Established in 1903
Over the past 120+ years, YWCA Spokane has grown and changed to meet the needs of our community, providing various services such as arts, fitness, housing, employment, childcare, education, disability life enrichment, anti-racist activism, and domestic violence support services. Since 1903, YWCA Spokane has been helping women and children overcome social, economic, and personal barriers to accomplish their goals and achieve healthier and more fulfilling lives.
The Start of it All
1903: First Meeting
On April 13, 1903, a small group met in the local YMCA to discuss starting a YWCA branch in Spokane. 90 women pledged to join and support YWCA Spokane upon its organization. With a $200 donation from local philanthropist John A. Finch, the new organization rented 4 rooms in the Symons building.
Image courtesy of MAC Archives, MS 207 1_L87-1.2197-09
Refining Our Mission
Children in a YWCA childcare facility circa 1980's
In 1971, the YWCA adopted the main imperative: “To thrust our collective power towards the elimination of racism wherever it exists and by any means necessary,” and began directing energy towards the current mission of “empowering women and eliminating racism.” It was in 1979 that YWCA Spokane first began providing domestic violence resources, opening the city’s first 24 hour domestic violence hotline and safe shelter for women and children escaping abuse.
Today, YWCA Spokane continues to provide critical programs and services while working to confront racial and social justice issues that negatively impact our clients and community. Areas of focus include supporting victims of intimate partner domestic violence, promoting early childhood education, and confronting racial and social justice issues that negatively impact our clients and our community.
Each year, we provide confidential and trauma-informed programs and services to over 14,000 women, men, children, and families. By working at the intersections of inequality, poverty, and domestic violence, YWCA Spokane is able to disrupt long-standing societal patterns of trauma.
Historical Milestones
1900s
Image courtesy of MAC Archives, MS 207 3 L87 1.26470 24.
To prevent disappearances of women and girls during the 1905 Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon, the Travelers Aid program assisted women, girls, and families traveling to and from Portland. YWCA Spokane established booths in train station depots where volunteers assisted women, girls, and families before and after arrival of trains from the east and west.
1910s
Image courtesy of MAC Museum Archives, MS 207 2 L87 1.16834 19
In the 1910s, YWCA Spokane expanded programs focused on empowering women. The Employment Center opened and living accommodations were made available for women entering the city. In 1915, 4,000 visitors came to the cafeteria, employment office, and reading room each month.
1920s
Image courtesy of MAC Museum Archives, MS 207 2 L87 1.17660 20
YWCA Spokane was originally established with a distinctly Christian purpose; however, in 1926, the organization took a step toward advancing equity when it was decided that church affiliation was not required for membership at YWCA Spokane.
1930s
Image courtesy of MAC Museum Archives, WCA Unproc Box8 APhoto 005
In 1937, YWCA Spokane sold the property of its first permanent home after being gifted the Spokane Amateur Athletic Club building by Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Enloe. The new building, located at the corner of Main Ave. and Monroe St., allowed for the use of a pool, social rooms, sleeping quarters, and a gym and was YWCA Spokane’s home for the next 28 years.
1940s
Image courtesy of MAC Museum Archives, 4 MS207 Box14 F6a
YWCA Spokane received a gift of land from Mr. Eugene Enloe to host a summer camp for girls on Spirit Lake, thus expanding youth development programs for local girls. This camp, which opened and hosted its first group of campers in June 1940, was known as Camp Glen Echo.
1950s
Image courtesy of MAC Museum archives, 4 L87 1.19437 40
To support local people with disabilities, the handicap swim program at YWCA Spokane began. The program was intended to support the development of self-reliance, physical health, and mental health among people with conditions such as cerebral palsy, Parkinson’s, stroke, brittle bones, brain damage as well as accident victims, post-operative individuals, and paraplegics.
1960s
Image courtesy of MAC Museum archives, YWCA Unproc Box8 CPhoto 002
YWCA Spokane joins with the national YWCA network within the United States to combat racism, collectively adopting one imperative, “The elimination of racism wherever it exists and by any means necessary”. This marked the beginning of YWCA Spokane’s explicit focus on eliminating racism, which grew to become a central part of the organization’s mission.
1970s
Image courtesy of MAC Museum archives, 7 MS207 B16 F26
In 1977, YWCA Spokane began its work in the domestic violence movement with one staff member in the Women’s Resource Center focused on supporting victims of domestic violence. In 1978, YWCA Spokane began offering the only shelter for victims of domestic violence in the region. The shelter briefly closed in 1978 due to a shortage of funding, but reopened in 1979 when YWCA Spokane received funding to support the development of a new program specifically focused on issues related to domestic violence.
1980s
Image Scanned at YWCA Spokane
During the 1980s, a variety of services expanded and changed. In 1982, the Youth Resource Center and the Women’s Resource Center merged together to form one consolidated department, Women and Youth Services or WAYS. Throughout the decade, the then known as Alternatives to Domestic Violence program (ADVP) offered support for victims of intimate partner violence.
1990s
Image courtesy of MAC Museum archives, MS207 B16 F29
In the 1990s, through partnerships with local medical systems, YWCA Spokane offered low-cost mammograms for medically underserved and minority women in the community.
2000s
In 2005, YWCA Spokane partnered with the local YMCA in a capital campaign seeking to create a new building, which would feature the first-in-the-nation co-location of YWCA and YMCA facilities and programs. In 2009, the new “Central Y” joint facility opened at 930 N Monroe St.
2010s
In 2016, alongside shifts among the national YWCA network, the agency changed its name from “Young Women’s Christian Association of Spokane” to “YWCA Spokane”.
2020s
YWCA offered remote services during the COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a variety of shifts occurred at YWCA Spokane. Aligned with public health guidance, in-person services outside of the domestic violence safe shelter were temporarily unavailable. Staff adjusted to offering early childhood education, family support, women’s empowerment, and domestic violence support services remotely within a changing world.