Published July 2003

From shelter to jobs, YWCA lends a hand

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

As the director of housing for YWCA’s Pathways for Women program, Mary Anne Dillon has many client success stories to tell.

Stories of women who arrived at the Lynnwood facility facing financial and domestic upheaval, often with nowhere else to go, and who “found their voice” in the process of putting their lives back together.

“We don’t give them the voice. They just learn that they have one and that people are going to listen and they they’re going to be respected when they use it,” said Dillon of the program that provides emergency and transitional housing for single women with children, family and mental-health counseling, and life-skills classes.

“The common thread to all of our programs is intensive, home-based case management,” Dillon said of Pathways’ housing clients. “... So they get that case management one time a week when they’re meeting with a case manager, who talks to them about what their dreams are, what their goals are.”

Clients also are offered parenting, relationship and budgeting classes; support groups; and access to Pathways’ onsite legal clinic.

“Our mission is to provide an opportunity for women to become self-sufficient, to provide a place for women to explore their own strengths, to find or take back their power,” Dillon said.

She remembers one client in particular who took back her own power, a woman battling a substance-abuse problem and whose children had been removed from her care by the state.

“But then she made that change, that critical change where she was ready to take back her life,” Dillon said. “And a year and three months later, she has her kids back, she has a good job in a nonprofit, she has been clean and sober for two years, and she’s a leader in her community.”

Snohomish County Business Journal/ KIMBERLY HILDEN Volunteer Elizabeth Turner tidies up a rack of clothing at the YWCA’s Working Wardrobe in Everett, a place where homeless and low-income women can go for work-appropriate clothing. Turner and other members of the Mill Creek Women’s Club spend time each week at the facility, helping Working Wardrobe clients make their selections.

In 2001, 377 homeless mothers and their children found shelter through Pathways, just one of the programs administered locally by the nonprofit YWCA of Seattle-King County-Snohomish County.

Other YWCA programs focus on employment assistance. One such program, Displaced Homemakers, helps those who have spent 10 or more years as a full-time homemaker transition into the workplace.

The program includes 58 hours of job readiness instruction held at various venues throughout the county as well as job placement assistance, and information and referral services.

It’s designed for people ““who all of a sudden find themselves having to be the breadwinner,” said Luanne Kunz, who runs another of the county YWCA’s programs, the Working Wardrobe.

Located in the YWCA Snohomish County Regional Center in Everett, Working Wardrobe is a place where homeless and low-income women in the community can go if they are in need of work attire.

Clients often are referred to the facility by staff of the state Department of Social and Health Services or local WorkSource offices as well as Edmonds and Everett community colleges, Kunz said.

“Women can come in by appointment by calling here or the Pathways office,” she said, noting that the Wardrobe operates from 1 to 7 p.m. on Thursdays.

On their arrival, women are assisted in their selection of three to four outfits, from shoes and skirts to hair accessories and jackets — all of which are free to the clients.

“Sometimes we cry here — the women get overwhelmed with the clothes that they get,” Kunz said, noting that each month the Working Wardrobe serves between 60 and 75 women.

Staffed by volunteers, the Working Wardrobe relies on donations from the community to keep its inventory of professional, working attire stocked.

“We ask that (the clothing) be gently used and cleaned before it’s brought in,” Kunz said, adding that season-appropriate items are desired, as clothing space is limited.

Clothing donations can be made from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at YWCA’s Lynnwood and Everett locations, she added.

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