During Women's History Month, we want to celebrate a few of our amazing staff members who are actively creating our history every day!

Women’s History Month (WHM) was first celebrated on a national level in 1982 as “Women’s History Week.” In 1987, Congress designated the month of March as Women’s History Month and it has been continued through presidential proclamations ever since. Learn more at womenshistorymonth.gov.

Meet Carol!

Carol Navarrete is a Mobile Housing Advocate who just celebrated her first work anniversary. Carol supports survivors of intimate partner domestic violence as they navigate their housing crisis and explore pathways to stable housing.

What first drew you to YWCA Spokane?

When I first heard about YWCA Spokane in the 90’s, I was so happy knowing that there was an organization that helped DV survivors in Spokane. As a Mexican woman who came to the US at the age of 13 years old and watched how Domestic Violence in Mexico is still acceptable, still to this day we don’t have anything like YWCA Spokane that supports DV survivors. Later, I worked for Mujeres in Action in 2020 and had the opportunity to work at YWCA for a little bit. I learned about DV and resources. I got to meet the Housing Department and I really liked their work and how they helped each other as a team.

I also love YWCA's mission of eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, and dignity for all. Being a woman of color means so much to me and I feel blessed to be a part of an organization that really cares about their clients.

What do you wish more people knew about YWCA Spokane?

There are resources available for our survivors from Legal Services, Housing, Therapy, Computer Lab, and Our Sister Closet. YWCA Spokane also helps survivors from other countries and has interpreting available by phone. YWCA also has Spanish speaking advocates that can help translate.

YWCA is a great organization because they care, respect, and listen to our survivors.

What is your favorite part of your role?

My favorite part of my role is helping our survivors by empowering them, listening, and having good communication. There is so much about my role that I do there is a lot of attention to detail which makes me check my work twice. I enjoy going to clients' house inspections as it is required all over town, monthly case management and monthly goals either by phone and in person. I think my role is amazing because it keeps me busy, I can use my Spanish language with clients and I get to meet new clients.

How does your work live out our values of equity, empowerment, collaboration, and innovation?

I feel empowered to be able to help DV survivors and be able to talk, listen and plan. Equity, I feel that I am part of the organization that respects me for who I am as a woman of color and fights discrimination. Innovation gives me engagement as a team member to feel motivated to contribute unique perspectives and solutions.

What are 3 words to describe YWCA Spokane?

Empowering women, Commitment, and Eliminating Racism.

What is something you learned in the last week?

Something that I learned last week from my role is that I have to contact a mortgage company about rental assistance.

Describe your favorite meal.

My favorite meal is my mom’s Pozole, Mole, Tamales, Tacos, anything that she cooks. My mom’s cooking is amazing and delicious. I also love Tomatoes Street, Penne Pallame is my favorite too.

If you were a cookie, what type would you be?

I would like a white chocolate cookie like the ones from Costco, the softness of the cookie and the white chocolate pieces that will melt in your mouth.

Name a show or movie you recently watched and loved.

I recently watched Sweet Home Alabama. I just love watching this movie. It is a great love story about two people that never stopped loving each other.

If you magically had tomorrow off, what would you do?

If I had tomorrow off, I would go to update my Driver's License and grocery shop.

About YWCA Housing Advocates

Housing advocates can provide information about landlord/tenant issues, resources, safety planning, and referrals to other community partners for those impacted by intimate partner domestic violence.

Housing Walk-In Clinic
At 930 N Monroe St, Spokane, WA 99201

• Monday 9:00am - 11:00am
• Wednesday 1:00pm - 4:00pm

Learn More