YMCA McGaw YMCA

Programs: Children's center: the mcgaw ymca children's center (a stand-alone facility one block away from our main building) seeks to provide accessible, high-quality, comprehensive care and education for a diverse community in a safe, nurturing environment. To ensure the highest quality, we maintain accreditation through naeyc, the nation's leading organization of early childhood professionals. Through the partnership between child, parent and dedicated staff, we strive to nourish the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development of every child we serve by providing well-rounded, fun, creative and enriching programs and experiences. In fy2014, we served 568 children/infants through school age programs and provided more than $675k in scholarships to enable over 327 children the necessary subsidies to participate in our program. In addition, we offer summer day camp programs that help kids build strong values and create self-confidence and character. During fiscal year 2014, we provided summer day camp programs to more than 652 campers, ranging from age two through eighth grade, with 31% receiving fee assistance. To increase literacy skills and reduce summer learning loss, we participated, for the third year, in a national y-usa summer learning program. In the summer of 2014, we increased our program from 100 to 200 first and second graders at three evanston elementary schools with our district 65 partnership. In addition to receiving 2. 5 hours of daily intensive literacy instruction from certified evanston/skokie school district 65 teachers, children enjoy art, music, swim lessons, character development, nutrition education and physical fitness. We keep their minds and bodies in tip-top shape while offering a free 3-month mcgaw ymca family membership. Youth and families participate in this program at no cost to them.

healthy living (health & wellness): the ymca's approach to healthy living focuses on caring for oneself from the inside out, including the spirit, mind and body. At the mcgaw ymca, we aim to improve the health outcomes and lifestyles of youth, adults, and families of the evanston community. We provide our members with the supportive relationships and "community" they need to create a healthy life style. This is particularly important as our nation and our community struggle with an obesity epidemic and with work/life balance as individuals search for personal fulfillment. We bring families together and offer sport, recreational and social networks that build relationships and strengthen bonds. This area of focus contains general and targeted health and wellness programing with a total cost of $3. 1 million. $1. 6 million is spent on swim, sports and play for youth and families, including competitive swim teams, swim lessons, martial arts and various sports teams and leagues. We also have an annual youth triathlon with over 200 young atheletes competing and evanston swims, a partnership with district 65 and evanston north shore ywca serving youth from 3 title one pilot schools. During the year, we have given over $64k in income based fee assistance to participants. In addition, we spent $1. 7 million for health and wellness programing for adults. Our health and wellness team provides personal training, including specialty pilates training, as well as group exercise, weight management and nutrition education classes, massage therapy and chronic disease management through a research project led by northwestern university.

membership: with 12,000 members from infants to 90+-year-olds, our membership continues to grow. Each year we strive to fulfill our mission of service through our income-based "membership for all" pricing that sets membership fees based on household income and the number of individuals in the household. Our goal is to open the doors of the mcgaw y to everyone using an affordable pricing structure. Through our commitment to "membership for all", we have provided over $700k in need-based membership fee support, which has allowed 34% of our members to have the chance to engage in activities, services, and develop the feeling of belonging to our ymca community. In addition, we donated 97 memberships during the 2013 fiscal year to local businesses and charities to use in silent auctions or events. In order to increase accessibility, we supply a free child care drop in center for members using the facility. Finally, we have continued corporate wellness partnerships in the community to guide participants toward their health and wellness goals and connect them to a community that is working towards the same goals.