YWCA Metro Vancouver was founded in 1897 and incorporated as a society in 1905. It is a non-profit, membership- and volunteer-based charitable organization. Originally formed by members of two Vancouver charitable organizations, the Women’s Improvement League of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and the Anglican Girls’ Friendly Society, the organization’s initial mandate concerned providing relief work. However, the four women who established YWCA Metro Vancouver—Skinner, Banfield, Macaulay, and Southcott—quickly expanded the mandate to more fully support young women’s independence. The YWCA has always worked to fulfill its mandate through integrated services. Today, its mission is to advance gender equity.

YWCA Metro Vancouver is a local organization participating in the broader YWCA movement. Started in England in 1855, the YWCA movement includes all YWCA organizations. The YWCA movement operates at three levels: local, national, and world. As a local YWCA, YWCA Metro Vancouver is an independent entity, governed by its own Board of Directors following its own mission statement. Alongside other local Canadian YWCAs, YWCA Metro Vancouver is a member of the YWCA of Canada. Founded in 1893, the YWCA of Canada is a national YWCA that serves as coordinating body for all local YWCAs in Canada. Delegates from local YWCAs attend National Conventions every four years to elect the National Board of the YWCA of Canada and collaborate on policy and priorities. The YWCA of Canada has been a member of World YWCA since 1895. Founded in 1894, the World YWCA coordinates and connects national YWCAs globally. The YWCA of Canada elects Canadian delegates to attend the World YWCA Council every four years to determine policies and priorities for the World YWCA.

Although a member of the YWCA of Canada, YWCA Metro Vancouver is an autonomous entity, with organizational policy implemented by members via the elected Board of Directors. Elected annually from and by YWCA Metro Vancouver members, the Board of Directors is responsible for managing the affairs of the full organization, including policy- and priority-setting, strategic planning, budget management, and decision-making based on committee recommendations. The Board works with the Leadership Team, originally known as the Management Team, to accomplish this work. The Leadership Team is composed of key YWCA staff. The Board also recruits and employs the CEO, or the Executive Director before 1998, who acts as Head of Staff. The CEO partners with the Chair of the Board, called the President before 2002. YWCA Metro Vancouver staff members report to their supervisors who report to the CEO, committee members report to chair-people who report to the Chair of the Board, the CEO and Chair partner and report to the Board, and the Board is responsible to the membership.

YWCA Metro Vancouver has changed its priorities, policies, and name according to the identified needs of its membership. Founded as the Vancouver Young Women’s Christian Association, YWCA Metro Vancouver’s name has been through several iterations and meanings. One concerns the “C” present in “YWCA.” In 1965, the Vancouver YWCA brought forth a proposal to the YWCA of Canada for membership to be open to anyone regardless of religion. Four years later, this proposal was brought up by the Vancouver and Winnipeg YWCAs, and officially adopted. Although founded as a Christian organization, YWCA Metro Vancouver membership is now open to any who wish to join, regardless of gender or religion. YWCA Metro Vancouver identifies as a secular organization, but has kept the “C” in its name due to the influence of Christianity in its legacy. Additionally, in 2011 the organization changed its name to YWCA Metro Vancouver to “reflect [its] commitment serving communities throughout the region spanning Burnaby, Surrey, the Tri-cities, Maple Ridge, Langley/Aldergrove, Abbotsford, New Westminster, Richmond and North Vancouver” (“About the YWCA: Our Story”).

YWCA Metro Vancouver uses an integrated service model, considering the context of Vancouver and characteristics of the community served to inform its work. Early services included housing, an Employment Bureau, and Traveller’s Aid aimed at job-seeking young women new to Vancouver. Additional programs and services were influenced by priorities regularly identified by the organization. To provide these young women with social opportunities and improve their employment prospects, the YWCA began its fitness programs and adult education courses in the 1910s. Due to the outbreak and aftermath of World War I, in the 1920s YWCA provided counselling and sewing services for military hospitals, expanded its Health Education department, housed soldiers and their families, and assisted in resettling orphans, refugees, and soldiers’ families. The organization shifted its programming from a focus on Bible studies and church-going to personal and professional development programs and social and educational clubs. In response to the Great Depression in the 1930s, the YWCA focused its services towards providing affordable housing to homeless women and offering classes and training in marketable skills to assist women’s employability. Simultaneously, an emerging focus on international engagement, teenage programming, and leadership training in the 1930s led to Hi-Y programs for high schoolers and the founding in 1938 of the “Chinese Department” that would later become the Pender Y. A branch of the YWCA addressing Vancouver Chinatown’s community needs, Pender Y ran from 1944 to 1978. In the 1940s, the YWCA as a national movement focused on accommodating soldiers and their visiting relatives, as well as supporting women assuming additional responsibilities while male family members served overseas. After the war, the YWCA developed programs to advocate for women to keep their jobs and responsibilities when faced with the societal pressure to relinquish them. From the 1940s to 1960s, further developing YWCA programs and services were decentralized to branch YWCAs, including the West Vancouver Community Association and Vancouver East Community Y, among others. The YWCA responded to the Baby Boom of the 1950s by gearing its services to help mothers at every stage of motherhood. By the 1960s and 1970s, the YWCA identified priorities including leadership development, financial development, and social action. The organization became more vocal on Canadian and international social issues, prioritized transient youth and domestic abuse survivors, and expanded its employment guidance, counselling services, and mentorship programming. Munroe House, Canada’s first long-stay transition home for women and their children escaping abuse, opened in 1979. In the 1980s and 1990s, the YWCA identified childcare for teenage, working, and/or single mothers as an unfulfilled need and opened several childcare centres. Since the early 2000s, YWCA Metro Vancouver has focused on affordable housing, employment programs, ending gender-based violence, fitness and education, legal supports, and universal childcare. Several Vancouver-based community service organizations have found their beginnings as YWCA Metro Vancouver services before separating and becoming independent, including MOSAIC and Big Sisters.

YWCA Metro Vancouver continues to be an important and active part of its community.

References:
“About the YWCA: Our Story.” YWCA Metro Vancouver, 2023, https://ywcavan.org/our-story.