Lucy M. Mitchell became the first African-American elected to the Board of Directors of the Boston YWCA in 1941, where she served for seven years. Previously, in the mid-1930s she pioneered the development of a model nursery school at the Robert Gould Shaw House and led efforts to improve and license day-care centers. A leading educator in the early childhood education field, she was an early consultant to the now famous national Head Start Program.