Series documents YWCA Metro Vancouver’s social and community service programs. Among the YWCA’s service focus areas are: affordable housing provided by the YWCA Hotel/Residence, Housing Registry, YWCA housing communities, and short-term and transitional houses; counselling; daycare and early learning; and employment guidance. Although available to members, these services are targeted at individuals, groups, and families identified by the YWCA as vulnerable and facing systemic social and economic barriers. The YWCA has geared its services towards: disabled individuals and their families, homeless youth, immigrant women, single mothers, survivors of violence and/or abuse, and teenage mothers, among others. Activities represented include: setting up and planning particular services; managing, running, and evaluating those services; and communicating with current and potential clients about services offered.

Records consist of reports, studies, meeting minutes, memoranda, correspondence, publications, and other material arising from the YWCA’s planning, evaluation, and management of its social and community services.

Series encompasses YWCA Metro Vancouver’s programming for YWCA members and YWCA program participants. Activities represented include the planning, promotion, operation, documentation, and evaluation of programs.

Records consist of programs, reports, brochures, photographs, meeting minutes, and other material arising from the management of YWCA programs.

Series is arranged in three subseries: 1. Fitness and adult education; 2. YaWaCa; and 3. General programming.

Series consists of photographs and other material maintained by YWCA Metro Vancouver in a separate physical arrangement from its other records. The series features: staff, volunteers, members, and clients participating in YWCA services, programming, and events; headshots and profiles of YWCA personnel; the interiors, exteriors, and amenities of YWCA buildings and facilities; slide presentations of YWCA images; and compilations of photographs, both original and copies, for YWCA Metro Vancouver history research. These photographs were likely taken for a variety of purposes, including publicity, internal administrative use, progress reports, and general documentation of activities.

Records include photographs, negatives, slides, photograph albums, and other graphic materials maintained by the YWCA separately from other formats of material.

Series encompasses material created as YWCA Metro Vancouver conducts activities to gain public awareness and drive community engagement. Activities represented include communications, product marketing, event planning, and compiling and presenting YWCA Metro Vancouver histories.

Records consist of newsletters, programs, brochures, videocassettes, audiocassettes, photographs, and other material arising from YWCA Metro Vancouver managing and communicating its image and to drive community engagement.

Series is arranged in three subseries: 1. Communications and marketing; 2. Events; and 3. YWCA Metro Vancouver history.

YWCA Metro Vancouver engages in fundraising from the community on several fronts: general, ongoing fundraising for the organization as a whole; fundraising for specific services and programs; events put on with the main mission of fundraising; and Capital Campaigns to fund large-scale building renovations, refurbishment, and/or purchases. Material in this series arises from YWCA Metro’s fundraising campaigns, fundraising events, and donor relations.

Records consist of reports, correspondence, memoranda, donor lists, publications, presentations, and other records arising from planning, publicizing, and carrying out fundraising activities.

YWCA Metro Vancouver maintains relationships with and memberships in affiliated Y and community service organizations. Series documents YWCA Metro Vancouver’s engagement with these organizations via: participation in their meetings and conventions; sending representatives to stand for the organization on committees and commissions; receipt of the organizations’ disseminated materials including annual reports, occasional reports, and newsletters; and correspondence.

Records include: reports, meeting minutes, memoranda, publications, and other records from YWCA Metro Vancouver’s engagement with affiliated Y and community service organizations.

Series is arranged into four subseries: 1. British Columbia community service organizations; 2. YWCA of Canada and local Canadian YWCAs; 3. World YWCA and international YWCAs; and 4. YMCAs.

YWCA Metro Vancouver entwines advocacy with its social and community services, programming, and other functions. Advocacy emerged as a distinct function of YWCA Metro Vancouver in the 1960s, as the organization began to involve itself more vocally with social issues and public affairs relevant to its services. YWCA Metro Vancouver began allocating committees to coordination of social issues within the organization in the early 1970s. After the YWCA of Canada disseminated its Social Action Platform in 1971, YWCA Metro Vancouver formed a Social Concerns Committee that operated from 1972 to the late 1970s. This committee coordinated social concerns for the YWCA by undertaking studies for the Board of Directors, planning programs and newsletter pieces pertinent to contemporary social issues, and generally encouraging groups within the organization to become socially involved. In 1980, the Social Issues Committee was created to survey members on contemporary social issues. As a result of that survey, in 1982 the Social Action Committee formed as a committee of the YWCA Board of Directors to provide a stronger central coordinating function for social issues. The committee studied, researched, and monitored issues; collected background material relevant to those issues; formulated policy statements; gave advice to the Board and staff on social action; and regularly identified and reassessed priority issues to membership. The Social Action Committee was discontinued in 1995. YWCA Metro Vancouver YWCA has involved itself in advocacy via these committees, task forces on Board-identified and prioritized social issues, and collaboration with other advocacy-based and community service groups in Vancouver.

Material in this series arises from the business of the Social Concerns, Social Issues, and Social Action Committees; task forces struck by the Board of Directors to research and report on issues identified as of priority concern; and collaboration on women’s issues between YWCA Metro Vancouver and other advocacy-based and community service groups in Vancouver.

Records consist of reports, meeting minutes, reference material, memoranda, correspondence, media clippings, and other material arising from YWCA Metro Vancouver’s involvement in contemporary social issues as identified by the organization.

Series documents the organizational administration of YWCA Metro Vancouver. Activities represented include: executive-level meetings, evaluation of programs and services, dissemination of organizational policy, management of the organization’s finances, administration of staff and volunteers, and facility operations.

Records consist of meeting minutes, reports, memoranda, correspondence, financial statements, and other material arising from the administrative operations of the YWCA.

Series is arranged in five subseries: 1. Policy and planning records; 2. Financial records; 3. Personnel management records; 4. Property and facilities management records; 5. Executive-level meeting minutes.