YWCA Hartford celebrates 145th annual meeting

Hartford, CT- Almost 100 people gathered at the Pond House in West Hartford on January 29th for YWCA Hartford Region's 145th Annual Meeting. Keynote speaker, State Senator Beth Bye, addressed the Annual Meeting's theme Women Driving Change. She spoke passionately on a variety of women's issues including: pay equity, lack of women in leadership roles and access to high quality childcare.  "We have gender issues in our culture. And, like racial disparities, it is very difficult to have a discussion without people getting defensive," Senator Bye said. She concluded by encouraging attendees to stop being too polite and start the gender conversation in their communities. 

The 2012 Creating Opportunities Awards were presented to organizations and individuals who support YWCA's mission of eliminating racism and empowering women.  This year's Corporate Partner award recipient was Bank of America, for their generosity and commitment to the mission of YWCA through both philanthropic giving and employee support. Dean Andrews, Senior VP of Corporate Social Responsibility at Bank of America said, "YWCA and Bank of America have a common goal, we all want to help women." The Community Partner Award was given to The Fund for Greater Hartford for their commitment to transforming today's young women into tomorrow's leaders. Wendy Davis' received the Volunteer award for her commitment to the mission of YWCA and her inspiring leadership of the YWLC Summer Institute. The Leadership Award was presented to JoAnn Price for her leadership and commitment to the mission of YWCA.

"Without our board members, our donors, our program funders, the elected officials who support our work and our business partners, we would not be able to have the impact that we have," YWCA Hartford Region CEO Deborah Ullman said.

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