EmBe celebrates century of supporting women, building community across generations

This paid piece is sponsored by EmBe.

It was shortly after the turn of the 20th century, and women moving to Sioux Falls from area farms needed a safe place to live.

It was the early 1940s, World War II raged, and mothers with children needed a place to go that created a sense of community.

It was the 1980s, and a growing number of women entering the workforce needed reliable, quality child care.

Or it was yesterday, when a woman looking to move up from an entry-level job to a career path needed advice, support and something to wear to her job interview.

Women meeting other women where they’re at with the services they need has been a hallmark of EmBe for the past 100 years.

This year, the nonprofit that began as the Sioux Falls YWCA marks its centennial. And there’s a lot to celebrate.

“Because EmBe has served our community for 100 years, so many people have used one of our programs or resources or know someone who has,” said Susanne Gale, chief development officer. “We’re lifting up their stories as we ask our community to support us as we’ve supported them for 100 years.”

EmBe’s Core to Core campaign is built around the theme “100 years of courage” and is taking a crowdfunding approach. Set up your page, set a fundraising goal, and encourage others to contribute to reach a fundraising goal of $100,000. Click here to learn more.   

“It’s very simple, and we’re excited to see people begin to sign on,” Gale said. “You’ll receive step-by-step instructions along with graphics and suggested content to make it as easy as possible to participate.”

Pioneering women

Dr. Sandra Christenson can trace her family’s involvement with EmBe back to before the Young Women’s Christian Organization of Sioux Falls, as it originally was known, even existed.

Her grandmother, Mabel, was involved with a group of women in the late 1910s who established a boarding house across from Lyon Park for women moving to Sioux Falls from surrounding farms.

“That made it possible for women to come to Sioux Falls and take on work,” Christenson said. “Their families felt if they were unsupervised in an apartment of their own they wouldn’t be safe in Sioux Falls. That continued on with the YWCA in the early 1920s, and my grandmother always lauded the organization for fulfilling her dream.”

When Christenson returned to Sioux Falls in the 1980s to help lead her family business, Heartland Paper Co., she connected with EmBe for child care.

“I needed a safe place for my children to have day care so I could work in the family business,” she said. “They were excellent, but I also wanted to be certain their transportation for after-school pickup was well certified, so I went through that program to be sure drivers lived up to expectations and exceeded them.”

Christenson served on the organization’s board of directors into the 1990s and focused on applying her business acumen to its benefit.

“There were few women in managerial positions during that era,” she said. “I was one of the exceptions. And when I joined the board, we were in a recession, which was challenging especially for small organizations, so I wanted to help. And at the time, they were transitioning from housing for single women upstairs – the reason my grandmother had been involved – to develop that part of the building differently and turn it into more child care space, which was an important change, and I encouraged it.”

Christenson also helped lead development of EmBe’s south Sioux Falls location after realizing “there were a lot of apartment buildings built south of the interstate and all the people who lived there had trouble accepting jobs because of access to child care,” she said.

“We partnered with Craig Lloyd, who was developing the area at the time and was very supportive, and as soon as that was on track, I ended my term on the board but continued to support through the mentor program, helping women figure out their resume, how to represent themselves and work toward a promotion.”

The Hamilton family can trace a similar family legacy at EmBe – this one over three generations.

Judy Hamilton remembers growing up at the YWCA, thanks to the involvement of her mother, Helen Jacobson.

“I’ve never known a time when we didn’t have involvement there,” said Hamilton, who grew up in the 1930s and ’40s.

“There weren’t a whole lot of things for women to do back in the ’30s and ’40s,” she said. “The war was on, and as kids it was a place to go, and there were always projects my mother was working on that we got involved in.”

She remembers going to programs with friends after school and went on to serve on the board herself in the 1970s. One of the first women to own a real estate company in South Dakota, she also was honored as an winner of what became EmBe’s annual Tribute to Women awards.

“My mother was always trying to get people involved, which is how I ended up being involved too,” Hamilton said. “But EmBe has been a stronghold for girls for years, especially those who have needed guidance. I think they’ve done a very good job.”

Her daughter, Ellen Hamilton, also connected with EmBe growing up and went on to serve on the board. After a consulting career that took her nationwide, she returned to South Dakota and served on the EmBe board until a few years ago.

“One of the things I wanted to do was give back where I grew up, and I thought EmBe would be a good fit because of our family’s long history with the organization,” she said. “At the time, they were switching from YWCA to EmBe, and my background is in marketing, so as they were determining branding and strategy, it was a good fit for me to be on the board at that time.”

She also has enjoyed mentoring other women and continues to work with a mentee.

“It’s just amazing how EmBe has branched out its services,” she said.

Modern connection

Natasha Smith joined EmBe’s board in early 2020 after connecting with the organization as a volunteer with a passion for empowering women.

“I grew up with a single mom who predominantly worked in fast food, and when I was in high school, she went back to school to become an RN,” said Smith, who now leads diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at Sanford Health.

“There was some culture shock to her entering a professional environment for the first time. So I think about her challenges in integrating and the missions of EmBe and Dress for Success. And what the Women to the Workforce program is doing taking women who are underemployed and unemployed and helping them upskill.”

She also would have benefited from services like that, she said.

“I was leaving entry-level call center work earlier in my career and getting into a professional environment, and it would have been so beneficial for me to have someone come alongside me and provide mentorship,” Smith said. “And then as a volunteer, I was able to help women with their resumes and mock interviews – women who had been rescued from sex trafficking, women who were brand-new to the U.S. – exactly the kind of women I wanted to spend my time investing in.”

Now, as a board member, “I appreciate how receptive they are to feedback,” Smith said. “There’s a lot of psychology safety for me in that. I provide a unique perspective, and this is a place to exercise my voice.”

Going forward, “workforce remains a key issue in our community and one EmBe can help address,” she continued. “Child care is big, the pandemic clearly illustrated that, so I hope to see EmBe continuing to convene leaders, public and private, to drive forward sustainable solutions and allow parents to get back into the workforce.”

Connect, celebrate

EmBe will celebrate its centennial through a series of events beginning with the organization’s first-ever youth summit for girls and young women in middle school and high school, Rise2Raise, Aug. 10 and a ribbon-cutting at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 7. The centennial will culminate with a celebration Sept. 28 at the Washington Pavilion, featuring a keynote by New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Land, whose book inspired the Netflix series “Maid.”

And don’t forget to get involved and do your part to support the community-changing work at EmBe. Click here to become part of the Core to Core campaign.

“Celebrating our centennial is just as much about the years we have behind us as it’s about the years we have ahead of us,” said Kerri Tietgen, EmBe CEO.

“Most importantly, it’s about our community’s people and our capacity to rise to the day’s challenges, to know each other’s needs and to innovate ways to meet them. Throughout this celebration, we want community members to question how a women’s organization evolved to encompass families, youth development and childhood education over the past century, and we want to answer them through our actions and vision for the next.”