By By Michelle Vasquez | Photography by David Teran
From majoring in international relations to serving as CEO of the YWCA, Francesca Rattray has built a career dedicated to making a difference in the nonprofit world. As her interests evolved, she explored community development, housing, and real estate projects. She discovered that the YWCA provided the ideal combination of her interests in real estate development and improving the human condition, and she hasn’t looked back since.
“Housing is such a need for women, especially single mothers,” Rattray reflects. Rattray’s leadership, coupled with a dedicated team of women from architects to project managers, worked diligently to create housing for women in need, and that is how the Live & Learn Center was brought to life. The Center is a targeted residential housing program designed to help young women rebuild after trauma. Stability and meeting basic needs like housing are key in facilitating recovery.
For residents like Adora Earls, the impact is deeply personal. “The Live & Learn Center is different because it’s more than just housing. It’s a place that helps you grow. Instead of just giving you a roof, they give you guidance, skills, and real support. The staff see your potential and help you work toward a better future,” she says.
The mission to create the Center was not without challenges, namely, whether to build from the ground up or renovate an existing property. Support came from another group of women. In 2021, a nine-acre campus once occupied by the Sisters of Divine Providence became available. The campus had 24 of the 30 units required for their needs, along with space to use one of the annexes for childcare and offices. They also received funding from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
The team of women involved grew. The YWCA put out bids for architects, designers, and project managers, eventually selecting an all-woman team led by Mary Bartlett and Carolyn Roman of Marmon Mok, who, together with the board, prioritized making the residence feel like a home. Lisa Clark and Kelly Hart took leadership from Jones, Lang, LaSalle (JLL) to move the project forward.
It is important for a residence of this type to establish a supportive community and foundational elements of security, stability, and self-enablement. These qualities are necessary to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and violence and are supported through educational and workforce training.
The $14.5 million project serves 30 mothers ages 18–25, with or without children, who have survived domestic violence, experienced foster care, or are facing severe hardship. Residents may stay up to four years, and thanks to the many leaders involved, the program has been active for eight months. In San Antonio, 53% of families living in poverty are single women, most of whom are women of color. Eradicating poverty has been a through line in Rattray’s work.
“Having worked in microfinance in the late ’90s and early 2000s, I saw that when you empower women financially, they invest in their families, they invest in their children, they invest in the whole community,” Rattray says.
For Lydia Araujo-Nunez, that empowerment has been tangible. “I have been able to successfully apply and get into school, I have been able to get a job, and I have also had help getting rid of some of the obstacles in my life that were hindering my progress before,” she shares.
The community is designed and constructed to foster connection, with beautiful interiors so you don’t feel like you are in an institutional setting, but rather somewhere cozier. Shared living and kitchen spaces encourage women to interact and support each other on their journeys toward resilience and self-sufficiency.
“We are really putting the tools of transformation in the hands of the women that live there, everything from the rules for living there to chores and group counseling,” Rattray says. In addition, District 5 City Councilwoman Terry Castillo has been instrumental in influencing policy, securing city funding, and referring residents to the home.
Located on the West Side at the corner of 36th Street and Castroville Road, the Live & Learn Center is also contributing to the area’s ongoing development. “We’d love to be a force for good, not only in empowering women but also in strengthening the whole community,” Rattray says.
