Tag Archives: spotlight

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 […]

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 […]

This month we are pleased to celebrate longtime supporter, Shannon Bielski! Shannon has been a consistent presence with the YWRC and we know we can absolutely count on her to see each project through. “My first involvement with YWRC was 15 years ago, when I attended my first Polk County Women Attorneys Basket Auction to benefit […]

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 […]

This month we are celebrating the three interns who joined our team this summer (2022): Carla, Mary Carmen, and Tania! These three helped with a wide variety of Empowerment and Young Moms projects while earning educational credit and experience. Mary Carmen supported all of the Young Moms groups at the YWRC (Childbirth Education, Postpartum, and […]

This month we are excited to celebrate one of our most active, dedicated, and long-term volunteers, Karen Henderson. Karen has done it all throughout the past 11 years. She served as a member of our Board of Directors, volunteered as part of our gala committee, provided cookie decorating supplies for participant holiday parties, hosted a […]

This month’s spotlight feature has played an active role with the YWRC for the last eight (!) years! We are thrilled to show our appreciation for Amanda Young through this Board Spotlight. Amanda worked with our staff and the interim executive director in 2014 and 2015 on team building and role clarity training and exercises, […]

This month we are excited to feature one of our most dedicated community members, Shannissy Catron. Shannissy has been a doula with the YWRC since 2017 and has played a significant role in the program. One of the things we appreciate most about Shannissy is her ability to see participants as unique individuals and highlight […]

As we kick off a new year, we are excited to spotlight our team member Susana Martinez. Although she just joined our team a few months ago, Susana hit the ground running and has already initiated and completed several projects to help our organization run smoothly. “I started working in October 2021, so it’s not […]

This month we’re excited to celebrate an important member of the YWRC community, Ka’Meka Lowery. For more than twenty years, Ka’Meka has supported both children and young adults to have access to education and resources to be successful. She has partnered with the YWRC in various roles throughout the years, her most recent role being […]