Category Archives: Uncategorized

We are excited to celebrate Empowerment Program Specialist Sy’Anne Dysart in this month’s staff spotlight. Sy’Anne has been a member of the team for just shy of three years but her involvement with us started when she attended one of our summer groups. She was also familiar with us through the involvement of her grandparents […]

This month we are excited to feature a supporter that has joined alongside our journey for the past 14 years: Maggie Glisan! Maggie first learned about us back in 2010 as an active young professional and through our Sex Trivia and Celebrity Servers Night events. Learning about our mission and work is what has kept […]

This month we are excited to celebrate one of our dedicated volunteers, Carleen Sierra! Carleen first became involved with the YWRC after receiving an assignment in one of her classes to do a community service project. She wanted to volunteer at an organization that directly impacts women and girls and found the YWRC through an […]

Happy New Year’s Eve! Thank you for joining us in solidarity with local girls and young women for another year. Here’s to celebrating the close of 2023 and looking forward to new beginnings in 2024!  At the YWRC, we have had a whirlwind of a year, which has given us the opportunity to refocus, reframe, and […]

This Mental Health Awareness Month, we are spotlighting not only how we support participants’ mental health, but also that of our staff. It’s extremely important for both youth and adults to have access to the resources and skills needed to maintain positive mental health. By now, many of you may be familiar with the scary-but-true […]

April is Child Abuse Prevention and Sexual Assault Awareness month – two areas of trauma that affect participants we serve locally and youth across the country. While we can’t always prevent all abuse from happening, we can provide necessary skills to recognize warning signs, interrupt generational trauma, and empower healthy relationships. As we address how […]

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. This can be a difficult topic to learn about, but it’s important to understand the cultural landscape youth are navigating and how we can help guide them in healthy decision making and self-advocacy. What is considered “dating violence”? Dating violence is more than just physical violence; it can […]

We are pleased to spotlight Bank of America this month for their generous support of the YWRC through the 2022 Neighborhood Champion award. We are honored to receive this award and to be recognized for our work to remove economic barriers and advance economic opportunity for girls and young women in the Greater Des Moines […]

Trigger warning: mentions of domestic, sexual, and dating violence, bullying, suicide, and mental health struggles. The month of October is dedicated to bringing awareness to several important issues YWRC participants and youth in our community face: domestic violence, bullying, and mental health. For this spotlight, we are sharing how our work responds to several challenges […]

Hello, volunteers! I’d like to introduce you to two new YWRC team members. Please help us give a warm welcome to Joyce Levingston and Julia Mason Gray! Joyce is our Senior Program Director and Julia is our Senior Director of Development. You’ll be hearing from Joyce and Julia in the near future for special volunteer […]