Kim Dolan is the new executive director of YWCA Peterborough Haliburton, effective February 3rd.
She replaces Lynn Zimmer, who retired from the organization on November 30th after 35 years.
Dolan has been executive director of PARN – Your Community AIDS Resource Network for the past 13 years, where she helped build a framework for strengthening the local response to HIV and Hepatitis C.
Prior to joining PARN, Dolan worked at YWCA Crossroads Shelter and other YWCA programs. She has also been involved with the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses (OAITH) and Women’s Resources Kawartha Lake.
“When I joined the YWCA in 1989 as a Crossroads shelter counsellor, I had no idea how transformational the journey of working with, for and on behalf of women would be,” Dolan says. “The foundations of my feminist, trauma-informed approach to addressing inequities are built on those experiences of working with women at YWCA, my continued involvement with OAITH and throughout my time as shelter and outreach coordinator at Women’s Resources Kawartha Lakes.
A media release from YWCA Peterborough Haliburton announcing the appointment states that Dolan is a thoughtful and visionary leader with deep connections to the community and the feminist movement, is passionate about social justice, and knows what it means to help empower the disenfranchised to find their voice.
“Kim truly embodies the values of the YWCA and will most certainly carry on our mission to achieve gender equality,” says YWCA board president Neera Jeyabalan. “We are very pleased to be welcoming her back to the YWCA.”
YWCA Peterborough Haliburton is part of YWCA Canada, the country’s oldest and largest women’s multi-service organization that strives to strengthen women and girls’ equality, allowing them to see themselves as empowered and engaged.
YWCA Peterborough Haliburton’s programs include the Crossroads Shelter for women and children fleeing abuse, a 24-hour support and crisis line, outreach support services, family court support, START (Support Team for Abuse Response Today), Nourish, Homeward Bound Peterborough, youth engagement, education awards for abuse survivors, Centennial Crescent second stage housing community, Women’s Centre of Haliburton County, and the Haliburton Emergency Rural SafeSpace.
“I am excited to be returning to YWCA Peterborough Haliburton and imagine that I will be as excited and nervous to walk through the doors of 216 Simcoe Street as I was at the beginning of this full circle journey,” Dolan says.
“I look forward to working alongside the women who respond to the needs of women in our community and lead change by inviting difficult conversations that illuminate barriers and result in solutions.”
