Elevate: Celebrating 150 Years of Helping Women Rise

In 1870, seven women joined together to ask of themselves and of the Dayton community what they could do to “elevate women in our midst.” Their response became YWCA Dayton — and we’ve been helping women rise ever since. As part of the oldest and largest women’s organization in the world, YWCA Dayton has been at the forefront for 15 decades — from opening the first YWCA branch for African American women and girls (1889) to being the second YWCA to open a domestic violence shelter (1977). Thank you for being On a Mission with us. We are so proud to celebrate our sesquicentennial year with you!