YWCA's Annual
We Believe Event

At YWCA Central Carolinas, we believe in eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.

YWCA’s annual We Believe event is our single biggest fundraiser each year, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to support all of YWCA’s programs, including transitional housing programs for women and children facing homelessness, out-of-school literacy programs for children in low-income households, and racial justice programs that educate and mobilize our community. In 2022, we offered an all-virtual live event, open to the general public.

Our 2022 virtual event highlighted:

Testimonies from YWCA Central Carolinas team members sharing what inspires them in their work at YWCA.

The story of Dominique Small, a graduate of YWCA’s Families Together transitional housing program.

Messages from our Empower Equity event sponsors, Bank of America and Duke Energy | Piedmont Natural Gas.

You can watch the entirety of our 2022 program on our YouTube Channel!

For our We Believe 2022 event, Shelley Smith, YWCA’s Board President, gave opening remarks, Kirsten Sikkelee, YWCA’s CEO, delivered a ‘state of the union’ for our organization, and our We Believe keynote speech was delivered by Justin Perry, Therapist and Community Activist. Justin Perry’s speech focused on the intersectional nature of our mission, eliminating racism and empowering women. You can watch his keynote at time stamp 20:24.