The YWCA Silicon Valley is proud to announce that it recently welcomed several new board members: Sharada Bose, R&D Management, Hewlett Packard; Joyce Chuang, Marketing and Business Development Coordinator, Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe LLP; Nora Denzel, Senior Vice President, Big Data, Social Design and Marketing, Intuit, Inc.; Neysa Fligor, Deputy County Counsel, County of Santa Clara; Maryanne Flynn, Director of Operations, Cisco Systems; Susan Franzella, Executive Human Resources Management, Kaiser Permanente, San Jose Medical Center; Jessica Garcia-Kohl, Director of Development & Public Affairs, The Housing Trust; Sandra Jewett, Principal, Vinci Park School; Jayashree Rangarajan, Director, Software Development, Xilinx and Barbara Wakefield, Hewlett Packard (Retired), Community Volunteer. Keri Procunier McLain, Ph.D., the YWCA’s CEO states, “The caliber of these women will tremendously assist in the YWCA’s efforts of fulfilling our mission to empower women and eliminate racism in our community. We feel privileged that these women have chosen to invest their time, talent and resources in the YWCA!”

The YWCA Silicon Valley will host its 10th Annual Walk a Mile in Her Shoes® on Wednesday, April 18,2012. This year’s Walk a Mile event is led by event co-chairs Larry Stone, (County Assessor of Santa Clara County) Jeff Rosen, (District Attorney of Santa Clara County), Chris Moore (City of San José Police Chief), William McDonald (City of San Josè Fire Chief), and Pete Decena (San Josè State University Police Chief). Community leaders, businessmen, students and residents will walk one mile in women’s high heeled shoes through Downtown San José to bring awareness and raise funds for sexual assault services provided by the YWCA Rape Crisis Center.

The YWCA of Silicon Valley will host its' 21st Annual Luncheon event on Tuesday, October 11, 2011, from 11:00 pm to 1:30 pm, at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The event serves as a major fundraiser, with proceeds going to support the programs and services of the YWCA of Silicon Valley. Dee Dee Myers, Former Press Secretary to President Clinton and NY Times Best-selling Author of Why Women Should Rule the World, will be the keynote speaker at the event.

On April 27, 2011 men will walk one mile in women’s high-heeled shoes through downtown San Jose to protest rape, sexual assault and gender violence. This 9th annual event, held each April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month brings together male community leaders, businessmen, and residents to walk (in women’s shoes) from Plaza de Cesar Chavez through the streets of downtown San Jose to raise sexual assault awareness in our community. The YWCA Silicon Valley organizes the event and provides the women’s shoes. Women are encouraged to join the walk as supporters and advocates.

Forty-six outstanding executive women from Silicon Valley will be honored by the YWCA Silicon Valley, May 3, 2011 at the 27th Annual Tribute to Women (TWIN) Awards Program at the San Jose Fairmont. The YWCA Silicon Valley’s TWIN Awards Program honors not only women who demonstrate excellence in executive-level positions, but also the companies that employ these women.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin shares insight into the lives of the leaders who have shaped the United States.

On July 26, 2010 the YWCA Silicon Valley conducted a walk and silent vigil in support of its mission of eliminating racism, hatred and prejudice. The event highlighted the need to end the proliferation of racism in our society and lessen its impact on the diverse population that live and work in Silicon Valley. The YWCA’s goal is to raise awareness that racism still exists, and to share our vision of eliminating racism and celebrating the richness of our diversity. It was an opportunity for people to “let their silence be heard”.

The YWCA Silicon Valley’s Project Inspire program has just completed its first ever summer programming. Project Inspire, now in its third year, is a youth empowerment program providing credit recovery for high school students to enable them to receive a high school diploma. This summer the program offered credit recovery to students at four East Side Union High School District schools. The YWCA served students at Andrew Hill, James Lick, Overfelt and Yerba Buena High Schools. Over the course of two summer semesters, 902 students recovered credits, putting them back on track to complete their coursework and earn their high school diplomas.

On Friday, May 28, there will be an end of the year celebration for parents and students of the YWCA’s Project Inspire program at James Lick High School in the East Side Union High School District. Project Inspire, now in its third year, is a youth empowerment program providing credit recovery for high school students to enable them to receive a high school diploma. This year, 216 students who would not have graduated from high school will be receiving diplomas because of Project Inspire. “The YWCA is so proud to be able to impact the lives of these students”, said Keri McLain, CEO of the YWCA Silicon Valley. “Many of these students had fallen so far behind at school that they didn’t see any way to complete high school. Our staff at Project Inspire showed the students that if they worked hard, they could change the course of their lives.”

Forty-eight outstanding executive women from Silicon Valley will be honored by the YWCA of Silicon Valley, May 20, 2010 at the 26th Annual Tribute to Women (TWIN) Awards Program at the San Jose Fairmont. The YWCA of Silicon Valley’s TWIN Awards Program honors not only women who demonstrate excellence in executive-level positions, but also the companies that employ these women. “The talent of the women nominees was again extraordinary. I keep them in high regard because they truly are the best of the best. We are thrilled to have so many wonderful top sponsors for the event this year.” said Dr. Keri McLain, Chief Executive Officer of the YWCA Silicon Valley.