Professionals with Impact, Magdeline Jensen, CEO,

This interview was recorded live and archived at www.talkshoe.com on December 2, 2008. You can listen to the archived version at: http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/33431 or on the Professionals with Impact on its Pittsburgh internet radio channel at: http://www.positivelypittsburghlivemagazine.com

Magdeline E. Jensen, CEO
YWCA Greater Pittsburgh

Biography
Magdeline E. Jensen is the Chief Executive Officer of the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh, a non-profit membership association whose mission is to eliminate racism and empower women. Founded in 1869, the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh currently operates 12 programs/services and five annual events, all of which are managed by more than 200 employees housed in four locations throughout Allegheny County.

Ms. Jensen, the first woman to be selected as the Chief Federal Probation Officer in Arizona, managed the $15 million operation of the U.S. Probation Office there for nine years before coming to the YWCA. Besides her extensive managerial, training and leadership ability, Ms. Jensen has hands-on experience in connecting people in need to community programs and resources. In fact, many of the programs that Ms. Jensen has encountered throughout her criminal justice career are similar to those that the YWCA offers today.

Ms. Jensen holds a Bachelor of Arts, Criminology, and a Master of Criminology from the University of California-Berkeley, California. Ms. Jensen has been a member of the Job Development and Educational Services Advisory Committee, U.S. Probation Office, in Pittsburgh since 2006, helping to provide counseling, education and job development to ex-offenders. She has lectured at American University and California State University, served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Thurgood Marshall Child Development Center in Washington, D.C., and has published several articles.

1960s –YWCA Greater Pittsburgh developed racial dialogue teams to help ease racial tensions
1970s –YWCA Greater Pittsburgh pioneered non-traditional employment programs for women by developing job opportunities in construction and the steel industry

1984 – YWCA Greater Pittsburgh introduced the Bridge Housing program, which was the first transitional housing program in the nation

1996 – YWCA Greater Pittsburgh opened and operated the first and only YWCA Center for Race Relations
1998 – YWCA Greater Pittsburgh opened the Homewood Brushton Center; largely built by women and African–American members of the Pittsburgh Black Construction Association

1999 – YWCA Greater Pittsburgh formed YW Homes, Inc., a non-profit subsidiary corporation with the purpose of creating desegregative affordable housing choices for low-income, single-parent families

2004 – YWCA Greater Pittsburgh Center for Race Relations received the Ebony and Ivory award for organizational excellence in the area of racial reconciliation; Office Of Advocacy was created

2005 - Homewood Brushton's Children and Youth Development and Education Program receives its STAR 4 Designation based on NAEYC accreditation, a national system that sets professional standards for early childcare education programs

2006 - YWCA Greater Pittsburgh Legal Resource for Women's Department launches its new program, the "100 Lawyer one case program". The program is designed to match 100 attorneys with impoverished women in need of legal services for custody, divorce and support cases

2007 - The YW Enterprising Women's Microenterprise Training and Microlending Program graduates 100 women from their 10-week training course since its 2006 inception


YW Means Business

• YWCA Wealth Development program: focuses on empowering women to build wealth by providing training, education, and resources necessary to increase income and purchase assets. The program includes seminars on investment and home ownership, post-secondary education, and business ownership. Program activities include financial literacy training, 1:1 matched savings accounts, micro-enterprise training, and micro-lending.
• YW Enterprising Women: A comprehensive training and technical assistance program for low and moderate-income women seeking to develop a micro-enterprise. The program includes business plan development, mentoring, peer support, micro-lending, and advanced business services. Approximately 150 women will be served in the second full year of the program and approximately 10 micro-loans will be distributed.
• The Family Savings Account program: The program provides matching funds to participants once they meet their savings goals. Savers have 1-3 years to save up to $2,000 for home ownership/repair, post-secondary education for self or child, or business start-up. YWCA actively promotes the program, conducts outreach presentations, engages in case management, and provides workshops for all of our savers.
• YWCA Financial Empowerment program: approximately 100 individuals per year participate in the YWCA Financial Empowerment Series – 4 financial literacy workshops throughout the year focus on setting financialgoals, developing a budget, understanding and improving credit,and avoiding predatory lenders.
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