Advancing together towards the future and reinventing ourselves

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENTS AND DIRECTORS
FROM THE YWCA MONTREAL AND ITS FOUNDATION

In many respects, 2020-2021 was a momentous year for the YWCA and its Foundation.

Always professional

What comes to mind first and foremost is the significant impact the pandemic had on all aspects of our operation. The abrupt transformation of all our programs and services and our way of working represented a tremendous challenge, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of our large joint team. The 77 or so extraordinary and professional employees held down the fort and demonstrated with flying colours their commitment and their capacity to adapt and innovate. It is thanks to this capacity for renewal that we are still here, 146 years after our founding.

Advancing together towards the future and reinventing ourselves

We officially launched a major project, our 2023 Plan for the Future, the objective of which is to improve our services and spaces to better meet the emerging needs of women, girls, and gender-diverse people. Various significant milestones were reached, including the planning of our upgraded services, the submission of a tender offer for the construction of new spaces, the listing of our current property, and the development of plans for these new spaces, among others.

The Foundation, a key ally, developed an extensive major fundraising campaign to fund the upgrading of the services we are planning to transform or develop. This campaign, called (Re)Building for women, is the product of a close collaboration between the Foundation and the YWCA to ensure the campaign is consistent with and aligns with the identified needs. The collaboration is coming to fruition, and 6 months after its launch in February 2021, we have the pleasure of announcing we have achieved 70% of the campaign’s objective. We would like to thank all the foundations and businesses that confirmed their support of this extensive project. Thanks to your commitment, we can look towards the future with optimism.

The Foundation also formed the Cercle Quai des gares, a group of committed ambassadors who morally and financially support the YWCA’s mission. In so doing, these men and women are contributing towards promoting a more egalitarian, inclusive, and non-violent society.

Transforming ourselves while maintaining our focus on needs

The definitive closure of our hotel services led to a major financial challenge. Even here, we demonstrated our ability to adapt, and we transformed this hurdle into an opportunity to collaborate with various organizations to meet the urgent need for housing for women. We also provided space to put in place a red zone, plus emergency shelters for women with children, as well as temporary transitional housing for women between homes. These adaptations meant we more than doubled the number of women and families who benefited from various forms of support and help provided by our residential services.

Relevance and proximity despite everything

In conjunction with the details listed above, we continued to provide daily support to women, girls or gender-diverse persons and their families, against all odds. Sometimes support was slowed down, sometimes it was interrupted, very often it was transformed, but it was always relevant and nearby, despite the screens and social distancing. More than 2,000 people were thus able to advance towards a better future.

Last but not least, during this unusual year, the YWCA also went through a transition in its executive management. Nadine Raymond accordingly rose to the challenge of taking over from Mélanie Thivierge’s role at the head of the organization and its Plan for the Future.

Thanks to the entire team of professionals from our four families of action: residential services, socio-economic employability + and integration, youth and community services, as well as our entire administrative support, financial, human resources and communications team, with special recognition going to our maintenance and reception staff, who were our front-line resource in keeping our spaces open and ensuring public health standards were adhered to at all times. We would also like to thank the members of the board of directors and the volunteers who support and make it possible for YWCA Montreal to fulfil its mission. Together, you are essential to our efforts of building a non-violent, more inclusive and egalitarian society for all women, girls and gender-diverse people.