Kym Zest is returning to the YWCA Women’s Triathlon as Race Director! In her five-year break from the race she pursued other athletic achievements, started her own coaching business, and had a baby. Now, she’s back to serve the triathlon community, as it has been her home base since 1997.

During the current school year and into summer 2024, YWCA Girls & Youth will serve upwards of 850 youth in Beacons afterschool programming. Among them are 450 students at YWCA’s new Beacons Learning Center: South High School!

In December, YWCA Minneapolis partnered with Delta Dental of Minnesota to get toys for our children. Each child made a paper ornament and wrote their name and one item they requested on the back of the ornament, and our staff passed these along to the Delta Dental of Minnesota team. Through Delta’s holiday “Give a Smile” Toy Drive, they gifted 150 children from our Early Childhood Education centers (ages 3 - 10 years old) a present!

YWCA Minneapolis Early Childhood Education equips children with the knowledge and skills to reach their potential. By delivering the utmost care, all our teachers create lasting impressions on children as they learn to grow with YWCA Minneapolis and beyond.

This year’s It’s Time to Talk: Forums on Race™ event will be one for the books — we are expanding to a half-day summit featuring keynote presenter Dr. Marc Lamont Hill and breakout sessions with local activist presenters Dr. Joi Lewis and Kyle "Guante" Tran Myhre.

As the largest all-women triathlon in the country, the race attracted participants ages 11 to 80+ with varying levels of experience, diverse backgrounds and powerful stories.

We asked YWCA Minneapolis employees to identify their favorite Black-owned businesses and organizations in Minnesota to uplift National Black Business Month. The following is a list we compiled from their recommendations.

Over five days, ten of our Girls Inc. Eureka! youth put their science, engineering and creative minds to work and created milk carton floats!

YWCA Minneapolis Beacons Summer Program and Strong Fast Fit (SFF) collaborated with GoSolar! Kidz this summer! They learned about solar energy, how to cultivate it, its different uses and how to store it.

Leading architects of "playspace equity," KABOOM!, transformed our play area at YWCA Midtown. And this summer, we've been soaking up all the fun the space has offered our little learners.

Celebrating our preschoolers’ graduation is an essential step in their move to kindergarten. YWCA Minneapolis Early Childhood Education centers have been like a second home for many of our little learners.

Last year, The Posse Foundation partnered with YWCA Minneapolis Girls and Youth Department. The foundation is a national organization identifying public high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership potential who traditional college selection processes may overlook. This allows students to pursue personal and academic excellence by placing them in supportive, multicultural teams — "Posses" — of ten students.

One year ago on June 24, the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the historic Roe v. Wade case protecting the right to an abortion under the Constitution.

Our racial justice learning manager created a learning guide for employees and board members of YWCA Minneapolis for the upcoming Juneteenth holiday. We're sharing it with you now as fundamental knowledge, a sequel to last year's Juneteenth blog.

Our country was founded on the genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans. When the forefathers of this nation wrote "liberty and justice for all," the "all" did not include the surviving Native population and enslaved Africans. Our country was founded upon the complete dehumanization of Black and Brown people, a history, a philosophical phenomenon, we have not yet reconciled or recovered from.

Our community partner, Diaper Bank of Minnesota, is an organization that provides diapers to families in need. They also work to increase awareness of the need for diapers for families and advocates for better conditions for babies in need of diapers.

Meet Olaitan Olanrewaju (Ola), our Capitol Pathways intern and a third-year University of Minnesota student studying Strategic Communications and English Literature! The Minnesota Capitol Pathways Program opens access to policymaking and public service to the next generation of leaders who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).