YWCA Calgary is returning to its roots with the unveiling of a brand refresh on Tuesday.
After 10 years of being known as YW Calgary, the move aims to reaffirm its connection to the global YWCA movement, said CEO Talia Bell.
“When people say ‘The Y,’ they usually are referring to the YM, and so we shortened it to the YW,” she said. “We realized we spent a lot of time sharing what that was, and as soon as you say ‘YWCA,’ there was brand recognition. So this was a move to get back to that connection and affiliation to our worldwide YWCA brand.”
Bell said the refresh has been in the works for a while, and brings the brand back to “who we are and who we’ve been for the last 115 years.”
The change is rooted in YWCA Calgary’s updated strategic direction, Stand with Her, which aims to encapsulate the purpose behind the work the organization does.
“It’s really our north star, and it means being there — not ahead of her, not behind her, and with her — and we know that standing with her enables her to be strong,” Bell said.
“For 115 years, we really have been standing with her, and (seeing) how that ripples with her family, with the community, and enabling her to be strong and succeed.”
YWCA Calgary started out in 1910 as an initiative to support women coming to Calgary, at a time when women couldn’t own property.
“Women were coming to Calgary and had no place to stay, and as women weren’t able to find lodging or hotels or rentals or anything like that,” Bell said. “When we started 115 years ago in the community, it really was to support women, and you could say it was to ‘stand with her.’”
Since then, it’s expanded into a network of prevention and intervention supports and services, all aimed at advocating for and empowering women.
One aspect of that work that Bell said she’s particularly excited about is programming geared toward women’s economic prosperity.
“(It’s) been expanding and evolving over the past couple of years . . . and I think we’re going to see a lot more in that space,” she said.
“One of the things we’re looking at is, how do we scale some of our economic prosperity work across our movement in Canada? So we’re currently in talks with our national office to explore what might that look like.”
The new strategic plan, she said, brings clarity and direction to “the depth and breadth and impact” of the work moving forward.
“It’s being able to be really clear on what our purpose is as an organization,” she said. “That work that we deliver is rooted in listening to the people we support, the community that supports us, and ensuring that we are standing with her through whatever situation she might be facing — and we know that that spans many different issues within our community — and that we’re here for her.”