YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION

Youth development: our ymca is committed to nurturing the god-given potential of every child and teen. We believe all kids have great potential and deserve the opportunity to discover who they are and what they can achieve. We help young people cultivate the values, skills, and relationships that lead to positive behaviors, better health, and educational achievement. Our ymca programs, such as school age programs before and afterschool care, summer camp, leaders clubs, swim, sports & play, and others, offer a range of experiences that enrich social-emotional, cognitive, and physical growth. (continued on schedule o)throughout the school year, the ymca afterschool partnership with all four county school districts provides before and afterschool care to infant, toddler, pre-k, elementary, and middle school-age children residing in our service area. Ymca school-age care ensures that the time gaps before and after school are filled creatively and constructively. This program provides working parents with safe, educational, affordable, and high-quality supervision for their children. Our after-school programs focus on youth development for all communities with a holistic development approach. We operate in 58 schools that serve 5,060 children throughout the school year. Our ymca provides a quality curriculum using multiple partners for enrichment programs and evidence-based learning. All students enrolled in the after-school programs benefit from supplemental learning through activities, games, and fun and engaging projects. The ymca provided $312,000 in financial assistance to children enrolled in our before and after-school care programs in 2024. In all four counties, we provide literacy enrichment programming as part of our before and afterschool care. These programs give children access to books and encourage reading at least 90 minutes per week. The yreads program operates within one pinellas county elementary school and one citrus county elementary school, designated as lower-performing title 1 schools. The yreads program provides intensive small-group reading instruction with pre and post-tests to track gains. The juvenile welfare board of pinellas county (jwb) continued to provide substantial funding to the promise time program to serve children with financial needs at elementary school sites at no cost to them. In august of 2024, we added three additional sites to the program, providing it at twelve sites during the 2024-25 school year. The program offers tutors, school liaisons, and enrichment learning activities to connect the academic portions of the school day with the academic portions of the after-school program. We offer y middle school academies in two middle schools in pinellas county. These academies develop engaged students. Teachers work with the ymca to coordinate learning from the school day with the after-school program and provide homework assistance, tutoring, and stem activities. Ymca summer care programs serve children from preschool through their teen years across our four-county service area. These programs provide a fun, supportive environment where kids build friendships, learn new skills, and gain self-confidence. In 2024, 2,664 children participated in our summer programs, which offered high-quality, affordable, and safe care led by trained staff. The ymca provided $123,000 in financial assistance to help families access summer camp.modeled after the national ymca framework, our summer camps offer a balanced blend of academic enrichment and outdoor social experiences. Designed to nurture the spirit, mind, and body, these camps promote self-esteem and personal growth in a fun and respectful setting. Activities include field trips, arts and crafts, music, archery, values-based learning, fitness, sports, nature exploration, swimming, and canoeing.the pinellas county school board contracted again with us to provide wrap-around and full-day care for children in their summer bridge program. Summer bridge provides engaging learning activities over the summer to prepare students for maximum success when the next school year begins. We served 600 children with wrap-around summer camp, funded by the juvenile welfare board, who attended the summer school learning sessions to bring them closer to their grade-level requirements.the y has also committed to serving individuals with special needs and challenges through camp coast (children on the autism spectrum together). The summer program provides children on the spectrum with a specialized and valuable day camp experience that allows them to feel comfortable in a safe, fun, and nurturing environment. Ymca swim, sports, and play programs promote an appreciation of one's worth. Young people participating in sports build lifelong positive attitudes, establish exercise and proper healthy nutrition habits, and learn ways to have fun. This year, our youth sports programs served 2,339 youth in programs such as baseball, dance, gymnastics, soccer, flag football, basketball, tennis, tae kwon do, volleyball, swim teams, pickle ball, and others.the ymca youth in government program serves high school students in hernando and citrus counties. Students learn first-hand about government and civic issues and collaborate on possible solutions, culminating once a year with a state conference in tallahassee with other teens from around the state. Youth leadership pinellas and youth leadership citrus seeks to educate interested high school teens on local community issues, develop leadership potential, and foster involvement in community services. Classes in 2024 contained 60 students, providing the opportunity to meet community decision-makers, and graduates are better prepared to take on their leadership roles. Teen leaders club is a year-long leadership development program for middle and high school teens. This program provides teens with extensive leadership training and volunteer opportunities that support ymca programs and serve the community. In addition to teaching teens leadership through service, leaders club introduces teens to all the work the y does to strengthen the community and inspires and prepares teens to become future y leaders. The yearlong program is highlighted with a weeklong trip to leaders school in the blue ridge mountains of north carolina. We continue to have growing teen leaders clubs at four of our y branches. The bridging the achievement gap (btag) / achievers program at the ridgecrest branch of the ymca of the suncoast continued in 2024. The program identifies students at risk of dropping out of school, being held back, not meeting graduation requirements, and not being sufficiently prepared to enter college or the workforce. It helps them explore, determine, and pursue education and career goals. Successful participation in the program results in increased high school graduation rates, acceptance to higher education institutions, and successful transition into the workforce. The program goal is to improve academic performance and reduce the achievement gap by facilitating the development of non-cognitive factors: social and emotional learning and academic behaviors. The btag program focuses on individual goals designed to aid each high school student develop their full potential by creating individualized plans for each participant based on their needs and goals. We continue our early learning readiness (elr) programs in the clearwater and high point communities in pinellas county. This free program targets primarily hispanic/latino families and is for caregivers, parents, and their children aged five and under. This program helps children build bilingual language skills and prepares them to enter school ready to succeed. This year, the program gave the parents and caregivers of 29 children skills to enhance learning.