They retain a commitment to serve all ages, abilities, and income to meet the community needs. The YMCA was found to address the problems of its communities and now YMCA looks at cities and towns leading new initiatives to help meet the needs of youth and their families. The YMCA ensures that people have the opportunity to become healthier, more confident, and secure in their own neighborhood. The original YMCA started in London in 1844 with a small group of young men who were new to the city. They came to look for jobs, but instead they found tenement housing and dangerous street influences. Twenty- two year old George Williams and 11 of his friends organized the first Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), which was a safe place to study the Bible and escape from the dangerous life of the streets (Maier, 2000). This association opened up to different members helping people meet social needs in the community. The YMCA made people feel safe and it also built a place for friendship because people started going there to share ideas and problems that they had. As days went by, YMCA became more popular and new associations opened up in different parts of the United States. One popular YMCA program, which is right here in New York City, is Cross Island YMCA Beacon Center. The Cross Island YMCA Beacon Center believes in promoting social and emotional growth in the people of the community. This program offers a wide variety of programs and services to help people learn healthy behavior and positive values. For teen programs, they offer services such as sports (basketball, martial arts, tennis, etc.), creative arts (dance, drama, step team, etc.), and visual arts (art works, fashion design, and photo works). These services help teens... ... middle of paper ... ... others to stay healthy. One important social problem that this agency addresses is poverty and lack of education. The Cross Island YMCA Beacon Center uses the social policy of education to improve educational outcomes for youth, particularly in low-income communities. YMCAs across the country provide academic support and enrichment in both early learning and also out of school environment. The Beacon Center offer tutoring, mentoring, and counseling for the youth so they can have the tools and motivation to succeed in school and in life. The agency provides many programs for the youth to help children interact with other people enhancing the child to mature emotionally and socially. Also, children who come from families that struggle to make ends meet have the opportunity to develop skills in different areas such as computer skills, drama, and graphic designs.
Ever experienced cheer camp a famous college? Surround by its famous color orange and blue? Well, I did! A tremendous amount of people have their different ideas an exciting experience in their life. Although out of all of the exciting experiences I’ve ever experienced , I would have to say my favorite is when I visited The University of Florida for cheer camp my sophomore year. I was overly excited about spending four days at The University of Florida; I stayed up all night the night before packing and getting ready to finally stay at a college for four days with my fellow cheer sisters. From that experience I learned a lot about sticking together as a team, and friendship! But, most importantly, I learned that bonding together as a team is what got us to finish strong at the end. Those four days really opened my eyes to a lot of different things and I’m glad I can say that I really enjoyed myself.
“When schools, parents, families, and communities work together to support learning, students tend to earn higher grades, attend school more regularly, stay in school longer, and enroll in higher level programs.” (Van Roeckel, 2008, p. 1) Deer Valley High School in Glendale, AZ is the first high school built in the Deer Valley Unified Scholl District, and with a population around 1800 students, the high school is one of the bigger schools in the state. It has a tradition of family on its’ campus, where there are still teachers teaching that were there when the school opened in 1980. A number of former students have become new teachers on campus and just about all the teachers’ children have attended and graduated from the campus. With a school like ours, there are many connections to the community around it and it is demonstrated by the programs that bring in parent and community to help with the development of our students. There are numerous booster clubs run on our campus to help support student achievement on the sports fields, a school to work programs to teach the students necessary skills in different areas of either nursing, sports medicine classes, and in the culinary arts classrooms, and funding to our school to help ensure all students graduate on time. There are many programs on our campus, but I will discuss four of the programs: baseball booster club, C2G program, “school-to-work”, and the special education program sponsored by Arrowhead Hospital. These programs are designed to improve the relationships between the campus and the people in the community, and give all students on campus every opportunity to succeed in their future.
I should be a member of the STEM Ravens cheer team. I would be a good edition to the team because I love my school, I exercise the LYP traits, and I have previous cheer experience. If I get on the team, I will show school spirit at games. Even if we don't have a game, school spirit is what keeps everyone going throughout the week. Without cheerleaders to boost spirit, the sports teams would not be doing as good as they are.
I began by tutoring at the Boys and Girls Club (BGC) and eventually became a teacher at the boys and girls club. The focus of my continued volunteer work was to enrich the children’s after school experience whether they needed help with homework or busy work. During my volunteer work the issue that stuck out in my mid continuously was social class or classism. The BGC emphasizes many different issues and points such as “creating aspirations for the future,” “Helping youth become responsible, caring citizens and acquire skills for participating in the democratic process is the main thrust of these programs and also to develop leadership skills and provide opportunities for planning, decision-making.” BGC encourages kids to engage in healthy and positive behavior as well as to help the youth build and discover creativity in the arts “Club programs help develop fitness, a positive use of leisure time, reduction of stress, appreciation for the environment and social and interpersonal skills.” (bgca.org)
The YMCA is the nation's largest not-for-profit community service organization in America. With more than 2,500 YMCAs, they are able to meet the health and social service needs of 18.9 million men, women and children in over 10,000 communities in the United States. No one is turned away from the Y. It is a place for people fo all faiths, races, abilities, ages and incomes. Inability to pay is never a reason for the YMCA to turn someone away. Their strength lies in fulfilling their goal of bringing people together.
Nelson, Judith. "Ensuring Quality Service-Learning Experiences for At-Risk Adolescents." Prevention Researcher. 18.1 (2011): 14-17. Print.
Another benefit that the YMCA has brought to society has been through its collaboration with academia (Lee, 2010). As early as 1885, the YMCA has been instrumental in creating movements such as the one that resulted in the School for Christian Workers in Massachusetts, now called the International YMCA Training School, or Springfield College (Lee, 2010). Similarly, the Chicago YMCA established the Institute and Training School of the YMCA in 1896 (Lee, 2010). Ultimately, this school conferred its first degrees, Bachelor of Association Science, in 1911 (Lee,
Some conflicts we may come across would be having them participate in the program. To overcome this difficultly, our program offers, a system similar to that of Big Brothers/Big Sisters pairing an elder or an ex-gang member to act as an authoritative figure from the aboriginal community with a youth. These ex- gang members will easily relate and connect with youths, making them more comfortable with themselves, society, and with family and friends. Helping them to learn things about their culture, spirituality, language, rituals, and relationship with Mother Earth, along with the importance of education and clean living. All aboriginal youths will meet with their mentors who have become positive and influential in leading these troubled youths to success. This program will provide youth with different activities to enjoy. This includes sports, cooking, art and many other activities. If youths are interested in other activities, the program will supply what they need. In addition, youths will be taught basic skills such as communication, problem solving, and life skills aimed towards correcting behavioural problems; encouraging schooling, post-secondary and employment. This program will be offered after school as well as on all reserves. The program will be accessible for all Aboriginal youth gang members. This after school program will provide snacks and drinks to all who
YMCA looks for candidates that demonstrate their desire and abilities to support the community and associated greater causes. Candidates with desired skills and volunteer experience have increased chances of advancing to the final rounds of interviews. YMCA looks for candidates that are energetic and strive make their communities healthier places to live and work in.
There is a great need for a radical change in the way we address the disparity of our youth today. I am offering a program to address these issues and create a program to capture the essence of the problem in advance. Many youth in the
Children's Bureau offers a numerous amount of Prevention services to the public in need of help both to adults and children some of which include; community initiatives like Daycare for parents who are participating in any mentoring activities that the agency offers like English classes/ parenting classes, counseling for domestic violence for adults as well as counseling for children. Children's Bureau offers a program to prepare children for school called school readiness this program helps children up to the age of five learn academic activities like the alphabet, colors, numbers, shapes, phonics, reading, math and science. The agency also has a resource for children already attending a school like afterschool tutoring, and a lounge to do
The mission statement of this facility is “To put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all.” YMCA serves any type of age group starting from six months old to the elderly. I was actually surprised when I heard that they serve six month old babies! I came during lunch time so a few of the staff were on lunch so they weren’t present but I was told that there was fifty full-time employees and one
Community involvement provides an opportunity to let our youth experience social environments, while also feeling safe in those social environments (Richardson, 2014). Working together and staying strong as a community will maintain the message that is targeted towards our youth (Greenwood, 2005). It is a beneficial and valuable opportunity to work as a team and learn from one another, and this opportunity is what our communities need (2016). Being able to bring community-based services to a family helps parents to be able to address the appropriate discipline for the behavior problems that they are encountering, as well as resolving any arguments or problems (2001). Being able to be a part of a community and working together works for families; it is a great approach that can build the support that is needed, as well as the strength necessary to keep our youth in our communities and out of prisons (Timberlake,
YMCA is a non-profited organization for youth to set and achieve their educational and personal goals. Giving these youth an opportunity to prepare themselves for the future, will give them the confidence and push they need to become successful. At the YMCA, they give guidance on how to use available resources to become active members of society. This organization engages the youth in the South Hampton area, which has a high poverty and homeless rate of 12.4% (Measuring Poverty Rates in Hampton Roads, 2013). Regardless of background or income, an opportunity is given to form a partnership to deliver change and strengthen the community.
We need to focus on making sure that our students are provided with valuable outside resources and services that will guide them in their personal lives. “If we’re truly serious about breaking cycles of poverty, inequality, and limited opportunity that place enormous constraints on our nation’s resources, we need to recognize and appropriately support education whether it is delivered in clinics, childcare centers, community-based organizations, libraries, church basements, or storefronts,” (Newman, p. 2). Just by mentoring a student and helping to take away their negative views can help them to achieve their goals. Students need to be nurtured and given hope. Poverty may be viewed as a bump in the road, but it is nothing a resilient child cannot overcome.