YMCA of Yonkers Inc.

Filing Period

Jan 1, 2012 to Dec 31, 2012

Signed

Nov 15, 2013

Return Version

2012v2.1

Gross Receipts

$2,151,921

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

In an effort to address the community's gap in teen programs the ymca provides offers a continuum of services that meets the diverse needs of over 500 teens annually. "real talk", the yonkers family ymca's life skills training program continues to tackle traditional and contemporary teen issues. Our youth employment-training program expanded to provide employment-training, preparation, life skills and placement to over 400 youth annually. Our four core areas of certification include media production, childcare, personal and group fitness and lifeguarding. Low-income individuals with limited exposure to the world of work may lack the "soft skills" needed to get a job, stay employed, and advance. Soft skills are the nontechnical skills, abilities, and traits that workers need to function in a specific employment environment. They include four sets of workplace competencies: problem solving and other cognitive skills, oral communication skills, personal qualities and work ethic, and interpersonal and teamwork skills. Attitude, workplace etiquette, reliability and poor customer service skills are the most cited reasons for employee termination in entry-level positions. The ymca and its partners incorporate soft skills training into our traditional job readiness training program, which also includes the following content areas: - interviewing techniques - resume preparation- job shadowing and internship - wage gain (for those not working we will find employment opportunities- job coaching and professional mentorship to support wage gain as skills are increased), and job maintenance and retention.- participation in local and regional job fairsthe yonkers family ymca higher education service program (hesp) is supported through ymca of the usa and its partnership with the lumina foundation, the city of yonkers cdbg program, westchester county department of social services, community partnerships and fundraisers planned by our participants. This year over 200 youth participated in our hesp. The yonkers ymca and partners provided our participants with daily tutorial sessions, weekly life skills workshops and service learning opportunities, visits to local colleges, overnight college tours and college fairs held at the ymca and in the community. We also provided college prep and college retention services, sat preparation through the ymca and let's get ready, financial literacy workshops and support in applying for financial aid through our college goal sunday partnership. Our college tour this year included a tour of colleges in washington dc including georgetown, american, howard and george washington universities. During our college tour, life skill classes were also offered including workshops and exposure to cultural arts and entertainment. In october 2010, the yonkers ymca launched the snug program. Modeled after chicago ceasefire, yonkers snug aims to reduce the incidence of shootings and killings in yonkers by employing "credible messengers" (formerly incarcerated individuals) to provide crisis intervention, intensive mediation, outreach, community education and coalition building. The snug program engages the most "at risk" youth who have been involved in or closely associated with past acts of violence and "gang/street activity" activity. The snug program targeted nodine hill and schlobaum housing projects, which have been the violent "hot spots" in the community of yonkers for more than 10 years. During the summer of 2010, twenty -seven shootings occurred in a 20-day period. In 2012, no shootings occurred in the target zone for the year and two outside of the target zone for which snug coordinated a response. None of the shootings resulted in a fatality. The snug team provided intense and prolonged mediation to prevent retaliation, which included wake and funeral security, hospital intervention, community meetings, rallies and healing services following the shootings. Based on the yonkers police department comstat reports viol

Activity 3

The yonkers family ymca offers a continuum of health and wellness programs aimed at helping our members and program participants develop a balance of mind, body and spirit. More than 3,000 individuals benefit annually from our wellness programs. As a learning organization, the yonkers family ymca is dedicated to helping individuals and families develop healthier lifestyles through exercise, improved nutrition, and stress reduction, emotional, social and spiritual development. Our wellness center and weight room is equipped with over 50 fitness stations including cardio, strength and free weight equipment. We offer a wide array of exercise classes including zumba, body sculpting, aerobics, kid's fitness, calisthenics, adult and youth sports, active older adults, silver sneakers, martial arts, boxing and of course aquatics. The ymca has served as a leader in the area of water safety (swim lessons and lifeguard training) water exercise and competitive swim programs. Our programs have been designed to meet the needs of our members which allow participants to grow and learn at their own pace, master skills, build and improve their self-confidence and esteem and improve health outcomes at every age. Our program participants range in age from six months to 97 years of age. These programs are crucial in that they help individuals and families develop a foundation for a healthier lifestyle which will reduce their risk of developing chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and obesity related illnesses. This year the yonkers family ymca placed greater emphasis in working with our partners to create programs that reduce health disparities in minority and impoverished neighborhoods. Through our community feeding initiative, we served over 115,000 hot meals. We collaborated with over 25 community and government agencies to host, sponsor and co-sponsor over 95 health/wellness and cultural events throughout yonkers. We expanded our healthy lifestyle/education initiatives through health smart behaviors and salsa sabor y salud. Both programs health education/behavior modification programs, designed to increase healthy eating and exercise practices, improve self-esteem and provide individuals and families needed with tools to maintain a healthier lifestyle. We continue to work diligently with our members and community partners to develop strategies to prevent diabetes, hypertension, obesity and related illnesses as well as strategies on how to reverse the diagnosis that many of our members are currently living with. We have seen tremendous improvement in the health of our youth and adult members and anticipate seeing greater impact as we widen our efforts. The yonkers family ymca will continue to work with our partners to offer onsite health screens including blood pressure, glucose, bmi, waist measurements, hiv and hepatitis c and physical stress tests. Screening, early detection and diagnosis with coordinated referral to medical treatment and follow-up have produced a very positive impact in the health outcomes of our community. The ymca will look to develop closer relationships with medical service providers in the next year as we seek to expand our response to issues of health and wellness that challenge our community.

Filer

EIN

13-1740520