Historic Charlotte
An illustrated history of the City of Charlotte and the Mecklenburg County area, paired with the histories of companies, families and organizations that make the region great.
An illustrated history of the City of Charlotte and the Mecklenburg County area, paired with the histories of companies, families and organizations that make the region great.
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Branch was a thriving YWCA component offering<br />
a wide range of community services until<br />
1966, when the Association’s programs were<br />
fully integrated.<br />
The organization also worked to promote<br />
awareness of international affairs for<br />
<strong>Charlotte</strong>ans, spawning the local World Affairs<br />
Council, and presenting lectures from visiting<br />
relief workers and dignitaries. In addition to<br />
raising money to assist the children of Beijing,<br />
the local YWCA provided refuge and<br />
employment for a a Jewish teacher from Poland,<br />
during the time that would later become known<br />
as the Holocaust.<br />
The Association opened a new facility on<br />
Park Road in 1965, providing a sixty-six-bed<br />
residence for women in transition, along with<br />
an indoor pool, exercise and meeting rooms, a<br />
full-service kitchen, chapel, lighted tennis<br />
courts and corporate offices. A full-size gymnasium<br />
was added in 1977.<br />
In 1970 a new facility was erected on the site<br />
of the Association’s building on East Trade<br />
Street. In 1989 an anonymous gift of $1.3<br />
million provided for demolition of this facility<br />
and construction of the first nationally<br />
accredited childcare center in uptown <strong>Charlotte</strong>.<br />
The Uptown Child Development Center<br />
continues as a great community success story.<br />
A century after it’s founding, the YWCA<br />
Central Carolinas continues to respond to the<br />
community’s needs by providing comprehensive<br />
programs for women, children and families. For<br />
example, the Women in Transition Program provides<br />
safe and affordable housing and intensive<br />
support services to meet the needs of single<br />
women who might otherwise be homeless.<br />
Children and youth, a critical priority of the<br />
YWCA, are served in nineteen centers<br />
throughout <strong>Charlotte</strong> and Monroe. YWCA<br />
childcare and after school enrichment<br />
programs serve over 800 children, aged six<br />
weeks through fifteen years, each day. Eightyfive<br />
percent of these children live in public<br />
housing or in fragile neighborhoods.<br />
Thousands of children and adults are<br />
strengthened each year through YWCA<br />
programs including: the early childhood<br />
Family Support Project and Bright Beginnings<br />
program; a Literacy Project pilot; specialized<br />
Support Our Students (SOS) programs for<br />
middle-school youth; and after-school and<br />
camp programs that include science labs,<br />
cultural enrichment activities, recreation,<br />
academic support and mentoring.<br />
In January 2001 the YWCA reopened its<br />
Health & Fitness Center on Park Road with a<br />
full range of offerings for children through<br />
seniors. As it approaches its Centennial<br />
Celebration, the YWCA continues to weave<br />
opportunities for women at all stages of life.<br />
Just as the courageous women who founded<br />
the organization intended, the YWCA has<br />
come to symbolize a refuge—a safe place to<br />
grow and be nurtured.<br />
This publication was made possible by a<br />
contribution from The Harkey Foundation, Inc.,<br />
in honor of Mrs. Elizabeth A. Harkey, YWCA<br />
president 1977-79.<br />
✧<br />
Above: Camp E. W. Young, c. 1948 (left)<br />
and the YWCA Youth Development<br />
Program today (right).<br />
Below: Children benefiting from YWCA’s<br />
Uptown Child Development Centers.<br />
QUALITY OF LIFE<br />
121
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