We are always excited to show people around our state-of-the-art Putman Family YWCA building – including Ontario’s Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity!

We were thrilled to welcome Hon. Charmaine Williams, MPP for Brampton Centre, to our new Ottawa Street building this week. Our CEO Medora Uppal, along with Maisie Raymond-Brown, Director of Employment and Training Services, Deborah Schwientek, Manager, Employment and Training Services, and Shannon Cummings, Manager, Milli Gould Entrepreneurial Centre, hosted the Associate Minister and her team.

Our Putman Family YWCA is a unique building that houses many programs and services, as well as providing a permanent home for 50 women and women-led families. On the day MPP Williams toured, Putman was bustling with seniors exercise classes, a first aid course, a tealight candle-making workshop for residents, preparations for our Women of Distinction Awards, and staff working in their offices.

“This has been a great opportunity to see YWCA Hamilton in action, providing housing for women, providing employment supports for women, and ensuring that women have a safe and healthy place to learn and to launch. I’ve been loving it.

As well as highlighting the building’s passive house design, MPP Williams also learned about the programs offered at Putman through the Milli Gould Entrepreneurial Centre – YWCA Hamilton’s education, training and start-up hub for women-led businesses. These programs, named after Hamilton entrepreneur and trailblazer Milli Gould, offer resources, supports, and training to women to help advance their careers.

She also heard more about the housing and homelessness crisis in Hamilton, and saw first-hand how YWCA Hamilton is committed to addressing the great need for safe, reliable, affordable shelter in Hamilton.

“This is my first time here in this building, and I’m just really happy to see how YWCA Hamilton has been able to make it accessible to the community and their needs,” said MPP Williams. “Housing is definitely a concern, and YWCA Hamilton is addressing that concern for a very vulnerable sector of our community.”

Thank you so much for visiting, MPP Williams!