The Y USA

We’ve been engaged with the Y USA for about six years. As the largest social service provider in the country, for the Y to understand and begin to undo racism can create a sizable shift in the attitudes and programs being perpetrated on poor communities and communities of color. The door can be opened to liberated gatekeeping and a shift in power. 

As we moved to the virtual sphere, the Y opened their doors to be one of the first groups to participate over Zoom. They brought together three cohorts of social service providers from all over the country: 75 people who went through the Undoing Racism process over five weeks. They’ve been holding monthly spaces for people to come together to further their learning and strategize about how to continue integrating anti-racist organizing principles into their work. 

To Learn from History, the Y has documented their relationship with race and racism since their founding in 1844, recognizing that they were created to serve middle class white families. When we organize, it is important to know who came before us and whose legacy we are continuing. For the Y, there has been organizing throughout their long history:

• In 1931, the World’s Conference of YMCAs meets for the first time in the U.S. and delegates call for an end to segregation in the YMCA. 
• In 1942, the Black Director’s Conference calls for a commission to study discrimination in the movement. 
• In 1967, after integration resulted in a mass disinvestment in YMCA’s in Black communities, a conference was held by “BAN-W secretaries” / Black and Non-White Secretaries to confront racism in the YMCA.

To build their base and organize more people into their efforts for racial and social transformation, African American CEOs of The Y held a Town Hall on Unlearning Racism on July 1, 2020. Now Vice President Kamala Harris spoke alongside our Interim Executive Director, Dr. Kimberley Richards, as well as others. You can see the Town Hall in entirety here, and view Dr. Richards’ remarks here.