Ywca

The YWCA of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County will receive a $60,000 grant to supplement their after-school programming and $50 gift cards in recognition for its after-school program, Turning Point. The United Way of Central Maryland is awarding the grant after getting $94,000 from the J.C. Penney Afterschool Fund and matching that amount to fund three after-school programs. Also, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. is donating $50 gift cards to each child participating in the Anne Arundel program to help young people buy clothing and school supplies.

Man caught in Dundalk boy's bedroom Richard Lewis Marks, 49, was charged with an attempted first-degree sex offense, five counts of assault, burglary and resisting arrest after he was caught hiding in a Dundalk boy's bedroom. Suburban black students failing exams Test results showed that suburban minority students, especially African-Americans, are struggling to pass Maryland's High School Assessment exams. YWCA to shut shelter in city The Baltimore YWCA plans to shut its downtown shelter for women because of a reduction in funds from the United Way of Central Maryland and other sources, including money provided by the city.

The recent decision by the Baltimore YWCA to close its downtown shelter for homeless women and children is more than unfortunate. If the shelter goes out of business by Oct. 1, as announced, about 10 percent of the city's temporary beds for families could be lost. There's no question that permanent housing is the ultimate solution for getting the homeless off the streets. But in the meantime, families must not be left without a place to go. On any given night, an estimated 3,000 people in Baltimore are homeless; about 35 percent consist of families, usually women and children.

The Baltimore YWCA is moving to shut its downtown women's shelter because of a reduction in funding from the United Way of Central Maryland and other sources, including money distributed by the city. Even though the shelter, which houses about 90 women and children, will close Oct. 1 - resulting in a significant loss in Baltimore's overall shelter capacity - YWCA officials are trying to stay positive. The organization's other two shelters - one in Baltimore County - will remain open, and the closure of the shelter at 128 W. Franklin St. next month will allow the YWCA to return to its roots: fostering economic success among women through education and job training, said Dawn Fisk Thomsen, former chief executive officer of the YWCA of the Greater Baltimore Area Inc., which was established in 1883.

Barbara M. Gleason, whose career with the YWCA spanned three decades, died of leukemia Sunday at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She was 55. Ms. Gleason was born in Baltimore and raised in Rodgers Forge. She was a 1969 graduate of Towson Catholic High School and earned a bachelor's degree in English from Washington College in 1973. Since the 1970s, Ms. Gleason had worked for the YWCA of Greater Baltimore, where she held many positions and most recently had been in development. She helped establish and formerly operated the YWCA's Aberdeen Family Support Center.

Helen Jackson Wilkins Claytor, 98, a pivotal figure in the racial desegregation of the YWCA and its first African-American president, died Tuesday in Grand Rapids, Mich. Mrs. Claytor, a longtime civil rights leader in Grand Rapids, served two terms, from 1967 to 1976, as national president of the Young Women's Christian Association. As a board member and a national organizer since the 1940s, she had been a strong force in the racial integration of the organization at all levels. She went to work for what was then the separate "Negro" branch of the segregated YWCA in Kansas City, Mo., and later joined the newly established race relations office of the national YWCA in New York.

Fund-raiser to benefit county YWCA programs The YWCA's Men Against Domestic Violence Committee will sponsor "Island Magic" from 7 p.m. to midnight Friday at the Chesapeake Bay Club in Stevensville. The annual fund-raiser for the YWCA of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County includes a traditional Caribbean feast and a performance by the band Mama Jama. The highlight of the evening will be a silent and live auction featuring jewelry, vacations and dozens of unique items. Tickets for a 50-50 raffle, with a split purse of $20,000, are available for $100.

When a young waiter approached Janis Harvey at a Tennessee restaurant last year, she did not recognize him. Even as he sat down and began to talk, she struggled to place his face. Considering the circumstances, who could blame her? It had been almost a decade since Harvey - then the chief operating officer of the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee - had seen the man, then a troubled boy being helped by the organization and who had been shuffled among dozens of foster homes. At the time, his behavior was so disruptive that most of the people who cared for him had given up hope.