CEO Update - Fall 2023
Hello and thank you for reading our Fall/Winter 2023 Contact Newsletter.
As usual, we have been hard at work at YWCA Metro Vancouver delivering programs and advocating for fair and just communities. Our staff never cease to impress me with their hard work and dedication, while constantly pushing to make the world a better place.
It is in this spirit that we began work on our forthcoming Strategic Plan earlier this year. I knew when I joined the organization in spring 2022 that this would be an exciting task. (Full disclosure: I love strategic planning.) My goal was to listen to the diverse people who make up the entirety of the YWCA community – board members, staff, program participants, donors and other collaborators – to truly understand where we are and what we are capable of.
The process has given us a clear understanding of the rich scope of our work and what our strengths are. We have learned more about the current gaps in services, highlighting opportunities to reach underserved community members with innovative and responsive programming. And we identified what more we need to do to be an inclusive organization, including facing our own complicity in colonialism.
After many rounds of feedback and revisions, we decided on three goals, one for each pillar that upholds the YWCA: programs and services, advocacy and our people and systems. The Strategic Plan will also include our commitments, strategies and the outcomes we aspire to achieve. It’s been an invigorating process, and I can’t wait to share the final work with you at the start of 2024.
If that were all we’ve been working on, I’d say it was a lot. But YWCA staff have also launched new employment programs, celebrated Indigenous cultures through art, song and dance, moved forward with building new safe and affordable housing, and are raising awareness on important issues such as the prevalence of concussions that women experience because of violence by an intimate partner.
This work that we do, that you are a critical part of through your support, brings up a range of emotions – gratitude, concern and inspiration are just a few. What I’m reminded of again and again is that in the face of challenges, we are always stronger together.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to build a world that is equitable and just.
Erin Seeley,
CEO, YWCA Metro Vancouver
