YWCA Central Carolinas

In Families Together and Women In Transition programs, we help single women and families with minor children facing homelessness to break the cycle of poverty, overcome financial hardship and ultimately achieve the stability of permanent long-term housing. In our Youth programs, located in our community’s most under-resourced neighborhoods, we provide year-round after school and all day summer programming at no cost to low-income families. With a main focus on reading, our learning centers provide educational, social, behavioral and cultural support and resources for students and their parents/guardians. Our neighborhood-based program seeks to bring about systemic change in high-poverty neighborhoods by encouraging the potential we find in each of our students and empowering them to break the generational cycles of poverty. YWCA knows that stability starts with safe, decent affordable housing but families at risk of homelessness also need access to useful resources to help them become independent, break the cycle of poverty, overcome financial hardship and prepare their children to succeed in school.

The objective of YWCA's transitional housing program is to help individuals and families address the root causes of their homelessness and gain the skills, knowledge and resources necessary to obtain and maintain their own permanent housing. Participants are given the chance to stabilize their lives, recover from the chaos and stress of homelessness, assess their needs, recognize their barriers to permanent housing and develop a plan to improve their situations. YWCA’s Transitional Housing offers housing and comprehensive support services to participants with the goal leading to permanent housing. Pre-enrollment assessments determine ability and willingness to engage in a structured program. Participants and case managers meet weekly to develop plans, monitor progress and re-set goals. The maximum length of participation is 18 months, with the average being 14 months. In FY 2017/2018, 83% of our Women In Transition participants and 100% of our Families Together participants successfully moved into permanent housing upon exiting the program.

Our Youth Learning Centers located in low-income communities seek to bring about systemic change in high-poverty neighborhoods by building on the potential found in each child and empowering them to break generational cycles of poverty through a reading program called iReady. Youth Programs focus on safe spaces in at-risk communities where youth participate in an academic program designed to improve reading skills as the basis of academic success. Parent activities encourage engagement in their child’s education. Field trips, activities with community partners, corporate and university volunteers, homework assistance and healthy snacks add to a well-rounded program. YWCA participates in Read Charlotte's Data Collaborative and uses iReady Student Instruction. To measure progress throughout the year, we administer a beginning-of-the-year test to determine baseline, a mid-year test and an end-of-year test to measure progress. Based on iReady assessments during the 2017/2018 school year, 25% of our Mecklenburg students (K - 5th grade) tested at grade level at the beginning of the school year (fall 2017) versus 57% at the end of the school year (spring 2018) - more than a double percentage increase.

YWCA Central Carolinas is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. YWCA provides safe spaces to stabilize lives, targeted educational opportunities and assistance in accessing community resources. Youth Programs serves 315 at-risk youth each day in high-poverty communities in our nine Youth Learning Centers. Our Transitional Housing Programs (Families Together and Women In Transition) provide homes and comprehensive case management for unaccompanied women and families with minor children who have experienced homelessness and desire to make necessary changes to move from instability to stable housing. Both programs operate year-round. Families Together (FT) serves 10 families each day and averages serving 70-80 individuals a year with variations caused by different family size and length of participation per family. Women In Transition (WIT) serves a maximum of 66 women every day and averages 120 participants per year based on individual plans and length of stays. YWCA Youth Programs provide academically based programming 50 out of 52 weeks a year in after-school and full days when school is out including 10 weeks of summer programming. YWCA programs that are not included in this funding request are our racial justice initiatives and our co-ed fitness center.

In 2017-18, 83% of Women In Transition participants successfully graduated the program into permanent housing; 95% established or maintained financial stability; and 100% of participants remained housed 6 and 12 months after exiting. In Families Together, 100% of families successfully transitioned into permanent housing, 100% of families that were six months and one year post-exit remained permanently housed; 100% of Families Together heads of household maintained or increased their income during their participation and 83% of heads of household reduced their eviction debt and/or increased their savings.

During the 2017-18 school year, 25% of our students read at grade level in the fall of 2017 compared to 54% in the spring 2018, a more than double percentage increase.