The mission of the ymca is to put judeo-christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all. The cause of the y is to strengthen community. This work is achieved through three focus areas: youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.

Human Services , Young Mens or Womens Associations

Helping more people live longer, healthier lives continues to be the primary entrance point for a majority of people into our charitable mission. In 2017, 53,394 people were members of our association. Over 20% of this population received financial assistance through our scholarship program. In three years, this re-vamped program has tripled the number of kids, adults and seniors who are receiving assistance. More significant than just the 25% community penetration of our membership base can be found in the ongoing connections we measure. With our strategic focus on engagement, including covering the cost of personal training orientations in our "myfit" introductory wellness program, we are honored to see that 71% of members are retained after 13 months. Our resources and volunteer leadership continue to enable us to provide critical community needs programs that serve people afflicted by cancer and parkinsons disease. We cover 100% of the costs to our "livestrong at the ymca" cancer program, and the ymca's national movement to address diabetes prevention is also providing focused and cutting-edge service to a population that is growing at an alarming rate. We connect the most people in our community through group exercise programs. Our membership pricing plan includes all land and water exercise programs in an all-inclusive model. Therefore, every week, over 260 classes are offered with members encouraged to try them, and instructors trained to make each class welcoming with a focus on connecting members in classes. Throughout 2017, these classes were participated in over 298,121 times by people of all backgrounds. In total, our ymca had almost 1. 75 million community visits by members in a community of just under 165,000 people. in 1858, our ymca mission was founded on service to our community, especially teaching core values to children. Our 160th year continues to provide tremendous opportunity to serve our community through youth development programs that collaborate with many partners to achieve shared impacts. Increasing program quality and consistency has been a primary focus in this area for our y. We focus on the entire spectrum of child development and community engagement, from birth and parent-child relationship, to the critical first 2,000 days of a child's brain development and kindergarten readiness, to in-school success focused on eventual higher learning, career-oriented service and higher learning. We served 16,488 children as members of our ymca in 2017, with an additional 5,768 involved through community programs, sports, child care, out of school and at-risk outreach. Thus, we are connecting 1 in every 4 children in our entire community, helping to connect and engage all children, encouraging them to develop confidence, respect and appreciate others, and work together for shared goals. We continue to use our three, licensed early learning centers to serve nearly 275 children daily. From a mission-critical standpoint, nearly 60% of the families served in these day care programs receive assistance, both from our own local fundraising efforts, as well as state assistance. The success of early learning initiatives continues to strengthen our brand, which in turn provides new opportunities to collaborate and serve populations throughout our region. Will. We also collaborate with other agencies to provide educational opportunities to these families, including financial literacy, healthy nutrition and behavior counseling. We serve over 418 youth in our before and after school programs through out the school year. We work with our community to celebrate reading in all of our school age programs, making this part of every program curriculum. These children and their families are also being served through multiple collaborations. From before and after school programs in districts in the eastern county, to preschool education partnerships in the western portion, and in-school collaborations and programs t