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Dr. Sylvia Acosta

Forging a Path Through a Pandemic

| By: HOPE ALEGRE photos courtesy of: YWCA PASO DEL NORTE |

s one of the oldest and largest women’s organizations, the Young Women’s Christian Association’s (YWCA)’s programs have evolved to meet the needs of our communities through the decades and through difficult times like we are seeing today. With a focus on children and early childhood education, the YWCA centers much of their efforts on their afterschool programs, geared to care for kids and enhance their learning through partnerships with local school districts. It is a service that working parents depend on. In addition, the YWCA’s mission spotlights programs like youth leadership, workforce development, re-entry of people coming out of the judicial system, health and wellness, along with their housing programs like the Transitional Living Center, Rapid Rehousing, and Senior Housing. In addition to these programs, the YWCA dedicates itself to promoting racial justice and gender equity through the Social Equality Program and Courageous Conversations. For Dr. Sylvia Acosta, Chief Executive Officer for the past three and a half years, it has been about a reformulation of the YWCA and the programming that they’re doing. “Right now, my phase was restructuring, rethinking, and redoing. The next phase of the work that I will be doing is re-visioning the organization and setting up our strategic plan for where we are going in the future. That is a new phase that I am stepping into,” she states. As the pandemic hit El Paso, the YWCA understood that one of the biggest challenges working families have is the lack of childcare. Instead of closing, they did the opposite. They understood the importance

Aof staying open for families and essential workers who were going to need childcare— more importantly, childcare that they could trust. At that point in time, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention had not yet come up with their guidance about how childcare centers should operate as a means to stay open. For Sylvia and others at the YWCA, this was merely a challenge they took upon themselves which meant meeting over several days to fashion their own guidelines. Looking through the American Academy of Pediatrics and their pandemic protocols, they combined protocols that were created and mixed them in with their own. Sylvia states, “What was interesting was at the end of this, the CDC put out their protocols, and they resembled ours.”

Through the pandemic, the incidence of child abuse or children appearing in hospitals were increasing throughout the country. The YWCA decided to lean into this conversation and figure out how they could aid or prevent this from happening in El Paso. The Respite Care Program, a referral program, was established to ensure teachers could contact them if they noticed anything unusual among the students or parents, or if students weren’t showing up in their virtual classroom. The referral program was used to provide respite care for three days, which eventually turned into weeks due to the intricate and sophisticated nature of thie program. Built to address the needs of families at this unprecedented time, the YWCA in El Paso was one of the first in the country to have created something so innovative. The priority—keep children safe. The stories in which this program has helped are endless.

Due to the abrupt closure of the YWCA’s after-school programs, the organization endured the loss of 90% of its revenue. Despite the loss, the Dr. Acosta was still able to continue all the aforementioned programs to serve the community. “During COVID, we rose to the occasion, and it has everything to do with my amazing team at the YWCA. I’m so blown away by their love, compassion, and commitment to our community,” Sylvia proudly states. The YWCA will be able to continue that commitment thanks to some recently awarded money from the City Care Funding to provide free childcare up until December of this year for people who need it, people who were affected by businesses closing, furlough, or job layoffs.

In addition, like most businesses, the YWCA modified some existing programs to go virtual. For example, the new virtual workforce development program is now able to serve more people than pre-pandemic. Their Courageous Conversations, which happened in person once every quarter, now happen online every couple of weeks. Previous keynote speakers include the Editor-

in-Chief of Vogue Mexico/Latin America, Karla Martinez, and Broadway star, James Harkness. Lastly, they adapted the Teen Leadership Program for continuation at home by hosting driveby pickups for the necessary supplies so that participants could continue to do the planned activities focusing on character development, healthy decision making, and other life skills.

Apart from continuing their regular programs, Sylvia and her team created 18

Heartfelt Farewell to Myrna George Deckert

| By: VERONICA NEVAREZ |

The El Paso community bids loving farewell to Myrna George Deckert, former CEO of the Paso del Norte Health Foundation and an extraordinary leader devoted to improving quality of life in our region and beyond. While Myrna notably served as CEO at the Health Foundation from 2007 to 2016, her treasured years of service go well beyond. As CEO of the YWCA El Paso del Norte Region from 1970 to 2002, she was an exemplary leader in the advancement of women and girls at the local, national and global levels, serving as leader of the YWCA Change Initiative and chair of the YWCA USA/Global Campaign. She was honored nationally and received the prestigious Fred Rogers Leadership Award in Philanthropy for Children, Youth and Families in 2014. An El Paso Women’s Hall of Fame inductee, Myrna also had a local YWCA branch named in her honor and under her 40-year leadership, the El Paso YWCA became the nation’s largest.

In response to Myrna’s passing, Tracy J. Yellen, Chief Executive Officer of the Paso del Norte Community Foundation, said: “Myrna was a remarkable leader. She had the unique ability to engage and inspire diverse groups of people to support organizations and causes important to our community. She dedicated her career to improving lives. She loved El Paso, along with her colleagues, family and friends. She has left an indelible legacy.”

A true mentor and highly influential leader to countless individuals in our community, Myrna will be missed, but her amazing legacy will never be forgotten.