A Message from YWCA USA CEO Margaret Mitchell on Dolores Huerta
Today, YWCA USA stands with Dolores Huerta and with every survivor who has found the courage to speak.
In September 2025, I had the privilege of meeting Dolores Huerta. I grew up in Fresno, California, and as a little girl, I witnessed her work firsthand. I have long called Dolores Huerta my hero. A United Farm Workers flag has long hung in my office – as a reminder of what one woman's courage can build and the power of a movement bigger than any singular institution. That encounter last year only deepened my already profound admiration for a life dedicated to dignity, justice and the relentless pursuit of rights for those who have been denied them.
Today, Dolores Huerta has given us something even more extraordinary: her truth.
At almost 96 years of age, after carrying a secret for more than 60 years to protect a movement she loved more than herself, Dolores Huerta stepped forward. She named her experience. She claimed her identity as a survivor. And in doing so, she joins two other brave women who came forward this week, each of them deserving of our full acknowledgment, gratitude, and care. We hold all of them in our hearts today.
Dolores Huerta chose, at this particular moment in history, to use her voice one more time – for herself, and for every woman and every girl who has suffered in silence. Her decision to speak is made all the more profound by what she risked: a legacy, a movement, a lifelong labor of love. She knew the cost. She spoke anyway.
We are living in a necessary and ongoing reckoning. Across communities, industries, and movements we once considered safe, survivors are refusing to let power silence them. This moment is painful. It is also historic. And it belongs to those who had the courage to tell the truth. At YWCA USA, we know that honoring survivors means more than bearing witness – it means doing the work to dismantle the systems of power and silence that allowed harm to persist in the first place.
YWCA USA was founded on the belief that the safety, dignity, and full humanity of every woman and girl is non-negotiable. We know the particular cruelty of abuse committed by those with power over a movement, over a mission, over someone’s life’s work. We know the impossible weight of silence chosen in service of something larger than oneself. And we know what courage it takes to finally speak.
Dolores Huerta has spent her entire life transforming the lives of women and workers. Today, she transforms them again by showing survivors everywhere that truth does not have an expiration date, that courage is not diminished by age, and that silence can finally, on one’s own terms, be broken.
To those who are struggling with this news – whether because of what it means for a movement you love, or because it has surfaced pain of your own – we see you. Our hearts are with you. You are not alone.
YWCA USA honors all survivors today. This month. Always.
If you or someone you know needs support, we encourage you to reach out. YWCA Local Associations across the country offer crisis services and support. You can also contact the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline, available 24/7, at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or online at rainn.org.