Young Mens Christian Association Of Erie Pa

Programs: Our ymca is committed to nurturing the potential of every child. 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 cultivate values and skills that lead to positive behaviors, better health and educational achievement. We provide high quality child care by providing comprehensive activities from developmental activities, homework help to field trips for children six weeks old through age 15, drawing on diverse members of the community. We participate in the keystone stars quality initiative at all seventeen licensed child care locations. In addition, we provide healthy snacks and meals to all children and have adopted, along with y-usa, hepa (healthy eating and physical activity) standards at all locations. Our y served over 405,000 snacks & meals during the school year and during the summer at various locations including those identified as food deserts. Kids participate in enrichment activities and connect with caring adults. Meals adhere to nutrition standards outlined in y-usa's healthy eating & physical activity standards. A 72-passenger renovated school bus serves as a mobile meals site taking freshly prepared meals directly into identified food deserts. In 2017, the y began offering power scholars academy, an academic achievement gap program, in partnership with united way and pfeiffer burleigh school. The program enrolled 85 of the most academically at-risk children for a 6 week/5 days per week academic and enrichment program that focused on literacy and math gains as well as educational enrichment field trips. Outcomes show that participating children gained 1. 5 months in literacy and 3 months in math. Summer camp when school lets out for summer, kids who don't continue to read, learn and keep their minds and bodies active can fall behind their classmates that do. Some parents just don't have the knowledge/resources to keep their kids engaged and productive all summer long. Many families can't afford to enroll their children in a structured summer program. As a solution, the y offers day camps that go far beyond the typical camp experience. Our camp programs are packed with physical and educational activities, day trips, character building, arts/crafts, group games and more. Campers learn the importance of values and are encouraged to exhibit them in their actions. The y offers scholarships so that all children have the opportunity to enjoy this enriching experience. Early learning readiness recognizing that traditional preschool may not be the best fit for all families, the y's play & learn program reaches out to new american families and builds on the assets of the child's first teacher - their parents. Young learners get stimulating preschool-like experience and caregivers receive support. Play & learn is a free pre-school-like program that child and caregiver attend together that includes songs and 13 learning centers from books and puzzles, to listening and dress-up - all that reinforce learning in preparation for kindergarten. Y staff shows caregivers how a child learns through play and active engagement through everyday activities like running errands, emptying the dishwasher, sorting laundry and preparing dinner. Y staff shares oodles of learning ideas for at home or on the go. Woven into the fabric of the ymca mission is a commitment to strengthening families. Ymca child care programs relieve the burden of balancing work and families, and make it more possible for parents of children in our care to remain gainfully employed, knowing their children are thriving in a safe, developmentally sound environment that offers a range of experiences that enrich social-emotional, cognitive and physical growth. Expenses include subsidies and reduced fees that make participation possible to more than 50% of the children we engage. Our ymca provides reduced fees for child care services. $95,994 was awarded to 190 children to defray their fees this year, and continue to accept children through the state subsidy program. In addition, we provide aid to families who need help due to family violence, substance abuse, poverty, mental health, etc. By collaborating with other social service agencies. We also provide free family fun events to promote healthy family interactions and enrich relationships between parents and children enrolled in our program. The ymca continues to be a leader in early care and education. In 2017 pennsylvania tax credit donations provided preschool education credits of $18,500 to 14 children. Last year, over 2,700 participants were served in licensed child care.

our y is committed to improving the health of our community. We strive to bring families closer together, encourage good health and foster connections through fitness, sports, fun and shared interests. As a result, more than 39,000 people in our community are receiving the support, guidance and resources they need to achieve greater health in spirit, mind and body. Our programs are designed to help people create realistic goals for self-improvement and emphasize disease prevention through regular exercise, proper nutrition, stress management and health education. Sports programs for families and adults promote teamwork, interaction and development of social and physical skills. In 2017, the ymca offered more than 1,800 free swim lessons to low-income children. We collaborate with other agencies to provide programs structured specifically for those over 65 years of age, including land and water exercise, as well as an opportunity for social interaction. Our aquatic programs start developing physical skills with infancy, with parent/child swim class and continue up through our arthritis aquatics class for seniors; our family swim program gives adults and children shared time in the pool to appreciate one another and promote inter generational relationships. Through holistic health programs, the y has added a number of natural healing therapeutic services to our menu of community programs including energy healing, reiki, qigong, pre/postnatal yoga and a community education series tackling topics related to posture, herbs, acupuncture, chronic pain and others. Many of these programs are adapted for youth and family audiences throughout the year. In 2017, the ymca partnered with the regional cancer center to offer a free holistic health series - wellness for life - to cancer patients and their caregivers. Our y continues to emphasize serving populations with special needs including adaptive swimming lessons, movement and strength building classes for youth and adults, support groups for those living with chronic illness and youth recreation programs/day camp/afterschool experiences for those in the autism spectrum. We also recognize that more than 3,400 local veterans are seeking treatment for posttraumatic stress syndrome and extend holistic programs and free memberships to those currently enrolled in treatment. Teen center the ymca teen center is a youth development program that focuses on providing year-round activities for low-income youth 12-18 years of age. These activities promote healthy behaviors that are linked to success in the areas of education, career readiness and health. The program's goal is to expose the teens to the forty (4) developmental assets and help guide them to become contributing adult members of the erie community. We concentrate on character development, societal issues, academics, arts/self-expression, career exploration and post-secondary readiness. Our monthly calendar reflects priorities with programs such as life thru music which is an innovative music mentoring program that integrates traditional music training with a business training model, life thru dance which offers teens the opportunity to take structured dance classes, creative expression which allows teens to express themselves on the page through journal writing, drawing, painting and daily homework help. We also have weekly speaker series were local business leaders and entrepreneurs come talk to our teens about their backgrounds, careers and education level needed to obtain high paying, family-wage sustaining jobs. Woven into programming are also activities that build physical health of the youth as well including a partnership with gannon university's club fit, weight lifting, traveling basketball and more. Volunteer involvement in 2017, we had over 850 volunteers generate over 25,000 hours of volunteer service to the y and to other local nonprofits, totaling more than $260,000. We have been called on by peer ys and other nonprofits to help them in their volunteer program evolution and are looked to by local nonprofits as an expert in volunteer management. Our services are offered at affordable fees for the community at large, with reasonable accommodations for those with special needs, and with financial assistance available for those who cannot afford the full fee. The ymca provided more than $870,000 in financial assistance for 8,000 members. We served over 39,000 participants

our y is committed to providing educational equity to those most at risk for success. The ymca of greater erie partnered with the city of erie and the commonwealth of pennsylvania to bring this important program to the erie community. Pre k counts is an initiative created by the commonwealth of pennsylvania and private foundations to build and strengthen pre-kindergarten partnerships in communities so that each community can create a self-sustaining system for providing high quality early learning experiences to children in all settings. This program sponsored approximately 318 children in 2017.

the ymca believes in giving back and supporting our neighbors through a collaboration with the city of erie. The ymca operates the erie city summer parks and swim program in the heart of downtown neighborhoods, providing activities, field trips, meals, special events, open swimming, and mentoring to more than 1,000 youth 6 years through 18 years, most from low-income families. Our y also operates the city of erie's brian lee crosby learn to swim program targeting low-income families providing swim lessons to 227 children. The ymca collaborates with the housing authority of the city of erie to operate the summer recreation program at four sites, along with portable swimming pools. The school year program includes five sites, including a library and art house. Participants in these programs are from low income households living in or near subsidized housing and are given opportunities to participate in ymca programs, sports, meals, incentive award programs for good behavior, track and field, golf, art, dance, photography, theater, and special field trips. Collaborations with an area medical hospital, girl scouts and boy scouts, 4-h, therapy dogs and local drug prevention agencies enhance the program opportunities for more than 1,000 youth.