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A resolution recognizing the 125th anniversary of the YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee.
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WHEREAS, YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all; and
WHEREAS, the Young Women’s Christian Association branch in Nashville was founded in 1898 in three rooms over the Gartner & Maden Millinery Shop at 227 North Summer Street, formerly 5th Avenue and now Rep. John Lewis Way; and
WHEREAS, in 1909, the YWCA broke ground on a new building on Vine Street, now 7th Avenue. At the time, there were no integrated buildings in Nashville, but the YWCA leadership was committed to extending programs to African American women; and
WHEREAS, the National YWCA funded the Blue Triangle Branch specifically for African-American women and purchased property for the branch at 5th and Gay streets in 1921; and
WHEREAS, the YWCA branches became a haven for women and girls in the following decades by offering a place for recreation, diversion, food, training, and fellowship; and
WHEREAS, the leaders of the Blue Triangle Branch played key roles in the women’s suffrage movement and demanded that Congress pass anti-lynching laws; and
WHEREAS, the Downtown YWCA and the Blue Triangle Branch unified to become a single YWCA in 1964, but the organization did not become fully integrated until 1967; and
WHEREAS, the YWCA began its efforts to provide emergency facilities to women referred by the Rape and Crisis Center in 1974 and later opened the Try Angle House for troubled teenage girls in 1976; and
WHEREAS, the organization established CABLE and additional career and life planning programs as it moved into its facilities at Woodmont Boulevard in 1978; and
WHEREAS, YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee opened the city’s first domestic violence shelter in 1980 and later opened the Weaver Domestic Violence Center, the largest emergency shelter of its kind in Tennessee, in 2000; and
WHEREAS, YWCA became the Nashville affiliate of Girls, Inc., and has served more than 7,000 girls in Metro Nashville Public Schools; and
WHEREAS, YWCA launched a number of initiatives and programs to end domestic violence and violence against women, whether through establishing a 24-hour crisis hotline, providing an approach to identify high-risk victims of domestic violence, and creating an initiative to educate and engage with men and boys to change the cultural surrounding violence against women;
WHEREAS, the organization opened Abbie’s Safe Home in 2021, a state-of-the-art pet shelter that allows a place for pets of domestic violence victims to stay with their loved ones while at the Weaver Domestic Violence Center; and
WHEREAS, YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee has been a catalyst for powerful change in this community by creating a better quality of life for women, working to eliminate violence and racism, and speaking for those who need someone to advocate for them; and
WHEREAS, it is fitting and proper that the Metropolitan Council celebrates the 125th anniversary of YWCA Nashville Middle Tennessee and recognizes the organization’s evolving mission and efforts to support women and girls in Nashville and Davidson County.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY:
Section 1. That the Metropolitan County Council hereby goes on record as recognizing the 125th anniversary of YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee.
Section 2. This Resolution shall take effect from and after its adoption, the welfare of The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County requiring it.