Senior Services
The YWCA Senior Services program helps keep seniors safe, healthy and helps relieve stress on today’s working families. Quality senior programming is an important component in violence prevention and intervention strategies. With more and more seniors being left alone with sometimes no supervision, at the YWCA they can benefit from safe structured educational programs.
At the West Los Angeles Center, we provide multiple classes and assistance including: Overview of Life Planning & Work, ESL & Farsi classes, Rental Assistance, Health & Prevention Classes on various types of cancers, Assistance with Legal Documents, Tai Chi/Yoga Classes, Sewing/Arts & Crafts, and Field Trips. Equally important, the program offers seniors a safe haven and opportunities for positive physical, emotional and spiritual momentum through community service.
Our West Los Angeles site is one of our most productive sites and has been in operation since 1985. In 1996 the program moved from West Los Angeles Center into Felicia Mahood Senior Center. Every year, hundreds of seniors between the ages of 60 and up enjoy services tailored to their needs. 75% of the participants are Persian and 25% are people of other ethnicities. Approximately 90% of the seniors participating in the program are living alone or in households with other relatives.
Economic Empowerment/Financial Literacy:
Girls and women in the Los Angeles area need education and training in economic self-sufficiency and financial literacy. This is especially true for those who are low-income and/or of color. Many of their mothers, grandmothers or guardians were never instructed in the principles of basic economic literacy either, passing their attitudes and beliefs about money on to their daughters and granddaughters, all but ensuring that the cycle of fiscal ignorance would be continued through the next generation.
The YWCA/GLA offers programming designed to break this cycle and acquire the knowledge and skills they need to change their financial situations. Women, Girls, $, & Power teaches girls and young women, ages 9 to 18, and their mothers or guardians the value of economic literacy in their own lives through the study of societal economics, personal economics, basic business concepts and operations, resiliency, and career options. Participants attend four intensive, day-long workshops and a culminating retreat, concentrating on topics chosen by the girls and women themselves.
