Surprisingly, community centers for women are not common, but a flourishing women’s community center on Vashon Island is working to change that.

Women Hold the Key, a 501(c)3 started by Executive Director Tina Shattuck in 2019, has a clear mission “to create powerful communities where women thrive.” Its stated values are “connection, compassion, respect, joy, fun, courage, resilience, and honoring the Goddess in us all.”

Women Hold the Key has been actively laying the foundation not only for the success and growth of the original women’s community center on Vashon Island, but also to expand and eventually create a template for similar women’s community centers around the country and world.

If we learned anything from the pandemic, it was that human beings need and thrive in community. Women have historically and intuitively known this: as a marginalized group in a patriarchal society, women from cultures all over the globe have created spaces to gather to validate and support one another, as well as to counter inequality and build networks.

The sense of connection and “being seen” that these centers create has been shown to increase well-being, build trust, and decrease loneliness — the latter of which, loneliness, has seen a dramatic increase in recent years. As an article in The New York Times points out, feeling chronically disconnected from others can not only increase the risk of neurodegenerative diseases, it can actually affect the brain’s structure and function.

The increasing presence of technology in our lives, combined with the dramatic reduction in the number of people who belong to religious and other community organizations and the traditional “rugged individual” mentality (particularly prominent in the U.S.) has created a scenario that brings the importance of community centers, particularly for women, to the forefront.

Offering a wide array of programming (free to all participants) as well as annual events and a place for women to gather casually in a safe space, Women Hold the Key has a working board comprised of women from varied backgrounds. As a member of the current board, I’ve witnessed firsthand the impact that Women Hold the Key is having on women in our community, and it has been exciting to watch it grow and broaden its reach in just a few years.

With a long-term goal of creating 10 new similar community centers around the world in ten years, the organization hopes to take what is already a successful model by any measure and create a blueprint for other communities to replicate. Following Executive Director Tina Shattuck’s trip to Ireland in April 2024, the first new chapter has already begun and three other communities in the U.S. and Canada have expressed interest in creating a chapter. Women Hold the Key is already on the way to 10 chapters in 10 years.

As Melinda Gates’ recent announcement of her new philanthropical organization focused on women and girls attests, “decades of research on economics, well-being and governance make it clear that investing in women and girls benefits everyone.” This is a concept whose time has come – in fact, it is long overdue.

Feminine energy contains the seeds of the intuition, compassion, sustainability and collaboration that the world so desperately needs to grow and move forward in a positive direction to benefit all.

Women Hold the Key was born of a moment of hopelessness on Tina Shattuck’s part that she is determined to grow into a global community movement. By holding, supporting and empowering women on Vashon Island, the ripple effect can uplift communities around the world.

As Tina recently stated to me, “We often feel powerless to change the world. But change at this level — in your own zip code — is possible.And as it spreads, it really does change the world.”

Emily Herrick is a board member of Women Hold the Key. Learn more by visiting www.womenholdthekey.com. The organization’s second annual fundraiser, “Communication Alchemy,” occurs all day on Saturday, Oct. 19.

Editor’s note: The organization will no longer be hosting an election night watch party the evening of Nov. 5 at Vashon Theatre, as was previously reported.