A nearly 20-acre space in Huber Heights is now the newest program location for YWCA Dayton, the oldest multicultural social services organization serving women and girls in the Miami Valley. The 151-year-old nonprofit currently operates six locations across Montgomery and Preble counties.
The YWCA Dayton Huber Heights Campus, located at 7650 Timbercrest Dr., was built in 1980 as
the Montgomery County Developmental Center, which closed in 2018. The property consists of 11
buildings on 19.445 acres, including: seven residential units; a 20,000-square-foot administration
building with community meeting space; and green space with a gazebo, picnic shelter, and trail.
“This was an incredible opportunity,” said Shannon Isom, president and CEO. “We are not out to
grow for the sake of growth; based on our history, based on our relationships, based on the work
we’ve done for more than a century, we’ve been presented with an opportunity to live out our
mission and serve the needs of our community, in collaboration, differently than we ever have
before.
“There are very few agencies that get presented with the ability to create, to be innovative, to build,
to develop, in partnership with others; YWCA Dayton is in a place, and a season, to embrace that.
It’s taken us 150 years to get here, and we’re excited and ready to be agile in meeting the Miami
Valley’s needs for the next 150 years.”
The campus will open in phases, with initial use focused on administrative functions, youth
programming, and community rentals, including long-term small business leases. “Our first priority is to get this right. There are very few organizations that are afforded the opportunity to think about their mission in a way that feeds community,” Isom said. “We have built a task force of local community leaders and stakeholders, from funding to strategic planning tooperations, and the support we’ve received from the Huber Heights community is palpable.”
That includes the property’s first onsite service project – a reflection courtyard and friendship fire ring
– installed in July 2020 by Huber Heights youth Micah and Sarai Combs as their Eagle Scout
capstone. Sarai is a member of the first class of female Eagle Scouts in the Miami Valley; the
siblings’ project, with an in-kind value of more than $4,000, took 26 volunteer hours to complete.
Founded in 1870, YWCA Dayton has been at the forefront of the most critical social movements —
from voting rights and civil rights, to affordable housing and pay equity, to violence prevention and
health care reform.
At YWCA Dayton, we:
• Operate the only domestic violence shelters and rape crisis center in Montgomery and
Preble Counties, as well as the area’s longest-running 24/7 crisis hotline: 937-222-SAFE,
which responds to more than 7,000 calls every year.
• Provide affordable housing and support services for women and families who are victims of
abuse or experiencing sudden or chronic homelessness. In 2020, 598 individuals in 291
households were helped by YW housing programs.
• Empower teens to explore and achieve their highest potential through Girls LEAD!, a
signature curriculum of educational and prevention outreach programming, and engage men and boys in preventing violence against women and girls through AMEND Together, an in-
school prevention education program. More than 300 youth were served in 2020.
• Advocate for legislative priorities that address racial justice and civil rights, women’s
economic empowerment, and women’s health and safety. In 2019-20, YWCA Dayton
endorsed 27 pieces of legislation and met with 26 public officials.
