Aurora YWCA ‘thriving’ in new space

The mission of the Aurora YWCA can be summed up in four words: eliminating racism; empowering women.

But what do those words really mean?

“Just because I don’t say a derogatory term doesn’t mean I’m really eliminating racism,” Stacey Caragher, director of women’s services, said. “A lot of people say they understand it, but they really don’t. We need people that understand what that means.”

On the heels of a move from a free-standing building to office space in a near east side community center, YWCA employees are taking a step back to define what it means to eliminate racism and empower women in Aurora.

With many social service organizations serving the community, the YWCA doesn’t want to duplicate efforts, Caragher said. But in the areas of financial training, computer skills, job skills and language training, Aurora women still may have unmet needs.

“We’re trying to figure out where do the women in this community need to be empowered,” Caragher said.

The organization is looking to expand its volunteer base and bring programs about racial justice and gender equality to other groups, said Linda Ireland, president and CEO.

Already, the YWCA runs after-school programs at two Aurora elementary schools — Hermes on the city’s east side and McCleery on the west — that together serve more than 90 students, said Helane Aghayere, director of youth and teen programs and racial justice.

The YWCA also offers partial food reimbursements for qualifying child-care providers and provides women’s empowerment programs to residents at Lifespring Center, one of several ministries run by Wayside Cross.

“We aren’t having people come to us; we’re coming to them,” Ireland said. “We’re able to do more outreach.”

This is a marked change from how the YWCA operated when it occupied a now-demolished building at 201 N. River St., she said. During those times, the group would host visitors in its building for programs such as a child-care service, Ireland said.

But that model wasn’t working, and the YWCA no longer needed its own space, selling the River Street building to the city for $6 million last April.

“We don’t need that open space area that we had at the old Y,” said Abby Schuler, past-chairwoman of the YWCA’s board of directors and Ward 1 alderman. “We want to take the message out to the community.”

The YWCA is leasing its office space in the Fred Rodgers Community Center from the city, while the city works to build a parking lot at the River Street site. The former YWCA building was demolished in early March.

“I think some people have the misconception that when the building closed, we weren’t here anymore in the community,” Ireland said. “We are still here. We’re still thriving.”