Young Mens Christian Association Of Kingston And Ulster County

The ymca afterschool programming has been offered for 30 years. Presently, the ymca offers afterschool programming at three sites in kingston, two sites in new paltz, one site in marlboro, one site in highland, one site in rondout, and one site in ellenville. The afterschool programs operate under the three ymca causes of youth development, healthy living and social responsibility. It fosters the characteristics of honesty, respect, caring and responsibility through the programs and activities of each camp. Programs in these community elementary schools offer a range of opportunity for social, physical and emotional growth with activities such as arts and crafts, steam projects, quiet reading or yoga, playground time, and indoor/outdoor games. Afterschool participants also receive homework help, and are given choice time where they can choose their own activity. Participation enrollment is based on a fee structure with subsidies available from the ymca. Subsidies cover over 30 daily participants by effective use of community donations, grants and support payments from county department of social services, the county youth bureau, united way and local fundraisers. These fund raisers include our annual pro-am golf tournament, our annual strong kids solicitation, annual dinner, annual indoor triathlon, annual reindeer ramble, and the kids classic.

The ymca farm project has been operating for over six years. The ymca farm is an urban, educational farm located at the ymca in midtown kingston, new york. We use organic growing methods to grow food for our immediate community. We sell our hyper local fruits and vegetables at farm stands in the lobby of the y. We work with pre-schoolers through high-schoolers, bringing young people to the farm to get their hands dirty as they learn, work, explore and play on the farm. The farm project also hosts community work days and farm based events, providing opportunities for people of all ages to contribute to the farm. During spring, summer, and fall our youth development program offers 14-18 year olds the opportunity to work on our farm, help run our farm stands and gain valuable employment experience while earning an hourly wage. During the winter months, november-march, we run cooking crew for area youth. Cooking crew meets once a week to prepare a meal from scratch. Youth work together to cook a multi-course meal. We then sit down and share a meal as a group. We invite community members and leaders to sit down and break bread with us as well. Youth participants earn a stipend for their participation. The farm offers field trips for area schools, scouting groups, homeschool groups and more. We offer field trips in may-october and they typically last 1.5 hours. Children will engage in real work around the farm-it might be seeding, transplanting, harvesting, watering, or clearing a bed. We always include a sensory tour as well which engages children to explore using sight, sound, taste, smell and touch. Bark = b.a.r.k. = beautifying and restoring kingston is coordinated through the farm educator. Bark youth participants learn skills related to environmental stewardship and community engagement. B.a.r.k. Works around the city of kingston cleaning up, painting, planting, and beautifying. The farm and its programs are subsidized entirely by private and public grants, city of kingston funding, county funding of summer youth employment, donations and local fundraisers.

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