With great pleasure, we announce the return of Kathy Mack to the YWCA Knoxville & the Tennessee Valley  as Chief Youth Engagement Officer! She is no stranger to the YWCA, having previously served as the Director of the Phyllis Wheatley Center. For the past two years, Kathy has worked as the Community Engagement Manager at the City of Knoxville, facilitating partnerships that create safe, thriving communities for all kinds of people.

Kathy shared these remarks earlier this month: "Over 100 years later, the Phyllis Wheatley Center is still serving the community. That alone speaks volumes! As the community needs have changed, the Phyllis Wheatley Center has adapted, assisted, provided, and catered to those needs. Most importantly, it has served as a home to so many of our youth. A safe place for them to learn, explore, grow, and develop. I look forward to continuing to support our youth and families through the collaboration and cooperation of our dedicated partners and community members.”

School has started, and the YWCA Phyllis Wheatley Center is well on its way! We welcome this school year with new energy and excitement for the year ahead! The activity areas have been busting from the seams with the voices and laughter of, on average, 90 students per day, and we could not be more excited! We have six new wonderful staff members who are going above and beyond to connect with and get to know new students. PWC staff is confident it will be a GREAT school year, and we are excited to serve our students and communities!

To mark to start of our first cooking class of the season, Phyllis Wheatley Center youth prepared and served tacos to 60 of their peers; it was a huge success! We also want to give a special shout-out to our community partner, Helping Mamas of Knoxville, for providing 100 backpacks filled with school supplies to our students in need! 

Alejandra* has been attending the YWCA's domestic violence support group for a year. She divorced her husband due to his abuse but reported that her ex-husband continued coming to the house to harass her and her children and vandalized their home in a show of power and control. Our victim advocate guided her through some strategies to maintain safety for herself and her children and suggested that Alejandra pursue an order of protection from the court. When the time came for the protection order hearing, Alejandra's lawyer asked her to change the hearing date because she was too busy to represent her that day. Alejandra told the victim advocate that her lawyer was always busy, and she no longer wanted to wait. Alejandra was afraid to go alone to the hearing because her lawyer told her that she had no evidence in her favor. Instead, she asked the victim advocate to accompany her while Alejandra represented herself. Even though her ex-husband had legal representation, Alejandra was granted an order of protection for herself and her children. We are thankful that this is not the end of Alejandra's story and that as we have walked with her through one of the darkest seasons of her life, we have seen her persevere and hope for her future.

*Name and identifying details changed to protect client privacy.