We know that lasting personal and social change comes about when we all work together. That's why, at the y, employees and volunteers advance our cause of strengthening community through work focused on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. The ymca is a powerful association of men, women, and children committed to bringing about lasting personal and social change. With a focus on nurturing the potential of every child and teen, improving the nation's health and well-being and providing opportunities to give back and support neighbors, the ymca enables youth, adults, families and communities to be healthy, confident, connected and secure. Each day, we work side-by-side with our neighbors to make sure that everyone, regardless of age, income or background, has the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive.

Human Services , Physical Fitness & Community Recreational Facilities , Sports , Young Mens or Womens Associations

Youth development:our ymca is committed to nurturing the potential of every child and teen. We believe all kids have great potential and deserve the opportunity to discover who they are and what they can achieve. That's why we help young people cultivate the values, skills and relationships that lead to positive behaviors, better health and educational achievement. Our ymca programs, such as school age programs before and afterschool care, summer camp, leaders clubs, swim, sports & play and others, offer a range of experiences that enrich social-emotional, cognitive and physical growth. Expenses include subsidies and direct financial assistance that make participation possible for approximately 20 percent of the young people we engage. ((continued on schedule o))the ymca provides before and afterschool care throughout the school year to pre-k and school-age children residing from pinellas to citrus county, including special needs and developmentally disabled children. Ymca school age care ensures that the time gaps before and after school are filled creatively and constructively. This program provides working parents with safe, educational, affordable, quality supervision for their children from the hours of 6:30 a. M. To the beginning of school, and from school dismissal to 6:00 p. M. , and all day on school holidays. All of our afterschool programs focus on youth development for all communities with a holistic development focus (social/emotional, physical and cognitive/academic). Additionally, afterschool readers is in place in all four counties served. Afterschool readers gives kids access to books and encourages reading a minimum of 90 minutes per week in the afterschool program. Children have the chance to express their talents in the arts, sports, and other areas of interest, taking advantage of all the y has to offer. Kids find out what success is all about in an approach that says, "everybody plays, everybody wins. " time is set aside for tackling homework with adult help available. Program components include health and wellness, academics, science, technology, engineering and math ("stem"), leadership development, service learning, arts education, global learning and parent and caregiver engagement. All youth participate in value sessions focusing on character development and are provided enrichment opportunities to include swimming and outdoor recreation. Each of these programs contribute to developing family interaction and communication, as well as educating children in the importance of family, community and making good choices for a healthy future. The framework for each program is based on the core values of the ymca: caring, honesty, respect and responsibility. We recognize that all children can learn and achieve and that children have different learning styles, different interests, and different talents which can be fostered to maximize success inside and outside of the classroom. Our ymca provides high quality curriculum using multiple partners for enrichment programs and evidence based curriculum such as kidzmath, kidzscience, sanford harmony, the food and fun curriculum developed in part by the yusa and harvard research center. The curriculum identifies, utilizes and recognizes cultural differences and commonalities throughout most activities and aligns with the common core state standards. The school age programs providing before and afterschool care programs operates in 60 elementary schools, middle schools and ymca sites serving more than 7,000 children throughout the school year. Ymca-subsidized financial assistance was provided for approximately 20% of those children totaling $601,000. A successful afterschool signature academic and enrichment focused program, the achievement gap program, continues to grow within pinellas, pasco and hernando county schools. This began as a pilot in 2012 in one elementary school and has expanded to eleven locations in 2017. Key program features combine commun