Power of Good

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE YWCA homeless children," Durham says. empowering women and promoting "ose are businesses we'd like to get peace, justice, freedom and dignity for out of. Less for us is better. Less people all." Its programming targets four in our shelters, less children in our major areas: affordable housing, child homeless child care." care, domestic violence servCreating and staffing services and social justice. CHILDREN ices to tackle those issues As challenging as those READING AT THE YWCA obviously takes money. issues are, the YWCA Providing child During her time at the manages to make a positive care is one of YWCA, Durham says she is difference. In 2012, it the YWCA's core services. most proud of being able to reported providing legal raise social consciousness advocacy services to thouaround the YWCA's issues, and the sands of victims of domestic abuse; funds to deal with them. She offers more than 20,000 days of child care praise for funders, including Alabama and tutoring; tens of thousands of Power, for answering the call. nights of emergency, transitional and "It takes a village to raise a child, permanent housing for adults and chiland it takes capital to raise a village," dren, including those with special Durham says. "Without folks like you needs and physical challenges; thouall, we couldn't have done anything sands of items of clothing, including near what we've done. e power hundreds of prom dresses to economicompany clearly has given us a whole cally disadvantaged girls in area high lot more than energy." schools; and hundreds of holiday gifts Durham has a reputation as a great and clothing through Santa's fundraiser, a role she says she morphed Workshop. into. "Necessity is the mother of inven"I think we've become the town's tion." She says she won't miss "the experts on domestic violence and stresses and strains and spending so many of my waking hours thinking about money." at ability to raise money, and her business sense, are what set Durham apart in the nonprofit world, according to YWCA board member Carla roberson, a residential marketing manager for Alabama Power. "She is just special where nonprofit folks are concerned. She gets it," roberson says. "Her CEO title, instead of executive director, is fitting. She runs the YWCA just like a business." It is a business that has grown dramatically in Durham's 34 years. When she came to YWCA in 1979, it owned the downtown building headquartering the agency, which had "a huge mortgage." Now, she says, the YW owns 15 buildings, most of them dedicated to safe, affordable housing. Many of those buildings are in Woodlawn, site of the YWCA's highest-profile project in recent years. Earlier this year, the YWCA received DurHAM continued on page 4 PowerofGood.com | Fall 2013 3

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