YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Y Summer Learning Programs
Too
often, learning loss occurs over the summer and makes the school year a time of
struggling to catch up instead of soaring ahead. In fact, kids who don’t have the opportunity
to participate in summertime activities fall even further behind.
However,
thanks to the Y’s summer learning programs, hundreds of students are now in the
middle of a more successful school year. Building on this success, the Y will be expanding its proven programs to
help prevent summer learning loss.
Year-round,
the Y supports local public schools and students through Community Learning
Centers and other programs. Currently,
the Y is building its strategy for those programs for the coming summer and
beyond – expanding capacity and quality to reach more students.
HEALTHY LIVING
Working For Health Equity
With
rates of diabetes and other chronic diseases disproportionately higher than
average among Latinos/as and African Americans, the Y is stepping up its
healthy living programming to better support these communities, with an
emphasis on south King County.
This
year the YMCA of Greater Seattle was one of 10 U.S. YMCAs to receive a
Community Transformation Grant (CTG), a program that supports chronic disease
prevention. The CTG’s goal is to make
healthy living easier and more affordable where people work, live, learn and
play – especially in communities that reflect health disparities, such as south
King County.
“The
Y believes that everyone deserves to live life to its fullest regardless of socioeconomic
background, ethnicity, age, abilities, where they live or who they are,” says
Robert B. Gilbertson, President/CEO of the YMCA of Greater Seattle.
The
Auburn Valley and Matt Griffin Ys have launched a Spanish-language version of
its Actively Changing Together (ACT!) program, a childhood obesity prevention
program bringing kids and parents together to learn about making healthy
choices. In addition, the YMCA’s
Diabetes Prevention Program, also offered in Spanish helps Latino/a adults at
risk for diabetes work towards healthy change.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Fitness & Fellowship Lead The Way HomeIn
the University District, tens of thousands of young adults live in houses,
apartments and residence halls, pursuing their dreams. At the same time, a large and growing number
of youth are leaving foster care or abusive situations, living on the streets
because they have no other options.
For
years, the University Family YMCA has helped these young people address basic
needs; for example, the Y hosts a free lunch each Sunday, run by volunteers who
bring and serve a variety of healthy foods.
This
year, the Y decided that the growing need in the community called for a greater
response. It began offering a fitness
program in which homeless youth are able to earn a Y membership. They attend a required fitness and weight
room orientation to learn more about why exercise is important, how to use the
equipment and how to set fitness goals. They also do community service, such as volunteering at the Y or helping
with the Sunday lunch.
The
membership program is now serving as a path toward finding housing, made
possible through a partnership between the University Family Y, the Y’s Young
Adult Services (YAS), ROOTS Young Adult Shelter and the U District Service
Providers Alliance (UDSPA).
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