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Eight women from Northwest Ohio will be recognized at the YWCA’s 31st Annual Milestones Awards luncheon at the Glass City Center Ballroom on March 26. These local leaders were selected from a pool of more than 300 nominations spanning careers in medicine, public service, education, the arts, and business.
The event was established to increase community awareness around the contributions of women leaders and has grown from a recognition luncheon into the YWCA’s largest annual fundraiser. Last year, it drew 654 attendees and raised over $120,000, all of which went directly to YWCA programming.
To be considered, nominees must live or work in Northwest Ohio and demonstrate achievement in both their career and community work. The criteria center on exemplary accomplishment in each field, serving as a role model, and living in a way that reflects the YWCA’s mission of eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting dignity for all people.
The Milestones Awards have honored more than 200 women over three decades, recognizing leaders who have demonstrated excellence in their fields and opened doors for others along the way.
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The 2026 Honorees
This year’s eight honorees reflect how women are shaping Northwest Ohio from the operating room to the courtroom to the classroom.
Dr. Jennifer McCary, Chief Culture and Brand Experience Officer at the Toledo Museum of Art, receives the Arts award.
Meg Ressner, president of Meg Ressner & Associates, is honored in the Business category.
Sherry Tripepi, a retired social work professor at the University of Toledo, receives the Education award.
Jessica Ford, county administrator for Lucas County, is recognized in Government for her work in public service.
Dr. Shawna Shafer, a neonatologist at ProMedica, takes the Sciences award.
Ann Ebbert, president and CEO of Cherry Street Mission Ministries, is honored in Social Services.
Candice Harrison, director of inclusion and community impact for the SSOE Group, receives the Volunteerism award.
And Kathy Tucker, owner of Toledo’s Share Winery, is recognized as Woman on the Rise — a new category that spotlights leaders who are already making an impact earlier in their careers
The Organization Behind the Event
The YWCA of Northwest Ohio is one of nearly 200 independent local associations that make up the broader YWCA network, which describes itself as the oldest and largest multicultural women’s organization in the world.
Locally, the organization runs a 17-room, 46-bed domestic violence shelter with a 24/7 crisis hotline. Beyond emergency housing, the shelter offers counseling, legal assistance, and long-term empowerment programs to help survivors rebuild their stability. A separate rape crisis services program operates its own 24/7 hotline and crisis intervention for survivors of sexual assault and their families.
The YWCA also maintains 65 units of permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless women and their children to address a persistent gap in Toledo’s social services landscape.
Healthcare access is another focus. The Healthy Connections program centers on breast cancer education and early detection, with particular emphasis on individuals over 40 who face barriers to insurance coverage and care. To date, the program has reached more than 50,000 people through education and facilitated clinical screenings for 12,500 more.
A companion initiative, YWCA-Pathways, provides education and resources to women of childbearing age to address infant mortality rates in the region.
Youth programming rounds out the organization’s work. The Teen Outreach Program, known as TOP, runs as an after-school and summer service-learning club through Toledo Public Schools. Students in the program collectively log over 3,000 community service hours each year.
The Milestones Awards luncheon determines how much of that work gets funded and how the region pauses, once a year, to recognize the people driving it.
Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and the program begins at noon. Tickets are available at ywcanwo.org.
