President of The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Tamita Griffith says one of the greatest challenges facing the Association at this time is attracting new blood and in particular young people.
Griffith said this is a challenge faced by a number of non-governmental organisations, and in particular those that have been around for as long as they have. But, she told The Barbados Advocate during a recent interview, they will not allow that reality to discourage them, as new blood is needed to ensure their continued existence well past the 66 years they are celebrating this year.
“I would like to see more young people coming on board and I hope that our new Board can help to achieve that goal. Eighty per cent of our Board is under the age of 50 and I am hoping that when persons see this young Board they would want to be a part of what we do. The YWCA is for all women and we have many stalwarts who have given great service. We appreciate their efforts, but we also want to bring more young women into the fold, and to hear from them their ideas on how we can do more for women in general,” she said.
With that in mind, she added that as part of the efforts to increase their membership, they have plans to reach out to post-secondary and tertiary level institutions across the island. She made the disclosure while noting that they also intend to extend that outreach to the wider public, and are hoping to go to shopping centres and towns around the country to hand out information about the YWCA and their efforts to assist and empower women across Barbados.
Griffith’s comments came as she touched on their Y-Teens Programme, which she said is the perfect springboard on which the YWCA can build a sound membership base for the future. She said that they are collaborating with the Springer Memorial School – the only all girls public secondary school on the island – to reactive the programme and they are hoping to launch it officially during the first term of this new school year. She said that the Government Hill-located school will be the first they will work with, but the intention is to eventually take the Y-Teens Programme into all the secondary schools. She explained that the international programme is designed to nurture the talents of the girls who join, to help address challenges facing young girls and to help mould them into strong future leaders.
“Our hope is that by the time they leave school they will not only have an appreciation and zest for community service, but they will transition into the YWCA and help to make us stronger,” she stated. (JRT)
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