YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF

YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF YW Boston2025-08-25T05:01:03-04:00 Building a more inclusive Boston starts today. Together we thrive.Together we can create inclusive environments where women, people of color, and especially women of color, can thrive. Learn MoreFor over a century, YW Boston has worked in Boston to eliminate racism and empower women.We do that through our industry-leading consulting and training services, leadership development program, youth development work, and through advocacy work focused on reducing barriers to equity in Massachusetts. Our work focuses on the power that comes when people work together. By harnessing our collective power, we know both individuals and organizations can positively impact policies, practices, and behaviors. Learn about our workOur four areas of focusOur experience tells us that impact is achieved through focus. That is why we concentrate our efforts and services in these four key areas. Leadership DevelopmentThrough LeadBoston we equip mid-to senior-level professionals with knowledge, skills, and network to lead inclusively within their organizations and communities. LEARN MORE > Consulting & TrainingOur Consulting and Training services meet organizations where they are to create custom solutions that lead to more equitable and inclusive workplaces. LEARN MORE > Youth DevelopmentF.Y.R.E. empowers middle-school girls and gender-expansive youth of color to make change in their communities and carry inclusive values into the future. LEARN MORE > AdvocacyOur Advocacy work focuses on building coalitions, driving policy change, and influencing legislation that improves the lives of women and BIPOC communities. LEARN MORE > We know driving change drives business67%of candidates want to join a diverse team. 30%Higher revenue per employee generated by companies with inclusive talent practices. 70%More likely to capture new markets as a diverse company. Change can’t wait.$30.5B PER YEARThe cost of turnover for companies without inclusive practices. Sources: Deloitte, McKinsey & Co. Being in F.Y.R.E. makes me happy to open up about serious topics. I feel heard and seen. Genna Seventh-grader, Boston Latin Academy LeadBoston has been perhaps the most meaningful experience of my professional life to date. To take my personal passion and insights around diversity, equity, and inclusion and be enriched by a cohort of like-minded leaders has expanded both my understanding and my ability to drive change across my spheres of influence. Austyn Ellese Mayfield LeadBoston Class of 2022 One benefit [of our work with YW Boston] has been that people are more prepared and willing to engage in courageous conversations across the board, even when it’s not related to race, racism, injustice. Employee, Advocates While for many years we have set annual goals, the introduction of the [YW Boston] diversity, equity, and inclusion action plan put an emphasis on the importance of our organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion work and we asked each person to include at least one diversity, equity, and inclusion-related goal in their individual goals in order to hold us accountable. Government social services worker [YW Boston’s] program offered a longer, deeper commitment that we felt would better enable us for lasting change. We wanted to pursue a long-term view that helped us build a framework to bring our full staff, artists, and board deeper into these conversations. Bradley Vernatter General Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Boston Lyric Opera Of the many insights I gained in LeadBoston, the most essential one may be this: that significant change will only come when leaders break across the artificial boundaries of ‘sector’ and ‘field’ and instead name the entrenched boundaries of race and class that affect people’s lives every day. Colin Stokes LeadBoston Class of 2018