Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley upon its 100th anniversary.
In 1905, a group of prominent Pasadena women formed a branch of the National Consumers League in an effort to hold local employers accountable to statewide labor laws for young working women. As affordable housing for these young women became a concern, this same group formed the Young Women's League and provided rental housing for working women. This was the start of what was to become, in 1909, the Pasadena Young Women's Christian Association, YWCA. In 1910, they purchased a property in Pasadena and in the 1920s, hired Julia Morgan, California's first woman architect, to design the landmark building on that same land.
During the First World War, the YWCA offered Red Cross training and classes in the arts to young working women, while actively rallying for women's suffrage and better working conditions for California's migrant workers. In the 1920s, the YWCA made special outreach efforts to include African-American and Japanese-American girls.
During the Great Depression, the YWCA offered loans and free room and board to women in need, and opened new clubs for Mexican-American and African-American girls. Ahead of its time, the YWCA Board agreed that "the use of facilities be based on general fitness without reference to race, religion, or nationality."
In 1940 a Japanese Girls Reserve was formed. When the war ended, the YWCA assisted in facilitating the interned Japanese-Americans' return to the community. During these years, the Pasadena YWCA, with its active social conscience, led the community on issues such as juvenile delinquency, housing, childcare and discrimination.
In the 1940s and 50s, programs that targeted delinquent teens and a childcare nursery were developed. The 1960s saw the Back Yard Mothers Project, the Mexican Bi-Cultural Club, the Pasadena Free Clinic, and in 1966, the Federal Government selected the Pasadena YWCA as the site for its Job Corps girls program.
The 1970s and 80s brought a Rape Advocacy Program, a program to train women for non-traditional jobs that paved the way for the Women at Work program, and Hestia House, a shelter for women and their children in crisis. In 1996, the YWCA Board sold the historic Julia Morgan building, moved into administrative offices, but continued to meet the needs of girls and women, never forgetting its mission to work for the empowerment of women and the elimination of racism.
Today, programs like Just for Girls meet on school campuses and offer assistance to at-risk youth and the sports program brings together girls from varied economic and ethnic backgrounds. The YWCA hosts the annual Week Without Violence and an annual Racial Justice Committee Breakfast.
I am proud to recognize the YWCA Pasadena-Foothill Valley for its 100 years of offering a diverse place of acceptance to the women of the San Gabriel Valley and I ask all Members to join me in congratulating the YWCA for their remarkable achievements.