is a STEM afterschool program for middle-school girls. It currently operates in 27 schools to improve proficiency in science and math while exposing girls to STEM careers, local colleges and college preparation.
Women increasingly are the sole financial providers for themselves and their families, and YWCA programs help them become more financially intelligent and self-sufficient.
Today, YWCA programs work to improve child and family outcomes, too. Our Child Care Information Services is an anchor of Allegheny County’s network of early learning and child care programs, acting as a liaison for clients and providers, processing referrals and applications, and performing annual eligibility reviews. In addition, YWCA serves as the state’s regional child care quality rating agency, and YWCA Homewood-Brushton offers early childhood education, services and care for infants and children through prekindergarten.
Safe, affordable and desirable housing is crucial to getting a life back on track. For homeless women and men and their dependent children, YWCA provides intensive case management and access to other programs to increase their financial stability and broaden choices to ultimately maintain their own independent housing.
The YWCA Greater Pittsburgh opened the first transitional housing program in the United States in 1989. Called Bridge Housing, it was located in the YWCA’s Wilkinsburg building. Women had up to two years working with YWCA staff to become self-sufficient and move to permanent housing. Operated as a shelter until 2007, it was modified at that point to a scattered site model, with the YWCA renting apartments on behalf of the program’s clients.
Recognizing the value of good health, the YWCA provides bilingual community health education, support and patient navigation programs that help people better understand health insurance and the health care system. The YWCA, for example, connects low-income and minority women who are less likely to have health insurance or physician access to low-cost screening programs.
Experience and agility are two words that define today’s YWCA Greater Pittsburgh, creating change in response to community needs while fearlessly facing the future.