Join Our Team!

Join a team of dynamic, passionate and hardworking women dedicated to making Missoula a safe and welcoming place for everyone. 

Pathways Clinical Coordinator
The Pathways Clinical Coordinator is responsible for providing clinical supervision and expertise to the YWCA staff and volunteers. Specifically, this position will oversee the Sexual Assault Services and the Support Group program. Additionally, the Clinical Coordinator will supervise and train graduate students to provide clinical services, offer clinical services to YWCA clients. Application deadline is May 27. For full job description, visit our website. 

Secret Seconds Thrift Stores Clerk

We are seeking a part-time store clerk to work in our two thrift stores moving merchandise and displays and providing excellent customer service. Must be friendly and be able to learn and communicate about YWCA programs. Candidates must also have basic math skills, be able to lift at least 40 pounds, have current driver's license and reliable transportation. Previous retail experience is helpful. The store clerk will work weekends and varied weekdays; work hours are between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., 33 hours per week. Wage is $8.00 per hour. For full job description, visit our website. 

AmeriCorps VISTA Position

Ada's Place
YWCA seeks a VISTA to address the community issues of homelessness and domestic violence. The goal of the first VISTA Project is completion of an assessment of the Transitional Housing Program which was developed and administered during the first and second year of the project. Completion of the assessment will lead to the creation of procedures and practices to fill some of the identified gaps in services. The VISTA will also continue efforts to secure resources to support expansion of the transitional housing program. The VISTA member will conduct focus groups to improve the Transitional Housing (TH) program, give outreach presentations regarding YWCA Missoula services, write grant applications and reports, and measures to assure sustainability of the program improvements. These efforts will allow YWCA of Missoula to reach one of their goals of reducing poverty by empowering women and children in the community, breaking the cycle of violence, and creating a safe and welcoming community for all. Visit the AmeriCorps website to learn more. 

Posted by Elizabeth Harrison, communications manager

A Crisis of a Different Sort

There's nothing like the smell of sewage wafting from the basement to start a cold Tuesday morning at our confidential domestic violence shelter. When a pipe burst in the shelter’s back yard recently, Pathways staff members had to manage a crisis of a different kind: the possibility that there may be no running water for residents while repairs were made at the shelter. 

 The children's office in the basement of the shelter got an unexpected facelift after a pipe burst.

While plumbers were able to restore the running water with limited usage for the duration of construction, one bathroom, one bedroom, and our downstairs children’s office were out of commission for six weeks while the pipe was repaired. Finally, the shelter has a plumbing system fully up to speed in addition to new carpet, linoleum floors, and a re-organized children’s office!

Posted by Hattie, AmeriCorps VISTA, Pathways

YWCA Missoula Herstory

Strong Alone. Fearless Together. 

In 1894, YWCA USA established Traveler's Aid services to women who were traveling across the country to larger cities in the West in search of work. YWCA Missoula began as such an agency on April 5, 1911. The organization began with one room across the street from the Post Office on Cedar Street, which is now Broadway. Travelers’ Aid workers would meet dependent and inexperienced women at the train station who were in need of guidance. The organization’s motto at the time was “Face life squarely, and find and give the best.” It was recognized early that the YWCA had many functions in the community, including a well-defined employment policy for women; helping girls and young women go to school by providing them an opportunity to earn part of their way at the YWCA; providing an information desk for newcomers to the city; counseling; and providing financial aid and food donations.

 

YWCA Missoula Women in 1911

  

Over the past 100 years, YWCA Missoula has always responded to the emerging issues facing women in the community. Our oldest program was founded in 1977, when YWCA Missoula was approached by the city to open a shelter for survivors of domestic violence and their children. Ten years later, the YWCA realized that some of the women leaving the shelter still needed longer-term housing to escape violent relationships for good. To meet this need, the organization began providing transitional housing for homeless women and their children. Abuse encompasses more than just physical aspects, and often goes hand-in-hand with sexual assault, so in 1997, the YWCA expanded services to advocate for survivors of sexual assault.

In 2003, after working with women in the shelter for over 30 years, the YWCA recognized the need for a supervised visitation and exchange center where children could visit with the parents who don’t live with them and survivors of domestic violence wouldn’t be confronted by their ex abusive partners: Planet Kids was born. In 2004, the organization joined other YWCAs across the nation implementing Racial Justice programming by starting its social marketing campaign in order to spark dialogue, reflection and transformation around racism.

In 2007, the YWCA continued its work transforming the community by bringing on board a leadership and empowerment program - Girls Using Their Strengths (GUTS!) that encourages young women ages 9 to 18 to explore their personal values and discover their inner strengths. In 2009, when Missoula’s only Emergency Housing program for homeless families was on the verge of closing, Missoula County asked the YWCA to assume operations of the program. Ada’s Place Emergency Housing provides homeless families committed to seeking stable housing with 50 days in a local motel room.

It is through this rich history filled with compassion and dedication to families that the YWCA continues eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all people in the Missoula community.

 

YWCA Missoula Staff in 2012 

Posted by Elizabeth, YWCA Communications Manager