New home to help Empowerment Center expand its reach

As the YWCA Iowa Empowerment Center gets settled into its new home in east Davenport, its staff is excited about how the spacious and renovated facility will help it open even more doors for those in need. A program of the YWCA of the Quad Cities, the Empowerment Center recently relocated to 1115 Mississippi Ave., […]

As the YWCA Iowa Empowerment Center gets settled into its new home in east Davenport, its staff is excited about how the spacious and renovated facility will help it open even more doors for those in need. A program of the YWCA of the Quad Cities, the Empowerment Center recently relocated to 1115 Mississippi Ave., near the Village of East Davenport. The YWCA purchased the former Temple Emmanuel and completed a $1 million renovation with help from a State of Iowa grant and other fundraising.  Led by the two-person staff of Deanna Woodall, YWCA vice president of Development & Growth, Empowerment Services, and Amy Schaefer, director of Empowerment Services, the center hosted a sneak peek Tuesday, Nov. 28. It also held a “Stock the Shelves” collection drive to mark what also was Giving Tuesday.  “We love it here, we went from a 2,400-square-foot office to 13,000,” said Ms. Woodall. She wrote the grant with YWCA President and CEO Julie Larson that landed the $1.6 million awarded last year by the Nonprofit Innovation Assistance Fund of the Iowa Economic Development Authority. 

Matching grants drove project

In addition to the IEDA grant, the center’s new facility also was made possible by matching grants including from the Riverboat Development Authority and the Scott County Regional Authority. A total of 24 nonprofits projects in Iowa shared $40 million in grant funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. 

Previously located at One River Place on Davenport’s River Drive, the Empowerment Center averaged 20 clients a day, Ms. Woodall said. They now could serve 20-40 a day – with more programming to come. The facility first opened there in 2019 as an Iowa satellite operation of the Rock Island-based YWCA.   Ms. Woodall said the center’s mission will remain the same. “We meet immediate needs whether that is food, clothing, cleaning supplies or hygiene items.”  During a tour with the QCBJ, Ms. Schaefer pointed to spacious new rooms that can accommodate the program’s explosive growth since COVID-19. A large community room – the temple’s former sanctuary – will serve as a gathering area. It currently holds a makeshift pantry and other donations to assist clients. Eventually the pantry will occupy its own room elsewhere in the building. “We’ll eventually have a commercial kitchen so we can serve community meals,” Ms. Schaefer said. In addition, the renovations created modern administrative offices and a conference room for meetings on the main floor. 

Public showers a plus

Other renovations, which were completed by Quad Cities contractor Point Builders, included new roofing, a new elevator, new flooring and other cosmetic changes. The project also included major renovations to the bathrooms to add public showers.  “Sometimes, if someone is homeless, they just need a shower – actually that is a need we see a lot because not all agencies offer that,” Ms. Schaefer said. 

A place to clean their clothes also is critical, she said, showing off a room that will be equipped with washers and dryers for client use. The national nonprofit Laundry Love will be supplying the center with detergent for a laundry service. The hope is the laundry facility will be done in early 2024. On the building’s second floor are spacious classrooms and offices. Ms. Schaefer said they will be able to expand the center’s educational programming including its continuing education classes, workforce readiness classes and computer skills. Other empty rooms soon will be converted into a computer lab and a room for clothing donations complete with dressing rooms.  “This is a very unique space,” Ms. Schaefer said of the converted temple. The variety of open rooms offered great flexibility to the center, she said, adding that they considered other locations before choosing this building. “We had a really good vision (of what we wanted) and this worked for our vision.”  The site also rose to the top of the list because of its proximity to the original office and the fact that it sits along three public transit routes, she said.  Ms. Schaefer said the expanded space also will allow the YWCA to partner even more with other nonprofits and offer them space to provide programming to clients. 

Financial literacy possible

In the near future, Ms. Woodall said the center also hopes to launch a financial literacy program to help clients learn how to budget their money.  “One of the things we pride ourselves in is that we try to teach people to be independent of our services,” she said. “We don’t want to see them coming back every week (for help), but some do. Our ideal client is the person who knows ‘I’m in crisis and here’s what I need.’ We help them create a plan … to where they don’t need to use any agency services.” Ms. Woodall estimated that 50% of the clientele are single moms, 35% are families in need and the remaining 15% are men.  While located in Davenport, the Empowerment Center serves the entire Quad Cities including many other YWCA clients who use the main facility in downtown Rock Island (which will be replaced soon by a new center under construction).  Although pleased by a Stock The Shelves collection drive held during the open house, the pair said the center always is in need of donations, particularly cleaning supplies, food, hygiene items and baby items such as diapers and wipes.  Those who need services of the Empowerment Center are urged to call ahead to schedule an intake appointment at (563) 340-0310 or by visiting ywcaqc.org.