YMCA of the Roses

Healthy living: the Ymca of the Roses is committed to building a healthy community with healthy lifestyles. Our health and wellness programs provide opportunities for friendship and community, increased self-confidence, and the physical benefits of a healthier, fitter body. We believe that all people can benefit from Ymca wellness programs regardless of age, income, background, or ability. These programs include personal and group fitness classes, a comprehensive aquatics program, nutritional classes, and programs designed to help individuals in our community achieve a healthier lifestyle. Considered our most wide-ranging program, we offer aquatics to members of our community at any age. Through progressive lessons, water exercise & fitness, water safety, lifeguard certification, a competitive swim team, and a master's swim program, we help develop the whole person, physically, mentally, and spiritually from infancy to senior adulthood. In addition to indoor pools in four of our five branches, we have a separate state-of-the-art aquatic facility with both indoor and outdoor pools and an additional outdoor pool in our lampeter-strasburg ymca.during july, we offered free swim lessons at our graham aquatic center to inner-city youth. We collaborated with ten other non-profit organizations within the city to provide them with use of the pool during their summer programming at a discounted or free rate. That collaboration included 500 free passes to york city parks and recreation for their summer camp programs to utilize our outdoor pool. Our aquatic program, in addition to all of our healthy living programs, is about more than just the techniques and skills; it is about building friendships, developing self-esteem, and creating positive experiences that will last a lifetime. As part of our dedication to building a healthy community, our southern branch Ymca provided free swim lessons to second graders as a part of the fishes program (free instructional swim helps every second-grader). the purpose of fishes is to build life-saving swimming & water safety skills in children in our community and further illustrates our commitment to our community. We also offer many programs that address chronic diseases. Livestrong at the Ymca allows cancer patients and survivors to regain their physical and spiritual strength over 12 weeks. We offered this to over 100 participants at no charge. the Ymca's diabetes prevention program, a community-based lifestyle improvement program for adults with prediabetes, empowers them with lasting lifestyle changes that improve their overall health and reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Rock steady boxing helps individuals with parkinson's disease slow the progression of their illness, find a supportive community, and prevent falls or injury. Alzheimer's association community education sessions provided care, education, and support to those affected by alzheimer's and dementia and partnered with the Ymca to offer free, one-hour educational sessions to all members of our community.because the Ymca is a community-based organization, and we believe our services should be available to everyone, we offer ""membership for all,"" our financial assistance program. Firmly aligning with our mission, membership for all is an income-based pricing strategy through which we can provide the opportunity for a healthier spirit, mind, and body to all, regardless of income. the Ymca also offers a free temporary membership extension to any member experiencing loss of employment and free memberships to eligible military families and personnel. Our ultimate goal is to reduce the barriers to healthy living for all kids & families within our community. In the current year, we promoted healthy living by serving 65,000 individuals in the community and provided direct financial assistance of $342,682.

Youth development: at the Ymca of the Roses, we are committed to engaging youth in year-round asset-building activities resulting in productive members of society, who have life-long relationships with the Ymca. Our youth programs reduce risky behaviors, promote a sense of belonging, and provide a safe environment where kids learn leadership skills and character. We believe that, by developing critical skills and character in youth, we are helping them to grow up to become healthy, caring, and prosperous adults. Ymca youth sports programs provide youth with positive activities and caring adult attention. Youth sports are offered at our five branches and include but are not limited to: basketball, soccer, t-ball, baseball, softball, flag football, lacrosse, and girls' club volleyball. These sports programs foster positive competition, teamwork, and family involvement. Specialty sports camps are offered for more specialized and higher-level instruction in baseball, basketball, fencing, soccer, softball, and volleyball. Our y achievers and temple guard programs help socio-economically disadvantaged youth develop a positive sense of self and sets high education and career goals. During the out-of-school supplemental education program, mentors expose participants to various careers, assist with sat/act test preparation, and impart positive and appropriate behaviors for youth and teens to model. Students also go on college tours, preparing them for post-secondary education. Participants also remain active and build discipline in temple guard, our military-style drum and step team that performs throughout the community at high-profile events.the Ymca is committed to offering educational programs intended to address academic and gender gaps experienced by disadvantaged youth. the Ymca's achievement gap initiative targets the root issues of educational inequality through the summer learning loss prevention program (sllp), a six-week, full-day program for low-income children. the sllp program supports disadvantaged children's literacy and academic progress to mitigate summer learning loss. We offer a high-quality summer day camp program that provides a safe, values-driven environment to keep youth engaged, active, and learning throughout the summer. We provide children ages five to fifteen with summer adventures that promote a healthy spirit, mind, and body. Children spend time indoors and outdoors as experienced staff leads campers in various daily activities, including arts & crafts, games, sports & fitness activities, instructional & recreational swimming, and weekly off-site field trips. Our day camp allows youth to have fun and make new friends while participating in character-building, skill development, and healthy living activities. In the current year, the Ymca promoted youth development to approximately 2,000 youth and provided direct financial assistance of $40,696.

Child care: the Ymca of the Roses offers developmentally appropriate learning activities for infants to school-age children through a full-day child care program, a full-day pre-kindergarten program, and multiple dpw licensed school-age child care locations, most of which have achieved keystone stars designations. the pre-kindergarten counts is a free state-sponsored program in partnership with the school district of lancaster to provide high-quality pre-kindergarten services at no cost to families. the Ymca child care services offer quality, affordable care for families, many of whom would not be able to continue their employment without our services. Our enriched curriculum includes language arts, numbers, science, music, arts & humanities, gymnastics, and swimming. A caring and nurturing staff offers activities in a positive learning environment. Our 13-site school-age child care program provides safe, supervised, enriched programming in 9 school districts throughout our service area. These sites help meet a community's need for productive, structured after-school activities. We provide a safe environment where children can learn, grow and thrive. Trained staff provides homework supervision, crafts, and recreational activities at all our school-age child care locations. We partner with other community agencies such as the united way of york county, private foundations, and government agencies to ensure that no one is turned away due to an inability to pay. In 2023, we offered child care for approximately 1,000 children and gave direct financial assistance of $166,705.

Social responsibility: our focus on social responsibility has led to extensive work in community stabilization, which has further led to substantial community development. We do so through substance abuse counseling services, a homeless men's residence, emergency shelter rooms, housing counseling programs, and access to affordable housing units owned by related entities. the Ymca offers relief programs designed to provide emergency support services. the at-risk after school meal and summer food service program joins in the nationwide fight against child hunger by serving lunch and dinner to any child in need. the Ymca's mobile feeding bus is part of our year-round effort to address child hunger by providing nutritious food and activities to keep kids' minds and bodies active. In 2023, the Ymca's at-risk after school meal and summer food service program provided meals to over 20,000 members of our community. the southern community services (scs) program provides essential social and support services to low and moderate-income residents of southern york county through an emergency food and case management assistance, which allows the community to persevere in hard times. During the fiscal year 2023, southern community services served over 2,600 members of the community. the Ymca's new american welcome center (nawc) is designed to help immigrantsalso referred to as newcomersfully integrate into american society and prepare to receive communities to be welcoming and inclusive. In 2023, the new american welcome center provided referrals to over 1,500 individuals and families needing housing, food, rental assistance, puc benefits, and many more resources. We have begun to build a better foundation within our community by reaching out to people and inviting them to interact and build relationships with the Ymca beyond the traditional membership arrangement. As of 2023, the nawc works closely with community partners like wellspan health and united way of york county.we also expanded our community work in lancaster county. We are running a safety around water program to teach individuals, youths, and families from disadvantaged backgrounds, such as refugees and low-income households, how to avoid drowning and other water-related incidents. Participants in this program often graduate into our swim lessons, with financial assistance making them available for all. Our y achievers program is giving youths in lancaster city opportunities to prepare for college or their careers, while our temple guard drill team is making sure they stay active in the community and connected with positive influences. the Ymca of the Roses partners with many other community-based organizations. We work with spiritrust lutheran in our york city and shrewsbury branches to offer older adults classes to their residents and access to our warm water pool in shrewsbury. Our city center Ymca in downtown lancaster collaborates with the office of aging to offer services for older adults, including wellness activities and educational sessions. the lampeter-strasburg Ymca partners with local school districts to deliver youth programs and host special events, such as its free healthy kids day youth and family festival. Numerous other nonprofits and government entities, including lifepath christian ministries, york city, the lancaster stem alliance, and indigo, work with the Ymca to offer housing, direct assistance, community development, and educational programming to local residents.