YWCA Northeast Kansas is dedicated to promoting racial equity by partnering with individuals, organizations, and businesses through racial justice training, advocacy, outreach and education.
The first step in a racial justice journey is to understand what racism is and learn how to talk about it. 
We invite you to get up and #dothework by joining us for a FREE two-session racial justice facilitator training. By registering for this training, you commit to attending the sessions on both Friday, August 7 AND Friday, August 21 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Please complete your free registration by clicking the ticketing link.
This training is limited to 25 registrants, free of charge, online, and open to the public. Due to a limited number of registrations available, we ask that you send us an email should you need to cancel your registration so that it may become available to others.
YWCA’s racial justice work is made possible in part by the generosity of Kansas Gas Service and their commitment to their core value of inclusion and diversity. Check out YWCA’s Advocacy and Racial Justice work and advocacy priorities here and find this event on Facebook.
In partnership with the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, YWCA Northeast Kansas hosts a community book club that will feature books written by Indigenous people and people of color. All are invited to participate in monthly meetings to discuss the books and relevant social issues within our community. Discussions will be guided by YWCA’s volunteer racial justice facilitators.
Continuing in August, our book club will meet online on Tuesdays, August 11 & 25 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM via the online web conferencing platform Zoom. No special equipment is necessary, just a computer and internet access. Although it is preferable to have read the book prior to the sessions, please feel free to join even if you haven’t read the book.
Some Americans insist that we’re living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America–it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues, racist ideas have a long and lingering history, one in which nearly every great American thinker is complicit.
In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. He uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to drive this history: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary activist Angela Davis.
As Kendi shows, racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. They were created to justify and rationalize deeply entrenched discriminatory policies and the nation’s racial inequities.
In shedding light on this history, Stamped from the Beginning offers us the tools we need to expose racist thinking. In the process, he gives us reason to hope
Sign up here to stay informed about Racial Justice Book Club events.
YWCA’s racial justice work is made possible in part by the generosity of Kansas Gas Service and their commitment to their core value of inclusion and diversity.
YWCA Northeast Kansas is dedicated to promoting racial equity by partnering with individuals, organizations, and businesses through racial justice training, advocacy, outreach and education.
The first step in a racial justice journey is to understand what racism is and learn how to talk about it.
We invite you to get up and #dothework by joining us for a FREE two-session racial justice facilitator training. By registering for this training, you commit to attending the sessions on both Friday, August 7 AND Friday, August 21 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Please complete your free registration by clicking the ticketing link.
This training is limited to 25 registrants, free of charge, online, and open to the public. Due to a limited number of registrations available, we ask that you send us an email should you need to cancel your registration so that it may become available to others.
YWCA’s racial justice work is made possible in part by the generosity of Kansas Gas Service and their commitment to their core value of inclusion and diversity. Check out YWCA’s Advocacy and Racial Justice work and advocacy priorities here and find this event on Facebook.
In partnership with the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library, YWCA Northeast Kansas hosts a community book club that will feature books written by Indigenous people and people of color. All are invited to participate in monthly meetings to discuss the books and relevant social issues within our community. Discussions will be guided by YWCA’s volunteer racial justice facilitators.
Continuing in August, our book club will meet online on Tuesdays, August 11 & 25 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM via the online web conferencing platform Zoom. No special equipment is necessary, just a computer and internet access. Although it is preferable to have read the book prior to the sessions, please feel free to join even if you haven’t read the book.
Some Americans insist that we’re living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America–it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues, racist ideas have a long and lingering history, one in which nearly every great American thinker is complicit.
In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. He uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to drive this history: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary activist Angela Davis.
As Kendi shows, racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. They were created to justify and rationalize deeply entrenched discriminatory policies and the nation’s racial inequities.
In shedding light on this history, Stamped from the Beginning offers us the tools we need to expose racist thinking. In the process, he gives us reason to hope
Sign up here to stay informed about Racial Justice Book Club events.
YWCA’s racial justice work is made possible in part by the generosity of Kansas Gas Service and their commitment to their core value of inclusion and diversity.
Join us on Wednesday, September 16th for the 32nd annual YWCA Women of Excellence Awards: A Leadership Event to benefit YWCA Northeast Kansas.
YWCA Northeast Kansas has been bolstering women leaders in Topeka since 1887. For the past 31 years, we have been recognizing how essential women are to their workplaces and to their communities, equally in times of crisis as in times of peace. While this event may look a little different as we transition from a daytime luncheon to an evening virtual event, our mission remains the same: honoring the contributions of women in our community who get up and do the work.
Register and donate to this event today
At YWCA Northeast Kansas, we are eliminating racism and empowering women at all stages of their careers. The greater Topeka community demands justice in a thousand different ways, and we will continue to get up and do the work until injustice is rooted out, until institutions are transformed, and until the world sees women, girls and people of color the way we do: Equal. Powerful. Unstoppable.
LEARN MORE AND REGISTER FOR THE 32ND ANNUAL YWCA WOMEN OF EXCELLENCE AWARDS TODAY.
Are you a past honoree and you are not on our list? We would love to recognize you! Send us an email at resourcedevelopment@ywcaneks.org with your updated contact information to receive more information.
Join us on Saturday, October 3rd for an inspiring, empowering evening of art, great food, wine, and beer tastings all while supporting the mission and crucial programs supporting survivors in our Center for Safety and Empowerment. This event will also coincide with the beginning of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October.
The 17th annual Concealed Revealed Art Auction is an evening celebrating the victories we have seen in the women’s movement, with LGBTQ communities, and with victims and survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking. We have been hard at work affecting change in our communities, and although the work is not yet done, let us come together to celebrate what we have accomplished.
Admission to the event includes alcoholic beverages and appetizers. A limited number of hosted Patron Tables for 4 are also available. The auction will have both a silent component in the gallery, as well as a live auction in the theater. All proceeds for this YWCA Signature event directly benefit the Center for Safety and Empowerment.
Become a Concealed Revealed Sponsor