At the YWCA Quad Cities, leadership is looking a little younger these days, and that’s exactly the point.
The newly created Young Women’s Advisory Council (YWAC) is made up of local women, aged 18-25 years old, who want to create change in their community. This council isn’t just advising, it’s actively shaping YWCA Quad Cities programming by bringing a younger perspective to the table.
Normally, nonprofit boards are made up of those who have a lot of workforce experience and are in the later stages of their careers. YWCA Quad Cities is flipping that Script. By involving younger women in decision-making and leadership, the YWCA is creating a pathway to leadership and fostering fresh and relevant insight.
Allowing a younger generation to have a voice also brings a unique perspective that resonates with youth.
“This program allows for those who are closer to the age of our youth to help shape programming through their worldview,” said Schaefer.
Their first initiative? Teaching children about healthy relationships.
Early into their meetings, the council identified a need. Many children lack access to foundational lessons about boundaries, respect, and self-worth, so they set out to do something about it. They are bringing age-appropriate lessons on relationship-building directly to students in YWCA’s childcare program and after-school program, ThePlace2B.
The program includes four sessions that focus on building the foundations of healthy relationships. The programming is provided by Advocates for Youth, and the topics include:
- Respect for All – Understanding that everyone deserves kindness and consideration
- My Space, Your Space – Teaching physical and emotional boundaries.
- Feeling Safe – Exploring what it means to feel safe in friendships, family, and school.
- Teasing, Harassment & Bullying – Helping kids identify harmful behaviors and build tools to respond.
The sessions go beyond classroom instruction; they plant seeds of empowerment and hopefully break cycles and build confidence.
The ultimate goal would be for the youth to recognize their self-worth and understand what healthy relationships look like.
“When children grow up in environments where respect, safety, and boundaries aren’t the norm, they often don’t hold others to a healthy standard,” says Schaefer, Executive Director of the YWCA’s Empowerment Center. “This is no fault of their own, but if we can step in and provide these guidelines and standards, we are able to empower youth in new ways and break cycles.”
The women of the YWAC are creating change that could ripple across generations. And in doing so, they’re proving that leadership doesn’t have to wait. It starts right now.