IMPACT REPORT 2016
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YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND / IMPACT REPORT 2016
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YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND
Thanks to caring individuals like you, the YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND brings transformational programs and services to thousands of people throughout our community every day. Whether providing youth with job skills, educating children or bringing families closer together, the Y changes lives. The inspiring stories in this 2016 Impact Report are a testament to the incredible work happening in your YMCA. These transformational outcomes would not be possible without your investment of time, talent or treasure.
The Y. For a better us.™
IMPACT REPORT 2016
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Dear friends, In my opinion, you cannot be a part of the YMCA and not be transformed. Whether that transformational is physical, mental or spiritual, all of us begin our YMCA journey as one person, but overtime evolve into a better version of ourselves. Everyone’s journey is different. You will see that in the pages of the 2016 Impact Report. This report tells stories of transformation that might not have happened without the YMCA. For thousands of people throughout Greater Richmond every day, the YMCA is their safe haven, second home and second family. Thank you for supporting the YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND. To our donors, partners, volunteers and staff, the work you do matters. It is our shared commitment that the Y that allows us to encourage, love and support all who come through our doors. This is the work we make possible together.
ROB ALEXANDER Chair YMCA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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36% // In Virginia, 36 percent of middle school students care for themselves after school, and only 9 percent participate in after-school programs.
9% // We served more than 2,100 children every day through YMCA Before-and After-School Care in kindergarten8th grade.
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Learning beyond the bell. That’s how Y staff describe the NextUp program, which partners the YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND with Richmond City Public Schools and other program providers to educate local middle school students. Over 600 students from Henderson, Boushall and Lucille Brown Middle Schools participate in the fully-subsidized program that provides students hands-on learning and exploration of
interests, positive role models and freedom to participate in educational activities. Students are also given healthy snacks and transportation home every day. On average, students attend NextUp for at least 34 days of the entire school year. Research shows that if students participate in activities after school for at least 30 days there is a positive impact on their behavior, grades, and school day attendance.
NEXTUP BEYOND THE BELL
“The 2016-2017 school year kicked off strong with the opening of our third middle school partnership at Lucille Brown Middle School. With the Y as our site coordinating agency, NextUp-Lucille Brown has been a hit! Almost a quarter of the school’s students participated this year and we expect even more next year. The Y is a great partner across all three of our schools, helping us transform how middle school youth engage in learning beyond the school day.” - BARBARA COUTO SIPE, Executive Director of NextUp
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In 2016, Capital One and the YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND began a partnership to provide nearly 45 children enrolled in the NORTHSIDE FAMILY YMCA AfterSchool Program with a unique STEM education learning experience. The STEM education program uses Ozobots, tiny robots, to teach children basic coding and computer systems. The program is taught by Capital One Associates with valuable experience in their field. Our collaboration is a commitment to serving the children and families of the Northside community.
STEM KIDS
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IMPACT REPORT 2016
% // In a national survey last year, more than 78 percent of children said they had a positive experience with the STEM subject areas because of an after-school program.
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Power Scholars Academy™ is a five to six-week summer program that reduces learning loss in math and reading in K-8th graders. This partnership between the Y and the national nonprofit BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life), doesn’t just tackle summer learning loss—it builds strong youth academically, physically and emotionally. The program partners with local schools to support students in literacy, math, enrichment activities in STEM and the arts, along with a health curriculum. The partnership between BELL and the Y is dependent on a third partner—the schools. The partnership addresses the achievement gap by increasing access to high-quality summer learning for Title I school students. Students in our program gain an average of two months in reading and one month in math.
POWER SCHOLARS
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For an entire weekend, teens, ranging in ages from 12 – 17, took over the MIDLOTHIAN FAMILY YMCA – to learn how they could be the change they want to see in the world. As part of the 2016 Richmond Winter YMCA Teen Leaders’ Rally, nearly 500 teens from five different states came together to learn about the development and implementation of diversity and inclusion to help create a community where people from all walks of life feel appreciated, connected and welcomed. Teens participated in clinics and classes ranging from Inclusion in Leadership, Conflict Resolution and Global Service, as well as workshops where they discussed race, refugees, and special needs populations. The rally also held an LGBTQ workshop, in which the YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND was nationally recognized. For many of the teens, they say this rally was an eye opener. “Although we are constantly surrounded by others, daily demands hinder us from acknowledging each person’s unique differences. The rally instilled in me a curiosity to more intentionally learn
TEEN RALLY
about the people around me. By making a conscious decision to celebrate diversity, the differences that would typically divide a community can be channeled to produce something great,” said Caitlyn Snead Finally, as part of their commitment to service, the teens packed over 30,000 meals to send to countries all over the world from Cambodia to Afghanistan as part of a joint effort with Stop Hunger Now. YMCA Leadership say this rally was a turning point in not only the teens’ lives, but theirs. “Kids went home more thrilled about YMCA Leaders’ Club,” said Freddie Mibelli, Operations Director of Camp and Adventure Programs for the YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND. “A 7th grader said she walked away realizing, ‘Leaders’ club is for everybody. And everyone has the potential to be a leader.’ Knowing that we’re instilling that belief in youth, who will, in fact, be future leaders, means we really are making a difference.”
1,300
I M P A C T R E//P O1,300 R T 2 0youth 16 7
participated in YMCA teen programs in 2016.
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// More than 12,000 kids participated in YMCA Youth Sports programs helping them get active and learn new skills. // Nearly 1,600 children were given a bright start to the school year through YMCA Bright Beginnings.
// 6,100 teens received free summer memberships in the inaugural year of Totally Teen.
// 5,424 children explored their world, making lifelong friendships at YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND Summer Camps.
// Our Summer Camp participants take part in daily reading time. In 2016, our children accumulated a total of 2,717,200 minutes in reading time.
// We employed more than 3,200 individuals, of which 450 were teens.
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‘YES, I CAN’ Mikki Gales and her YMCA personal trainer, Leonard Hopkins, aka Hop, share a special bond. “He’s a good trainer. He pushes me even when I want to give up.” For nearly two years, Mikki has been a member of the NORTHSIDE FAMILY YMCA. In that time, she’s lost more than 100 pounds and no longer has to walk with the aid of a cane. “Hop just took both of my canes one day,” she says with a laugh. “He said I didn’t really need them
and he was right. I haven’t used them since.” Though she can laugh now, Mikki admits that fear and insecurity almost prevented her from joining the Y. “I thought everyone was going to be watching me because I was so overweight, but then I realized no one’s paying attention to me. Everyone here is just so friendly. Guys even come
up to me and say I’m their inspiration because of my progress. It makes me feel good.” Hop agrees and says he’s proud of Mikki’s physical and mental transformation. “Her doubtfulness that she couldn’t do anything is gone. She’s the type of person that gives life a different meaning. Instead of saying ‘I can’t’, she says ‘yes, I can.’
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IMPACT REPORT 2016
“This is my passion...” Debra Fleisher, 67, says with tears in her eyes. For more than 35 years, Debra has been teaching exercise classes, including ZUMBA Gold, Growing Younger, Aging Strong and ZUMBA at the DOWNTOWN YMCA. “I’m fortunate to be able to teach people of all ages. I tell them the ‘u’ in ZUMBA is you!” Debra had no idea that her years of exercise would be credited with saving her life. “On July 5, 2016, I was involved in a fourcar accident. I had a fractured spine, multiple hematomas, bleeding on the brain and other injuries. But within two weeks of the accident, I was out of the hospital leading a panel on the benefits of ZUMBA with the aid of a walker. Every doctor I spoke to said one of the reasons that I was able to recover is because of exercising all these years.” Debra understands how blessed she is to have survived the accident, but credits it to giving her new insight on her calling in life and how she’s able to use her position at the Y to help others. “A lot of participants think they can't do this class because they're seniors, but guess what so am I,” she says. “For me, I now have a stronger commitment. My transformation Is that I want to encourage seniors even more to be active because there are so many benefits. I know this is my mission and I’m going to do this for as long as I can.”
// THE AGING STRONG PROGRAM is the Y's community-based senior fitness program. In 2016, participation increased by 10 percent to more than 300 participants in the Greater Richmond region. During the 2016 program year, 66 percent of participants reported less loneliness and social isolation and the baseline number of individuals who had not been hospitalized for falls was at 95 percent.
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‘THEY SEE ME' Rafa Al Ameri fled war in Iraq, finding peace at the TUCKAHOE FAMILY YMCA
Rafah Al Ameri, 51, has a smile that instantly makes you want to be her friend. But it’s her story that truly warms your heart. Rafah is from Iraq. She fled the war-torn country in 2011, along with her young son, after her husband was killed. “I couldn’t stay anymore after I lost my husband. I needed a better future for my son,” she said. With family already here, she moved to the West End, but her new life in the U.S. wasn’t initially easy. “I was depressed and gained weight; I had nothing. So, my sister-in-law told me about the TUCKAHOE FAMILY YMCA. I joined immediately.” Rafah says she was amazed at how well she was treated. “I started making friends right away. I didn’t speak English that well, but people still invited me to sit and chat with them. Yes, I’m a Muslim woman, but when you have an organization as diverse as the Y, you can learn about other cultures and breakdown stereotypes. The Y has become my second family.” In 2016, Rafah became a U.S. citizen and celebrated her milestone with her Tuckahoe Y friends. For Rafah, her transformation is one of inner confidence. “I’m more secure and confident and I’m so thankful to the Y for that. There’s something so special about the Y. In their eyes, I’m an important person. When they just say ‘hello or good morning’ they don’t know how important that is to me. They see me.”
IMPACT REPORT 2016
39%
// We grew our participation in YMCA Diabetes Prevention and Control programs by 39 percent from 2015 to 2016.
// In 2016, more than 3,000 refugees resettled in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Nearly 400 of them in Richmond.* *dss.virginia.gov/family/ons/index.cgi
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// 6,619 volunteers gave over 100,127 hours of service worth a value of more than $2 million.
$5,948,514 // Nearly 177,000 individuals across the region were engaged with the YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND.
// The YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND provided $5,948,514 in financial assistance, removing barriers to participation and allowing us to remain open to all.
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DREAMS OF SUCCESS
“As part of my job, I provide students in Richmond City Public Schools with physical education and wellness activities. Allyn, now 16, is one of my standouts. He started out at Woodville Elementary, but eventually transferred to Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School (AJCES) in the city’s East End. Allyn is from a family of modest means, but that hasn’t limited his dreams of success. In fact, he plans on being a doctor, lawyer and a professional pianist one day. “I started to push Allyn to reach his full potential when he was at AJCES. He says that’s the first time in his life anyone ever did so. He was shy, but one of the brightest students I’d ever met. He listened, comprehended tasks, gave 110 percent and, most important, asked questions. My objective was to introduce Allyn, and his classmates, to as many different activities as possible. But what Allyn fell in love with most was golf. He played whenever he could and worked with the YMCA partner, First Tee. “Through his hard work, Allyn had one of the highest GPAs in AJCES history. He pushed himself outside his comfort zone and it paid off. He addressed a room full of donors at a Y event hosted by CBS 6 News Anchor, Reba Hollingsworth, and stole the show. In June of 2015, Allyn graduated from AJCES and is now enrolled at St. Christopher’s School on a full academic scholarship. When asked ‘What advice he would give to new students coming into AJCES? His response was beyond his years, “‘There will be challenges. That doesn’t mean that you will not pass. I made many errors, but I didn’t forfeit. I brushed the dirt off my shoulders and kept trying. One important key is to try. You will get more intelligent than you think you will be. You will want to do things you have never done. Trust me with this because I have experienced this. I have become so great in school that they gave me a nickname—Dr. Allyn.’” - MATT ROBERSON, Director of Community Health, DOWNTOWN YMCA
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6,2 I F.L.Y.
An average of 10 people in the U.S. die from drowning each day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Beth Davis did not want to be one of those statistics. “Growing up, there wasn’t a Y nearby. I didn’t have the opportunity to learn to swim in a safe, supportive environment and because of that I almost drowned when I was 8 years old. I believe every child should be able to enjoy the water with proper training, regardless of their family’s ability to pay. The YMCA makes that possible. That’s why I’m so proud to be a part of the organization, both as an employee and a member. When I walk into the gym, I can enjoy everything it offers, including the pool. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I overcame my fear of the water and learned to swim at the CHESTER FAMILY YMCA. But I didn’t just learn to swim; I learned to F.L.Y. - To Fully Love the Y!” - BETH DAVIS, Creative Director for the YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND
// More than 6,200 children, teens and adults learned to swim through YMCA Aquatic programs.
// More than 3,000 second graders in partnership with public school systems, learned life-saving aquatic skills in YMCA Learn to Swim.
OUR MISSION: To put Christian principles
into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all. YMCA OF GREATER RICHMOND
2 West Franklin St. Richmond, VA 23220
P 804.649.9622 ymcarichmond.org