Ywca South Florida

Early childhood - Ywca operates and manages four early learning centers, implementing a research-based anti-biased developmentally appropriate curriculum. Each of these centers meet strict nationally established accreditation standards, serving approximately 312 children from six weeks to five years of age. The program further incorporates the 349 parents/guardians in family partnership self-sufficiency development. For years, Ywca has been committed to providing high quality early childhood services that break the poverty cycle and provide support systems that give children (and their families) the opportunity to become happy, healthy, and productive citizens. We ensure that we do this work by partnering with other agencies in the community that support us by providing funding, training and technical assistance to implement all components of high- quality early childcare. In our programs, children and families have access to comprehensive services which include health, nutrition, mental health, disabilities, family engagement and early childhood education. Ywca also served over 120,905 meals and connected families with hundreds of hours of community services.

Economic prosperity programs - the Ywca economic prosperity programs provide our clients access to knowledge, training, upskilling, certifications, and workforce development. They help women and teens bring their passions and ideas to life though entrepreneurship courses which culminated in pitch competitions where judges provided feedback and recommendations. Participants were able to partake in over 215 hours of financial literacy classes/workshops (137 youth classes, and 80 adult workshops offered with remote access) to address various topics that increase financial literacy skills and inform their financial decision- making. In 2022-2023, 30 of the 80 workshops for adults included building credit, avoiding scams (especially the senior population), paying for a college education, and saving for a home purchase, to name a few. Over 370 attendees attended these sessions. In addition, school aged youth were provided with 160 class days of financial literacy activities and instruction, giving them a strong foundation for their financial futures. For this fiscal year, Ywca economic prosperity programs offered services to over 2,540 residents of miami-dade and broward counties through 7 distinct initiatives. In our teen360 program for broward students, 75 youth participants from under-resourced communities learned to develop money management and business entrepreneurship skills in both classroom-based activities and out of school time. By the end of the program, participants shared feeling confident that they would become business owners and see themselves pursuing higher education. The strive digital skilling and google it certificate programs have certified over 136 participants from 20 to 70 years of age in basic computer skills. As a result, at the end of our program, some participants felt prepared to look for better job opportunities, as many worked in factories and farms. Our elderly participants expressed that this program increased their self-esteem and ability to browse the internet independently. The we360 entrepreneurship classes and outreach has supported the launch and growth of 357 woman-owned businesses. During this fiscal year, Ywca served 50 female entrepreneurs of color, teaching them the basics of business planning, market research, benchmarking against competitors, and understanding their target market. In addition, Ywca entrepreneurs have won over 100,000 in seed funding. We are proud of the success of our participants, and we hope to continually improve the support we offer to the South Florida women of color entrepreneurs. Ywca South Florida's women in tech program provides technical education and certifications to help up-skill 42 participants enabling them to take advantage of living-wage jobs in South Florida's growing technology industry. Through the coursera platform, participants were able to complete the google it certification course, helping them to achieve their educational and career goals. Other programs include the matched savings program that incentivizes the habit of regular saving thus allowing participants to create a safety net for their financial stability when emergencies arise. The program matched nearly 16,000 in savings for participants, in addition to increasing their financial capabilities. During this fiscal year, Ywca saw the launch of the miami skilling in action program, funded by jpmorgan chase and microsoft. In partnership with gener8tor skilling, Ywca initiated a workforce development program that provides residents, who have been historically overlooked by miami's new tech companies, with the training and certifications necessary to find employment in the region's tech boom and to earn higher salaries. Beyond the certifications, participants also received job coaching and introductions to local and virtual employers in the gener8tor network. Since its inception, we have served 173 residents with trainings in data analytics and program management, and cohorts will continue until 250 participants are served. Throughout all of these programs, Ywca offers wrap-around services and the women's success fund which provides for the removal of barriers to encourage the completion of the initiatives described above. All members of these courses and workshops are served by our staff to help identify areas where they need support, such as health issues, housing referrals, food insecurity, and other concerns that threaten to take their focus away from completion. The women's success fund provides emergency funding paid directly to the creditor, utility, or landlord before accounts are closed or people are evicted. Together, these programs educate low- and middle- income women, children, and their families in all aspects of financial matters, assisting them in developing solid financial practices that help them grow, thrive, and succeed in today's challenging economy.

Youth programs - Ywca after-school programs for elementary students operates on-site at local public schools, and Ywca centers. Established in 1976, this program meets the needs of working families by providing elementary school children with a safe and supervised environment that includes age appropriate academic and enrichment activities during out of school time. Operating in miami-dade county public schools and centers from South miami to north miami-dade, Ywca served approximately 304 children daily. In addition, Ywca continued to offer summer programming to 90 youth to help decrease the learning loss among students over the summer recess. A core part of our after-school program is global education. Global education aims to open the world and build tolerance and acceptance for our students beyond their zip code with opportunities for students ages 4-13 to use current events to connect them to what is going on around their neighborhoods and the world around them. We developed a curriculum based on the oxfam curriculum created for schools. The program provides art, community service projects, financial literacy, global education, homework assistance, literacy development, nutrition, social and emotional learning, and physical fitness. These programs are offered online, year-round during the school year, spring break and summer camp. Ywca's teen program is committed to providing life enriching experiences for urban youth in low resourced neighborhoods, with the goal of redirecting them towards more positive pursuits including technology, peer counseling, tutoring, college tours, cultural and recreational field trips. These programs include the computer clubhouse, mentoring, college and career exploration, academic enrichment, artistic expression, drop-out prevention, financial literacy, and technical skills.

Family wellness services - since 1994, Ywca's family wellness program (fwp) has provided much-needed health services to the underserved and uninsured individuals of miami-dade and broward counties. The program has served approximately 1,180 individuals by providing clinical breast examinations, annual breast screening mammography, cervical cancer screenings, follow-up appointments, diagnostic exams, health education, case management, and support services in partnership with local healthcare providers. In addition, we provide health education and mental health support through our cancer support groups for those who experienced or are experiencing cancer across miami-dade county. These support groups are conducted in three languages: english, spanish, and creole. The resources of the family wellness program assist in removing economic, language, and insurance barriers to treatment and service. We empower our clients by increasing their awareness about early detection and proactive treatment of developing health risks through education and access to screenings for breast and cervical cancers. Our programs help reduce mortality rates and increase resilience in our clients and their families. Our aim is to empower minority communities by addressing critical health topics through education and awareness activities. By promoting education and sharing valuable resources, we help to improve health outcomes. Ywca has maintained a culturally relevant approach to ensuring that women and their families in South Florida continue to get life-saving care. Court care/kidspace - Ywca court care/kidspace is a human rights response program located in miami-dade and broward county courthouses. Ywca provides service coordination and free, temporary childcare for ages 6 months - 13 years to ensure parents, mainly women, can fully participate in related court proceedings or filings. Maintaining six centers in total; five of the centers are located in miami-dade county and one in broward county. Our trained, qualified Ywca staff supervise children thanks to a partnership between Ywca South Florida and the eleventh judicial circuit of Florida and broward county. Our court care/kidspace centers provide children with a positive and nurturing environment and families with support services; and both with an appropriate and responsive referral system should families have additional needs. Further, Ywca court care/kidspace staff offer referrals for wellness, food, and housing to those in need. Child care programs pivoted to virtual services during family court times to ensure kids in the home remained safe and were not retraumatized while parents participated in virtual court cases. In 2022- 2023, the broward kidspace program served 246 children and families and court care served a total of 221 children and families. Racial & social justice - our office of racial and gender equity advancement continues to lead social justice initiatives and programs throughout miami-dade and broward counties. Our largest initiative, the community justice challenge, was held april 17 - may 15 for the fourth year in a row. The 21-day experience is designed to create dedicated time and space to learn about and build more effective social justice habits. This year's weekly topics were disability, music, housing and mental health. Over 550 individuals participated, in addition to those engaged in our social media content and through op-eds in the miami herald and local television and radio segments. We also held a hands-on workshop during the disability topic week, in partnership with deliver the dream, to give participants an interactive look at how disability affects daily life. The challenge received participation from more than a dozen companies and organizations across South Florida. In addition to our community justice challenge, we engaged our community through our virtual beyond 21 events, including weekly instagram live broadcasts, takeactiontuesday, and monthly all the r.a.g.e. Book club events. The beyond 21 program builds on the success of the challenge and makes subject matter experts available to our community to further the conversation around systemic racism in our country. The Ywca takeactiontuesday broadcasts also provided an opportunity for the community to engage with subject matter experts as well as an opportunity for individuals to share their unique experiences and perspectives with a wider audience through a racial and gender equity lens. In 2022-2023, Ywca was the lead agency for the children's trust's social emotional wellness/racial equity, diversity and inclusion (sew redi) work. Through this initiative, Ywca and its 8 partners across miami-dade county provided sew redi programs and supports to the trust and trust-funded providers who service families and youth. In the first year, Ywca developed/adapted 12 trainings, courses and events, which are being rolled out to the children's trust staff and more than 160 trust-funded agencies, which cumulatively serve nearly 400,000 children and parents across miami- dade county. In fiscal 2022-2023, Ywca held 7 events (including retreats, trainings, and staff learnings) that directly reached nearly 300 individuals across multiple agencies. As part of our lead agency role, Ywca also works with trust leadership and staff on organization-wide sew redi initiatives. Social justice in action programs - from events to community engagements, Ywca's approximately 50 volunteers were committed to serving and supporting social justice and equity. Volunteers assisted with events, shared professional expertise through workshops, packed hygiene kits, provided hands-on help at our locations, and packed and distributed holiday meals and toys.