Few brick-and-mortar structures mean more to the city and its people than this building at 826 First Ave. N. – a building that many pass by daily with little knowledge of its rich history or of its current mission of service to women and their families in need.

“We absolutely love our building,” said Nici George, the YWCA executive director who oversees a staff of 21 fulltime and parttime employees. “It’s so beautiful, with old architecture that we love. With the old comes a lot of repairs. I love to tell people our staff of women are the electricians, the plumbers, the carpenters, ready to handle most anything to help keep costs down. We can call it a money pit sometimes.

“We’re a block away from the bus system and most clients don’t have transportation. Our nurse Carolyn Milburn is so artistic and works at adding art, to make this old building as comfortable as we can for people who often don’t come from the best places.

“While old, this building has saved many lives and provided shelter for hundreds. We have been able to maintain some of the original work, and value the beauty it has provided. Many women come to the Y from unsafe homes; this building allows for women to feel safe in their surroundings and provides a temporary home until they are able to become independent.”

The Young Woman’s Christian Association was formed nationally in 1858 and came to Fort Dodge in 1909, with Mrs. John P. Dolliver serving as its first president. Property on the corner of First Avenue North and Ninth Street was purchased and became the home of the YWCA. It took just four years for the mortgage on the building to be paid – an event celebrating the “burning of the mortgage” was held on Jan. 21, 1913, with Dr. Sarah Kime in charge of the ceremony.

Initially, the building was designed to house permanent residents or those passing through in dorm-style private housing on the second floor. Residents shared kitchen, laundry, bath and lounge space. The building also included club rooms and a gymnasium with showers. Thirty-six rooms were available for rent by women, many who came into the community for education and employment.

According to a history of the YWCA, there were 126 women enrolled in YWCA programs in 1912-13. By 1930, the membership totaled 700 women.

From 1915 to 1943, the YWCA Cafeteria served three meals daily – provided for transient women and those living at the Y. Opening its doors to others, the cafeteria continued serving meals until 1961. During its peak of operation, the YWCA Cafeteria was recognized as a social center for motorists and the traveling public.

There is still a cafeteria and gymnasium in the building. Once, both were open to the public: the gym used to be the site of an exercise program and community dances, as well as a dance program.

Rosemary Kolacia, of Fort Dodge, recalls when Y-Teen dances were held at the YWCA every Monday evening for 7th, 8th and 9th graders.

“The stores downtown were open on Monday nights so the city buses would still be running,” said the 1961 Fort Dodge Senior High graduate. “They would play records and we would dance…We tried to dance like they did on American Bandstand. Rock and roll was here to stay so we would do the jitterbug and always had the slow dances, too. It was a wonderful time to be young. In February they would have a sweetheart dance and elect a king and queen and a court all from the 9th graders.”

In the basement today are the childcare area, exercise room, a library and a donation room – the latter needed because many of the residents come to the Y from hospitals or jails and have need of clothing.

Early classes and clubs involved “working girls.” The YWCA began the Fort Dodge Business and Professional Women’s Club, the Fort Dodge Business Girl’s Club, and the Young Adult Club. The women’s movement saw great participation by the Girl Reserves in Fort Dodge, and most notably the Black Girl Reserves. From their inception, YWCA programs have been designed to be visionary — encouraging every woman and girl to perform at her maximum level to achieve self-sufficiency, maintain healthy habits, empower herself and work toward resolving racial justice issues.

From its role as an apartment transition program for women, the YWCA transitioned into a homeless shelter, George said, then in 2008 into a halfway house for women with drug and alcohol problems. In 2014, it became a residential-only substance abuse center for women and their children.

George said that today, there are 26 women in the Y’s Center for Life Empowerment, a state-licensed substance abuse treatment facility that provides clinically managed residential treatment for women and women with children. The center, which has a capacity of 35 rooms, also provides outpatient care for about 20 men and women, a program George hopes to grow.

“We’re a 90-day program,” she said, “but we like for our residents to stay longer, four to six months if not longer. A quarter of our residents are here under court order. The majority are recommended here by Health and Human Services workers.”

The Fort Dodge facility serves all 99 counties in Iowa and is one of only five residential treatment centers in the state that allow children to live with their mothers. There are 11 children who currently live with their mothers at the YWCA (the maximum age to stay there is 13). Education programs are held in the basement of the building, and those children of school age attend local schools. Seven of the women residents are pregnant, George said.

“We actually have a counselor who came here who got sober here and had a baby while she was here, and now she’s a substance use disorder counselor,” George said.

George said 13 of her staff of 21 are in recovery, working their own program. “They identify with our residents in recovery – each day making sure the residents remain sober. Some are heavily involved in the Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous programs.

George said: “We measure our success rates by successful completions of treatment. Success is very hard to track because it can be very subjective. But we feel if a resident has made efforts to engage in treatment and make changes during that time, they have been successful! In 2022 we had 48 women graduate successfully from the residential program through the YWCA.”

The YWCA has a 12-woman Board of Directors, currently headed by Erin Rossmanith, school nurse and campus health educator for St. Edmond Catholic School; it meets every other month. The board oversees the YWCA operations and makes decisions on its future, said Rossmanith, who has been board president since March and has been involved as a board member since 2016. Twice, she has served as interim executive director.

“Mental health is a hugely important area of what we do,” she said. “Funding for mental health is not good right now, something that’s true everywhere. Our goal is to empower women, not only going through treatment, but also help in getting a job, finding an apartment, getting back on their own feet. We’re here for them when they leave the Y – they know they have a support system.”

George, a 2003 graduate of St. Edmond High School who earned her bachelor’s degree in Child, Adult and Family Services at Iowa State University in Ames, was named executive director in 2022 after filling in briefly for the previous director. She had been the clinical director since 2018, but her experience with the YWCA goes back to 2012, when she first started working in substance use support.

“I worked here when it was a halfway house program and a homeless shelter,” George said. “I had worked in the human service field, but it just wasn’t something that I had ever really set my mind to that I was going to work in this field.”

She worked at the YWCA for a year before moving out of state and working as a substance abuse counselor. When the clinical director position opened in Fort Dodge, she decided to move back. George still does direct care and has a full caseload in her executive director role.

“Fort Dodge can seem like a small town, but for a small town, drug and alcohol use is very high,” she said. “Drugs are changing, new ones are being created every day; people are struggling with more mental health issues and cope with them by using drugs. Meth and alcohol are the most common, but we also treat people with opiate and marijuana disorders.”

The majority of funding for the YWCA – which has an operating budget of about $1 million – comes from Iowa Medicaid.

“Our funding is very limited,” George said. “We’re a nonprofit, every single dollar is put into this building and the program. There are no grants to support us. When we needed washers and dryers, so many people stepped up. They help in providing personal care items. In April, the Fort Dodge Study Club raised $18,000 with donations and a silent auction fundraiser.”

The YWCA owns the historic Vincent House at 824 Third Ave. S., built in 1872 and is perhaps the oldest structure in Fort Dodge, on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1969, Ann Vincent and her daughter, Catherine Deardorf, willed the house to the YWCA with the stipulation that it be preserved and used by the public for meetings, special events, social gatherings and friendly get-togethers. They also established a trust fund to help maintain the integrity of the home. Income from rentals of the house – for such things as dinners, weddings and receptions, baby showers, wedding showers, graduation parties – goes to the YWCA.

Every Christmas, the YWCA sponsors an Adopt A Family program in which businesses and individuals in the community volunteer to adopt a family and buy them Christmas presents.

“It provides a wonderful Christmas for our residents,” George said.

George said the YWCA plans to apply for grants in 2024, looking for those tied to women’s and children’s programs.

One of her goals is to “get out in the community and promote who we are,” George said. “A lot of people think we are a homeless shelter. Our building is pretty secure because we have a strict confidentiality rule. I would love to be able to show people what we do, but it is really hard to bring community members into our building and do activities.”

Among other things offered by the YWCA: It serves as a food pantry which allows community members to get free food one time per month. And it provides substance use disorder evaluations for anyone in the community and anyone who has received an OWI (operating while intoxicated.)

Several times throughout the year, a class from St. Edmond High School comes to the YWCA to do volunteer work.

“I know it sounds super corny when I tell people this, but I literally learn something new each day I come to work,” George said. “It is amazing how much I have learned since I came here. You don’t come here for the money, you come because you’re passionate to help people. Our success rate is not where we want it to be. But if you have a passion for this, you keep coming back.”