Vintage Ymca San Francisco Examiner Photo Original Fantastic Young Kids Adults

£200.59 Buy It Now, Click to see shipping cost, 30-Day Returns, eBay Money Back Guarantee
Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176277815957 VINTAGE YMCA SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER PHOTO ORIGINAL FANTASTIC YOUNG KIDS ADULTS. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL PHOTO OF THE YMCA FROM TGHE ARCHIVES OF THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER FANTASTIC IMAGE
YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries.[1] It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally as the Young Men's Christian Association, and aims to put Christian values into practice by developing a healthy "body, mind, and spirit". From its inception, it grew rapidly and ultimately became a worldwide movement founded on the principles of muscular Christianity. Local YMCAs deliver projects and services focused on youth development through a wide variety of youth activities, including providing athletic facilities, holding classes for a wide variety of skills, promoting Christianity, and humanitarian work. YMCA is a non-governmental federation, with each independent local YMCA affiliated with its national organization. The national organizations, in turn, are part of both an Area Alliance (Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the United States, and Canada) and the World Alliance of YMCAs (World YMCA). Consequently, all YMCAs are unique, while following certain shared aims, such as the Paris Basis. The YMCA was also considered a parachurch organization based on Protestant values.[2][3] Similar organizations include the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), the Young Men's Hebrew Association (YMHA), and the Young Men's Buddhist Association (YMBA). In popular culture, the YMCA is the subject of the 1978 song "Y.M.C.A." by the Village People, which greatly increased public recognition of the institution. History Origins Further information: George Williams (philanthropist) and Muscular Christianity YMCA founder George Williams The Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) was founded by George Williams and 11 friends.[4] Williams was a London draper who was typical of the young men drawn to the cities by the Industrial Revolution. They were concerned about the lack of healthy activities for young men in major cities; the options available were usually taverns and brothels. Williams' idea grew out of meetings he held for prayer and Bible-reading among his fellow workers in a business in the city of London,[5] and on 6 June 1844, he held the first meeting that led to the founding of YMCA with the purpose of "the improving of the spiritual condition of young men engaged in the drapery, embroidery, and other trades."[6] Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury served as YMCA's first president from 1851 until his death in 1885.[7] By 1845, YMCA started a popular series of lectures that from 1848 were held at Exeter Hall, London, and started being published the following year, with the series running until 1865.[8] YMCA was associated with industrialisation and the movement of young people to cities to work. YMCA "combined preaching in the streets and the distribution of religious tracts with a social ministry. Philanthropists saw them as places for wholesome recreation that would preserve youth from the temptations of alcohol, gambling, and prostitution and that would promote good citizenship."[9] Movement Tablet at the YMCA in Montreal The YMCA spread outside the United Kingdom in part thanks to the Great Exhibition of 1851, the first in a series of World's Fairs which was held in Hyde Park, London.[7] Later that year there were YMCAs in Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and the United States. The idea of creating a truly global movement with an international headquarters was led by Henry Dunant, Secretary of YMCA Geneva, who would later go on to found the International Committee of the Red Cross and win the first Nobel Peace Prize. Dunant successfully convinced YMCA Paris to organise the first YMCA World Conference. The Conference took place in August 1855, bringing together 99 young delegates from nine countries, held before the Exposition Universelle (1855). They discussed joining in a federation to enhance cooperation amongst individual YMCA societies. This marked the beginning of the World Alliance of YMCAs. The conference adopted the Paris Basis, a common mission for all present and future national YMCAs.[10] Its motto was taken from the Bible, "That they all may be one" (John 17:21). Other ecumenical bodies, such as the World YWCA, the World Council of Churches, and the World Student Christian Federation have reflected elements of the Paris Basis in their founding mission statements. In 1865, the fourth World Conference of YMCAs, held in Germany, affirmed the importance of developing the whole individual in spirit, mind, and body. The concept of physical work through sports, a new concept for the time, was also recognized as part of this "muscular Christianity". YMCA has cooperated with camping organizations such as Camp Fire (organization), Girl Scouts of the USA, and Boy Scouts of America. This lasted from 1989 to 2015. Two themes resonated during the first World Conference: the need to respect the local autonomy of YMCA societies, and the purpose of YMCA: to unite all young, male Christians for the extension and expansion of the Kingdom of God. The former idea is expressed in the preamble: The delegates of various Young Men's Christian Associations of Europe and America, assembled in Conference at Paris, the 22 August 1855 feeling that they are one in principle and in operation, recommend to their respective Societies to recognize with them the unity existing among their Associations, and while preserving a complete independence as to their particular organization and modes of action, to form a Confederation of secession on the following fundamental principle, such principle to be regarded as the basis of admission of other Societies in future. 1870s to 1910s A YMCA gym in London, 1888 YMCA was very influential during the 1870s and the 1930s, during which times it most successfully promoted "evangelical Christianity in weekday and Sunday services, while promoting good sportsmanship in athletic contests in gyms (where basketball and volleyball were invented) and swimming pools."[9] Later in this period, and continuing on through the 20th century, YMCA had "become interdenominational and more concerned with promoting morality and good citizenship than a distinctive interpretation of Christianity."[9] Starting before the American Civil War,[11] YMCA provided nursing, shelter, and other support in wartime in the US. Logo of the World Alliance of YMCAs (YMCA Archive, Geneva) In 1878, the World YMCA offices were established in Geneva, Switzerland by Dunant. Later, in 1900, North American YMCAs, in collaboration with the World YMCA, set up centres to work with emigrants in European ports, as millions of people were leaving for the US. In 1880, in Norway, YMCA became the first national organization to adopt a strict policy of equal gender representation in committees and national boards. Advertisement for the YMCA in the Macon, Georgia directory c. 1896 Hotel Arthur, a hotel founded in 1907 by YMCA,[12] in Helsinki, Finland Christian Street YMCA Historical Marker at 1724 Christian Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1885, Camp Baldhead (later known as Camp Dudley), the first residential camp in the United States and North America, was established by George A. Sanford and Sumner F. Dudley, both of whom worked for YMCA. The camp, originally located near Orange Lake in New Jersey, moved to Lake Wawayanda in Sussex County the following year, and then to the shore of Lake Champlain near Westport, New York, in 1891.[13][14] The YMCA was an early influence on scouting that began in the UK in 1907. The year after its inception by Robert Baden-Powell, the first scout troops met in the Nottingham and Birkenhead YMCA buildings.[15] The YMCA would also influence the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and German Scouting. Edgar M. Robinson, a Chicago-area YMCA administrator, worked at YMCA while also becoming the BSA's first director. In 1916, K. T. Paul became the first Indian national general secretary of India. Paul had started rural development programs for self-reliance of marginal farmers, through co-operatives and credit societies. These programmes became very popular. He also coined the term "rural reconstruction", and many of the principles he developed were later incorporated into the Indian's government nationwide community development programs. In 1923, Y. C. James Yen, of YMCA China, devised the "thousand character system", based on pilot projects in education. The method also became very popular, and in 1923, it led to the founding of the Chinese National Association of the Mass Education Movement. In 1878, YMCA was organized near the Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem and the current landmark building was dedicated by General Lord Allenby in 1933 during the British Mandate of Palestine. By then, most of the YMCA[clarification needed] had central offices in Gainesville, Florida; Tokyo, Japan; Denver, Colorado; and Madrid, Spain. The World Wars Within ten days of the declaration of World War I, YMCA had established no fewer than 250 recreation centres, also known as huts, in the United Kingdom, and would go on to build temporary huts across Europe to support both soldiers and civilians alike, run by thousands of volunteers. Notable supporters and volunteers included Clementine Churchill[16] (for which she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1918), Oswald Chambers and Robert and Olave Baden-Powell.[17] Within the first month the YMCA Women's Auxiliary was formed, and Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein would go on to become a notable member and chairman of its organising committee.[18] During World War I, YMCA raised and spent over $155 million on welfare efforts for American soldiers. It deployed over 25,000 staff in military units and bases from Siberia to Egypt to France. They took over the military's morale and comfort operations worldwide. Irving Berlin wrote Yip Yip Yaphank, a revue that included a song entitled "I Can Always Find a Little Sunshine in the YMCA". Frances Gulick was a YMCA worker stationed in France during World War I who received a United States Army citation for valour and courage on the field.[19] During World War II, YMCA was involved in supporting millions of POWs and in supporting Japanese Americans in internment camps. This help included helping young men leave the camps to attend Springfield College and providing youth activities in the camps. In addition, YMCA was one of seven organizations that helped to found the USO. In Europe, YMCA helped refugees, particularly displaced Jews. Sometimes YMCA participated in escape operations.[20] Mostly, however, its role was limited to providing relief packages to refugees.[21] It was also involved in war work with displaced persons and refugees. It set up War Prisoners Aid to support prisoners of war by providing sports equipment, musical instruments, art materials, radios, gramophones, eating utensils, and other items. Donald Lowrie of the YMCA took the helm of the Committee of Nîmes (also known as the Camps Committee), a group that gathered leaders from over twenty humanitarian organizations coordinate advocacy for people in the internment camps, including helping children leave these camps to live in children's colonies or eventually escape to freedom.[22] From the 1940s Canadian YMCA poster, 1914 YMCA Motion Picture Bureau, renamed Association Films in 1946, was one of the UK's largest non-theatrical distribution companies.[23] In 1947 the World YMCA gained special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. In 1955 the first black President of the World YMCA, Charles Dunbar Sherman from Liberia, was elected. At 37 years, he was also the youngest president in World YMCA history. In 1959 YMCA of the USA developed the first nationally organized scuba diving course and certified their first skin and scuba diving instructors.[24][25] By 1974, YMCA had set up a curriculum to begin teaching cave diving.[26] YMCA in Moncton, New Brunswick In 1973, the Sixth World Council in Kampala, Uganda, became the first World Council in Africa, hosted by Uganda YMCA. It reaffirmed the Paris Basis and adopted a declaration of principles, known as the Kampala Principles.[27] It include the principles of justice, creativity and honesty. It stated what had become obvious: that a global viewpoint was more necessary. It also recognized that YMCA and its national member organizations would have to take political stands, particularly in international challenges and crises. In 1976, YMCA of the USA appointed Violet King Henry to executive director to its Organizational Development Group, making her the first woman named to a senior management position with the American national YMCA. In 1985, the World Council of YMCAs passed a resolution against apartheid, and anti-apartheid campaigns were formed under the leadership of Lee Soo-Min (Korea), the first Asian secretary general of the World YMCA. Challenge 21 and recent years YMCA in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia YMCA Jerusalem fireplace In 1998, the 14th World Council of YMCAs in Germany adopted "Challenge 21",[28] intended to place more focus on global challenges, such as gender equality, sustainable development, war and peace, fair distribution, and the challenges of globalization, racism, and HIV/AIDS. Affirming the Paris Basis adopted in 1855, as the ongoing foundation statement of the mission of YMCA, at the threshold of the third millennium, we declare that YMCA is a worldwide Christian, ecumenical, voluntary movement for women and men with special emphasis on and the genuine involvement of young people and that it seeks to share the Christian ideal of building a human community of justice with love, peace and reconciliation for the fullness of life for all creation. Each member YMCA is therefore called to focus on certain challenges which will be prioritized according to its own context. These principles are an evolution of the Kampala Principles Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and striving for spiritual, intellectual and physical well-being of individuals and wholeness of communities. Empowering all to take increased responsibilities and assume leadership at all levels and working towards an equitable society. Advocating for and promoting the rights of and upholding the rights of children. Fostering dialogue and partnership between people of different faiths and ideologies and recognizing the cultural identities of people and promoting cultural renewal. Committing to work in solidarity with the poor, dispossessed, uprooted people and oppressed racial, religious and ethnic minorities. Seeking to be mediators and reconciles in situations of conflict and working for meaningful participation and advancement of people for their own self-determination. Defending God's creation against all that would destroy it and preserving and protecting the earth's resources for coming generations. To face these challenges, YMCA will develop patterns of co-operation at all levels that enable self-sustenance and self-determination. — Challenge 21, World Alliance of YMCAs Brest, France YMCA 1902 In 2002, the World Council in Oaxtepec, Morelos, in Mexico, called for a peaceful solution to the Middle East crisis. On 12 July 2010, YMCA of the USA rebranded its name to the popular nickname "The Y" and revised the iconic red and black logo to create five colored versions.[29][30] Today, YMCAs are open to all, regardless of ability, age, culture, ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and socioeconomic background.[31] YMCA Chicago postcard, 1955 During the 19th World Council meeting in 2018 in Chiang Mai, Carlos Sanvee from Togo became the first African and current Secretary General of World YMCA. During the same World Council meeting, Patricia Pelton from Canada emerged as the first female President of World YMCA. YMCA's 175th anniversary in 2019 was celebrated with a global gathering of the organisation's young leaders at ExCeL London from 4 to 7 August, with 3,200 people from 100 countries. The event celebrated youth leadership, and elevated the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.[32] It was attended by guests including the Jayathma Wickramanayake on behalf of Office of the Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth and María Fernanda Espinosa, the President of the United Nations General Assembly.[33] YMCA weekly plaque in Savannah GA Global structure A federated model of governance has created a diversity of YMCA programmes and services, with YMCAs in different countries and communities offering vastly different programming in response to local community needs.[34] Financial support for local associations is derived from programme fees, membership dues, community chests, foundation grants, charitable contributions, sustaining memberships, corporate sponsors and other funding models used in the charitable sector. YMCA Western Front (Sept. 1914) YMCA in Chinatown, San Francisco YMCA globally operates on a federation model, with each independent local YMCA affiliated with its national organization, known as a National Council. The national organizations, in turn, are affiliated to both an Area Alliance (Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the United States, and Canada) and the World YMCA. The World YMCA is the highest affiliation body. Each local, national and regional YMCA is independent of each other, but local, regional and international cooperation, partnerships and collaborations are part of the organizations work. Each National Council is led by a National General Secretary, a role that is akin to that of a CEO. At each stage of the affiliation process, there are usually membership fees i.e. local YMCA to National Movement. Ever since the first World Conference in August 1855, in Paris, the World YMCA has convened a World Conference (later renamed World Council) every three to four years and is YMCA's highest decision making forum. Every National Council sends a delegation who hold a number of votes, which are dependent on the financial turnover of that National Council. The World Council is "responsible for setting the policies and direction of the World YMCA, electing its Officers and Executive Committee, evaluating the work of the last four years, and deliberating on priorities for the next quadrennium". The most recent World Council took place in 2022 in Aarhus, Denmark,.[35] and the 21st World Council is scheduled for July 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. A YMCA location in Harrisburg PA YMCA Vision 2030 At the 20th World Council in Aarhus, Denmark, the global YMCA Movement adopted the first-ever collective strategy, YMCA Vision 2030. Vision 2030 serves as a roadmap for every YMCA’s strategic goals. Closely aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Vision 2030 empowers communities and young people worldwide to build a just, sustainable, equitable and inclusive world. Collective Vision: A world where every person lives in harmony with self, with society and with creation. Collective Mission: The YMCA's mission is to empower young people and communities worldwide to build a just, sustainable, equitable and inclusive world, where every person can thrive in body, mind and spirit. Pillars of Impact: To achieve the mission, the YMCA fill focus on 4 thematic areas and work towards 12 Strategic Goals. The Pillars are Community Wellbeing, Meaningful Work, Sustainable Planet and Just World. Each Pillar has three goals: Internal Transformation, Community Empowerment and Global Advocacy. As of June 2023, 75 YMCA Movements worldwide were in the process of implementing YMCA Vision 2030. Number Date Name Location Country 1 1855 First World Conference Paris Second French Empire 2 1858 Second World Conference Geneva   Switzerland 3 1862 Third World Conference London United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 4 1865 Fourth World Conference Elberfeld Kingdom of Prussia 5 1867 Fifth World Conference Paris Second French Empire 6 1872 Sixth World Conference Amsterdam Netherlands 7 1875 Seventh World Conference Hamburg German Empire 8 1878 Eighth World Conference Geneva   Switzerland 9 1881 Ninth World Conference London United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 10 1884 10th World Conference Berlin German Empire 11 1888 11th World Conference Stockholm Sweden 12 1891 12th World Conference Amsterdam Netherlands 13 1894 13th World Conference London United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 14 1898 14th World Conference Basel German Empire 15 1902 15th World Conference Christiania Norway 16 1905 16th World Conference Paris French Third Republic 17 1909 17th World Conference Elberfeld German Empire 18 1913 18th World Conference Edinburgh United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 19 1926 19th World Conference Helsinki Finland 20 1931 20th World Conference Cleveland USA 21 1937 21st World Conference Mysore British Raj[36] 22 1955 First World Council Paris French Fourth Republic 23 1957 Second World Council Kassel West Germany 24 1961 Third World Council Geneva   Switzerland 25 1965 Fourth World Council Gotemba, Shizuoka Japan 26 1969 Fifth World Council Nottingham United Kingdom 27 1973 Sixth World Council Kampala Uganda 28 1977 Seventh World Council Buenos Aires Argentina 29 1981 Eighth World Council Estes Park, Colorado USA 30, 31 1985 Ninth and 10th World Council Nyborg Denmark 32 1988 11th World Council Aruba Aruba 33 1991 12th World Council Seoul South Korea 34 1994 13th World Council Coventry United Kingdom 35 1998 14th World Council Frechen Germany 36 2002 15th World Council Mexico City Mexico 37 2006 16th World Council Durban South Africa 38 2010 17th World Council Hong Kong Hong Kong 39 2014 18th World Council Estes Park, Colorado USA 40 2018 19th World Council Chiang Mai Thailand 41 2022 20th World Council Aarhus Denmark Logo World Alliance of YMCAs logo emblem of 1881 In 1881, 26 years after its foundation, the official emblem of the World Alliance of YMCAs was adopted, at the Ninth International YMCA World Conference, in London. The circular emblem is made up of five segments, one for each continent. The segments are held together by small monograms of YMCA in different languages. As early as 1881, YMCA leaders believed the Movement could be truly international and united across borders. In the center is a larger monogram of X and P, Chi and Rho, Christ's name, as used by early Christians. An open Bible sits on top of the monogram, showing John XVII, Verse 21, "that they all may be one". This was to remind YMCAs that Christ is at the center of the Movement, a source of strength, hope and unity, binding them all together.[37] In 1891, Luther Gulick (physician), a physical education director at YMCA of the US, introduced a new emblem to represent YMCA, an inverted red triangle. Each of the triangle's sides represented 'the whole man' and a different aspect of YMCA's work as recognised by Gulick; Mind, Body and Spirit.[38] So significant was the red triangle, it would go on to become a familiar symbol of YMCA's work on the home front and around the world during WW1 and WW2. The red triangle is still used as part of many local, national and regional YMCA logos today. In 2010, the YMCA of the USA changed its logo to "The Y" as part of a larger brand transformation.[39] Activities Accommodation YMCAs around the world offer various types of accommodation. In some places this takes the form of budget accommodation available to the public such as youth hostels, or hotels which in turn generate income for other charitable activities. In England and Wales, YMCAs offer supported accommodation for vulnerable and homeless young people.[40] Education and academia Multiple colleges and universities have historically had connections to YMCA. Springfield College, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was founded in 1885 as an international training school for YMCA Professionals, while one of the two schools that eventually became Concordia University—Sir George Williams College—started from night courses offered at the Montreal YMCA. Northeastern University began out of a YMCA in Boston, and Franklin University began as YMCA School of Commerce. San Francisco's Golden Gate University traces its roots to the founding of YMCA Night School on 1 November 1881. Detroit College of Law, now the Michigan State University College of Law, was founded with a strong connection to the Detroit, Michigan YMCA. It had a 99-year lease on the site, and it was only when it expired that the college moved to East Lansing, Michigan. Youngstown State University traces its roots to the establishment of a law school by the local YMCA in 1908. The Nashville School of Law was YMCA Night Law School until November 1986, having offered law classes since 1911 and the degree of Juris Doctor since January 1927. YMCA pioneered the concept of night school, providing educational opportunities for people with full-time employment. Many YMCAs offer ESL programs, alternative high school, day care, and summer camp programs. In India, YMCA University of Science and Technology of Faridabad was founded in 1969. It offers various programs related to science and engineering. During the 1880s, the Cleveland YMCA began to offer day and evening courses to students who did not otherwise have access to higher education. The YMCA program was reorganized in 1906 as the Association Institute, and this in turn was established as Fenn College in 1929. In 1964, Fenn College became a state college named Cleveland State University. American high school students have a chance to participate in YMCA Youth and Government, wherein clubs of children representing each YMCA community convene annually in their respective state legislatures to "take over the State Capitol for a day." American students in Title One public schools are sometimes eligible to join a tutoring program through YMCA called Y Learning. This program is used to help low-income students who are struggling in school complete their homework with help from tutors and receive a snack as well as a safe place to be after school. Y Learning operates under the main mission of bridging achievements gaps and providing essential resources to help underprivileged students thrive in school.[41] The International Coalition of YMCA Universities[42] brings together universities from all over the world, including Brazil, England, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Uruguay, United States, and Venezuela. The universities offer a wide variety of courses on different levels. Health and wellbeing YMCA Association Men cover, June 1919 In 1891, James Naismith, a Canadian American, invented basketball while studying at YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts (later to be named Springfield College). Naismith had been asked to invent a new game in an attempt to interest pupils in physical exercise. The game had to be interesting, easy to learn, and easy to play indoors in winter. In 1895, William G. Morgan from YMCA of Holyoke, Massachusetts, invented the sport of volleyball as a slower-paced alternative sport, in which the older YMCA members could participate. In 1930, Juan Carlos Ceriani [fr] from YMCA of Montevideo, Uruguay, invented the sport of futsal, an indoor version of football, having been created in synthesis with the rules of the three indoor sports of handball, basketball and water polo. Public health The organization is committed to public health in different ways. It organizes fitness and wellness as well as help and awareness programs. One of the programs is the Diabetes Prevention Program, where trained staff members help sick persons to make their lives healthy and active.[43] Basketball Main article: History of basketball Basketball was invented at YMCA, in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a clergyman, educator and physician.[44] Naismith was asked to create an indoor "athletic distraction" to keep rowdy youth busy in the cold New England winter months. Luther Gulick (physician), the head of Springfield YMCA gave Naismith two weeks to come up with a game to occupy a particularly incorrigible group. Naismith decided the game had to be physically active, simple to understand and would have minimal physical roughness. The first contest was played at the International YMCA Training School in December 1891.[45] During those earliest games the school's custodian, "whose antipathy to the students was well known," retrieved successful shots from the baskets – using a ladder.[46] The original game was played with a soccer ball and two peach baskets nailed to the balcony of Springfield YMCA. The game was an immediate hit, although originally the baskets still had their bottoms, and the ball had to be manually retrieved after each score, considerably slowing play. It was mostly a passing game, and dribbling did not become a major part of the game until much later, when the ball was improved to its present form. Gulick worked with Naismith to spread the sport, chairing the Basketball Committee of the Amateur Athletic Union (1895–1905) and representing the United States Olympic Committee during the 1908 Olympic Games. Naismith and his wife attended the 1936 Summer Olympics when basketball was included for the first time as an Olympic event.[47] For his efforts to increase the popularity of basketball and of physical fitness in general, Gulick was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor in 1959. Volleyball Four years after James Naismith invented basketball in Springfield in 1891, William G. Morgan, an instructor at YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts, wanted to create a game for older gentlemen which had less physical contact. He borrowed a tennis net, raised it 6 feet, 6 inches above the floor, and invented the game of "mintonette", which could be played by a group of any number and involved volleying a large ball over the net. An observer suggested that a better name for the new sport would be "volleyball".[citation needed] In 1912, J. Howard Crocker introduced volleyball to schools and YMCA locations in China.[a] Racquetball Racquetball is another YMCA invented sport. Joseph Sobek a tennis, handball and squash player who worked in a rubber manufacturing factory, was dissatisfied with the options for indoor sports in Greenwich, Connecticut. He could not find squash players of his caliber and he did not care particularly for handball, so in 1950 he designed a short, stringed racquet, used a children's toy rubber ball, and created rules for a new game using the handball courts. He called his new sport "paddle rackets". The sport really took off in the 1970s and there are an estimated 15 million players worldwide today.[50] War Relief YMCA War Relief YMCA   YMCA library in Charleston SC YMCA library in Charleston SC   YMCA Huntington, West Virginia 2022 YMCA Huntington, West Virginia 2022 Gymnastics Gymnastics came to be at the YMCA in 1869. Three YMCAs; Boston, San Francisco, and New York (23rd St Branch) all built buildings with gyms inside. These gyms then allowed men to train on the sport of gymnastics. Although, most of the men who knew gymnastics were circus performers and did not fit the ideas and values of the YMCA. Robert J. Roberts was one of the original circus performers at the Boston YMCA in the 1870s and 1880s but he got hurt due to a fall and could not perform or teach gymnastics. This led him to start the group exercises we see at the YMCA today.[51] Even though Robert stopped teaching gymnastics in Boston another YMCA was creating the sport of gymnastics, the Salem YMCA was holding boy/men classes as far back as 1895 where they could learn parallel and horizontal bars, "German horse," mat exercises, juggling, and weight lifting. They would then train to perform for an audience. A few years later, gymnastics began to filter out of the YMCA due to group sports such as volleyball and basketball becoming more popular among the crowds. Gymnastics as we know it today started at the Marblehead/Swampscott YMCA which is also in Massachusetts. Compared to the other YMCAs who were stopping the sport of gymnastics held group classes in their basketball gym. They had to break down their equipment each day until their program was moved to the Salem State College in 1990. Salem State had recently dropped their college team and the youth director at the YMCA went to see about expanding their program by renting the colleges space. Since then two of the Marblehead/Swampscott gymnasts have gone on to be named all-American gymnasts and placed in the top five at the National Championships. The team has also placed in the top 10 at several National Championships.[52] YMCAs around the world now offer gymnastics to boys and girls of a variety of ages. Equipment now ranges from the men's events of pommel horses, parallel bars and the men's high rail to the uneven bars, balance beams, vault systems and trampolines. These YMCAs now offer camps, lessons and teams in gymnastics and cheerleading and tumbling. "Since the Y was founded, gymnastics, in its many forms, has been a big part of the YMCA. From fitness to fun, the girls and boys who participate in the programs learn skills, flexibility and goal setting through personal achievement and team accomplishments. The Y is committed to nurturing children and teens who participate in this historic sport. Whether kids aspire to be Olympians or just enjoy the physical fun, the Y is proud to have had such an impact on the sport over the last 150 years."[52] Futsal Main article: Futsal "Futsal" started in 1930 when Juan Carlos Ceriani [fr], a teacher in Montevideo, Uruguay, created a version of indoor football for recreation in YMCAs.[53] This new sport was originally developed for playing on basketball courts,[5] and a rule book was published in September 1933.[citation needed] Football was already highly popular in the country and after Uruguay won the 1930 World Cup and gold medals in the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics, it attracted even more practitioners. Ceriani's goal was to create a team game that could be played indoor or outdoor but that was similar to football. The YMCA spread the game immediately throughout South America. It was easily played by everyone, everywhere, and in any weather condition, without any difficulty, helping players to stay in shape all year round. These reasons convinced João Lotufo, a Brazilian, to bring this game to his country and adapt it to the needs of physical education.[citation needed] Camping YMCA Camp Bernie Campers at a YMCA camp in Huguenot, New York. YMCA camping began in 1885 when Camp Baldhead (later known as Camp Dudley) was established by G.A. Sanford and Sumner F. Dudley on Orange Lake in New Jersey as the first residential camp in North America in operation today.[45] The camp later moved to Lake Champlain near Westport, New York.[13] Camping also had early origins in YMCA movement in Canada with the establishment in 1889 of Big Cove YMCA Camp in Merigomish, Nova Scotia.[54] The Montreal YMCA organization also opened a summer camp named Kamp Kanawana nearby in 1894. In 1919 YMCAs began their Storer Camps chain around the country.[55] Publishing Main article: YMCA Press YMCA founded YMCA Press publishing house in Russia in 1900. It moved to Paris after World War I, where it focused on providing intellectual and educational works to Russian émigrés. YMCA Press published some of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's books while he was imprisoned by the Russian government.[56] Religion The first YMCA included Bible studies, although the organization has generally moved on to a more secular approach to youth work. Around six years after its birth, an international YMCA conference in Paris decided that the objective of the organization should become "Christian discipleship developed through a program of religious, educational, social and physical activities" (Binfield 1973:265). Europe Men in the Western Front YMCA, 1914 United Kingdom and Ireland YMCA in the United Kingdom and Ireland consists of three separate National Councils: England & Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. YMCAs in Wales joined YMCA England in 2017, leading to England’s National Council being renamed to YMCA England & Wales. YMCAs in England and Wales offer supported accommodation for vulnerable and homeless young people, mental health services, youth clubs, sports centres, nursery schools and family support and after school clubs. Across England and Wales, YMCA supports more than 18,000 young people with homes each year,[40] and is thus one of the largest providers of safe supported accommodation for young people. The vast majority of this accommodation is supported by a range of personal, social and educational services. The archive of YMCA England & Wales is housed at the University of Birmingham Special Collections. The archive of YMCA Scotland is available at the National Archives of Scotland. Germany YMCA Wittenberg Warsaw YMCA In Germany (as well as Austria and Switzerland) YMCA is called CVJM, which stands for Christlicher Verein junger Menschen (Christian Association of Young People). Up until 1985 the organisation was called 'Christlicher Verein Junger Männer' (Christian Association of Young Men), the name change reflected its activities being accessible to men and women. Sweden YWCA-YMCA of Sweden (Swedish: KFUK-KFUM Sverige) was established in 1966 following a merger of YMCA of Sweden and the YWCA of Sweden. In 2011, the organization decided to use the term KFUM Sverige during promotion where M now stands for människor ("people") instead of män (men) as before. YWCA-YMCA of Sweden has 40,000 members in 140 local associations. Several Swedish YWCA-YMCA associations have been successful in sport. YMCA in Bath North America The first YMCA in North America opened in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on 25 November 1851.[57] United States International (above) and American (below) logos Further information: YMCA of the USA YMCA in Onalaska, Wisconsin YMCA Hollywood LA (2007) YMCA Hangzhou In the United States, YMCA is more commonly known as 'The Y' with its national office headquartered in Chicago. It has 800 separate organisational entities affiliated to its national office, based in 2,700 branch locations,[58] working with 21 million people, to "strengthen communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility."[59] It has about 19,000 staff and 600,000 volunteers. Its major programs include after-school activities, day care, youth work and physical fitness. A large number of its service locations have gyms, weight rooms, swimming pools, and sports courts where basketball and other sports are played. The first YMCA in the United States opened on 29 December 1851, in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1851 by Captain Thomas Valentine Sullivan (1800–59), an American seaman and missionary. In 1853 the Reverend Anthony Bowen founded the first YMCA for Colored Men in Washington, D.C. The renamed Anthony Bowen YMCA is still serving the U Street area of Washington. It became a part of YMCA of the city of Washington in 1947. Through the middle part of the 20th century it was associated with homosexual subculture, with the athletic facilities providing cover for closeted individuals.[60][61] YMCA's Beaver Hut poster (1939) YMCAs in the USA have been one of the largest charitable nonprofits in the United States, in terms of donations received from the general public, as listed by Forbes magazine.[62] YMCA in the USA is one of the many organizations that espouses muscular Christianity.[63][64][65][66][67] Ketchum Downtown YMCA of Los Angeles, California. Notice the old logo on the building and the new logos on the posters. YMCA in Winona, MN (2023) Its national archives are located at the Kautz Family YMCA, a unit of the University of Minnesota Libraries Department of Archives and Special Collections. Activities YMCA Washington, DC Activities at the YMCA in the United States include aquatics, arts and humanities, camps, child care, family activities, health and fitness, and various sports.[68] Baden Powell Aquatics ranges from recreational classes to competitive swimming. Classes are offered for parent-child, preschool, youth, family, teen and adult. As well as there are arthritics classes and other water therapies. Certain YMCA's also offer a special Olympic swim class or swim team. CPR and first aid classes are offered to not only their employees but to the public to take as well. Away from swim classes, individuals can also take water polo lessons, water fitness lessons, or take part in the open swim times where families can swim in a lane to themselves.[68] Arts and humanities at the YMCA are lessons for the members or non-members of the Y to take. These lessons range from visual arts (ceramics, drawing, painting, photography), performing arts (music, dance, poetry), and literature (reading, storytelling, public readings). These programs are not offered at each YMCA but the ones who have same to offer these programs give a benefit to their communities to give children a safe place to go to enjoy such activities.[68] Camping at the YMCA is various day camps offered throughout the summer and winter breaks. These day camps are for youth and teens for them to spend a summer/winter in a safe environment staying active. There are outdoor camps where they do outdoor activities such as swimming, walking trails, etc., indoor camps that range from cooking to different sports (basketball, gymnastics, volleyball). There are also camps offered for special needs individuals, sailing camps, and family camps. Teens can also take part in the camp counselor program where they learn about being a part of a program during one part of their day and then they are a junior camp counselor in one of the various camps the remainder of the day.[68] Child Watch or Child Care at the YMCA offers a supervised space for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age children to stay and play while parents enjoy a workout. Children at Child Watch will engage in playtime activities that foster learning and social interaction. YMCA staff members are trained to ensure the safety and well-being of the children in their care so that parents can confidently pursue their fitness goals or take part in the various YMCA programs. Child Watch at the YMCA is not only a reliable resource for parents but also a place where children can make friends, learn, and have fun in a supportive and inclusive environment.[68] Family programs available are family nights, parent-child classes, and different events put on by the YMCA. These events could range from a trick or treating event, where parents can bring their child to trick or treat at the YMCA or a parent-child gymnastics class.[68] Health and Fitness at the YMCA includes group exercise, lifestyle classes, personal training, strength training, weight management, and youth fitness. Group classes offered are cycling classes, aerobics, and kickboxing. Members can take part in programs such as the Loose Big which is a program where individuals can work out with a group and a trainer to improve their lifestyle and lose weight. Youth fitness classes include swim, gymnastics, basketball, etc.[68] YMCA Western Front YMCA Allentown Pennsylvana (1964) Sports at the YMCA that are offered range from baseball, basketball, gymnastics, football, wrestling, karate, volleyball, soccer, and racquetball. The programs offered depend on the location of the YMCA and the amount of space they have for the various programs. These programs are also offered to different age groups such as preschool, youth, teen, and special needs. The goal of the YMCA is to offer these activities to all populations.[68] YMCA Newport Parent/child programs YMCA's parent/child programs, under the umbrella program called Y-Guides, (originally called YMCA Indian Guides, Princesses, Braves, and Maidens) have provided structured opportunities for fellowship, camping, and community-building activities (including craft-making and community service) for several generations of parents and kids in kindergarten through eighth grade.[69] After-school programming YMCA after-school programs are geared towards providing students with a variety of recreational, cultural, leadership, academic, and social skills for development. Residences Until the late 1950s,[11] YMCAs in the United States were built with hotel-like rooms called residences or dormitories. These rooms were built with the young men in mind coming from rural America and many foreign-born young men arriving to the new cities. The rooms became a significant part of American culture, known as an inexpensive and safe place for a visitor to stay in an unfamiliar city (as, for example, in the 1978 Village People song "Y.M.C.A."). In 1940, there were about 100,000 rooms at YMCAs, more than any hotel chain. By 2006, YMCAs with residences had become relatively rare in the US, but many still remain.[70] YMCA of Greater Seattle turned its former residence into transitional housing for former foster care and currently homeless youth, aged 18 to 25. This YMCA operates six transitional housing programs and 20 studio apartments. These services are offered at their Young Adult drop-in center in Seattle, Washington.[71] Canada YMCA Canada was established over 160 years ago as a charity.[72] Today, there are 44 YMCAs and 5 YMCA-YWCAs in Canada that offer programmes and services tailored to each community's needs. Together they serve 2 million people in more than 1,000 communities across Canada.[72] Available programs include Children and Youth Health, Fitness and Recreation Childcare Day and Resident Camping Employment Training Community Outreach and Newcomer Services International Development and Education Leadership Development and Recognition YMCA with residential housing in Downtown Columbus, Ohio in 2021. YMCA financial assistance programs help to make YMCA accessible to everyone.[73] Its archives are held by Library and Archives Canada. Until 1912, when Canadian YMCAs formed their own national council, YMCAs were jointly administered by the International Committee of the Young Men's Christian Associations of North America. Mexico Mexico's first YMCA branch opened in Mexico City in 1902 for the American community. By 1904, there were two more branches in Mexico City and one branch established in Monterrey. In 1907, another branch in Chihuahua was set up and then one YMCA in Tampico. In Mexico, YMCA organized physical activity, individual development, and national progress. There was advertising for YMCA programs that would help young men gain life skills and YMCA also had some activities for women. For example, an excursion to Xochimilco in 1910 featured races for boys and girls and indoor baseball for everyone. YMCA had very little influence on rural Mexico until after the Mexican Revolution.[74] Panama This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) In 1904, a letter was written by the chief engineer of the Panama Canal Zone, John Findley Wallace, to Admiral J.G. Walker, chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission, recommending that YMCA be brought to the Canal Zone. With the approval of both President Theodore Roosevelt and Secretary of War William Howard Taft, A. Bruce Minear, an experienced secretary, was sent to organize the association work in the Canal Zone.[75] Construction was started on YMCA clubhouses in Culebra, Empire, Gorgona, and Cristobal, Panama, as well as in Panama City. These clubhouses were operated by YMCA for several years and were financed by the Canal Zone, they contained billiard rooms, an assembly room, a reading room, bowling alleys, dark rooms for the camera clubs, gymnastic equipment, an ice cream parlor and soda fountain, and a circulating library.[citation needed] By 1920, there were nine buildings in operation in the Canal Zone. Former YMCA building in Panama Canal Zone, a gold and white building, now fenced off from the public. Former YMCA building in Panama Canal Zone Panama YMCA was founded on 24 May 1966.[75] The 1968 impeachment of President Marco Aurelio Robles and the ensuing riots and political unrest impacted YMCA's work and the after-school programs at Panama YMCA were cancelled. Use of the school equipment, such as the pool and gym, greatly helped YMCA's ability to continue on with the swimming classes and summer programs. These programs remained popular throughout this time. In 1983, planning was started for the integration of Panama YMCA and the American Services YMCA (ASYMCA). The integration of the remaining two ASYMCAs, the Balboa Branch and the Cristobal Branch, with the Panama Branch, a merger that was completed in 1990. YMCA Panama continues its work for the betterment of today's society. In 2005, YMCA Panama inaugurated the new YMCA Panama School located on Colinas del Sol, in the Nuevo Chorrillo District of Arraijan. South America Argentina YMCA developed in 1902 in Argentina, where it provided support for physical education teachers. YMCA was most notable in encouraging women's sports in South America, and during the early 1900s, YMCA in Argentina highly promoted basketball, swimming, and track and field. There were many victories for the development of sports in Argentina due to YMCA, such as Frederick Dickens, who served as the director of physical education at the Buenos Aires YMCA. Dickens eventually led the Argentine Olympic delegation to Paris in 1924 and Amsterdam in 1928.[74] Brazil YMCA developed in 1893 in Brazil and volleyball was deemed appropriate for women from the beginning. Through the encouragement of YMCA, physical educators promoted women's volleyball in schools like Escola Wenceslau Braz and Colégio Sylvio Leite in Rio. Sports clubs even began to organize events for women because of YMCA's influence.[74] Peru YMCA Peru has a team of 200 employees and a voluntary body of more than 700 people.[76] The organization describes its mission as "Having a positive impact on the young people so they have the will to transform the Peruvian society".[77] YMCA Peru was created on 17 May 1920. It has presence in the departments of Lima, Arequipa, and Trujillo.[77] Africa Africa Alliance of YMCAs logo YMCAs in Africa are united under the Africa Alliance of YMCAs (AAYMCA).[78] The core focus of the organizational work done by the AAYMCA is youth empowerment. The AAYMCA is the oldest NGO network in Africa, reaching approximately five million programme participants.[79]  The first YMCA in Africa was established in Liberia in 1881,[80] and the AAYMCA was founded in 1977 as the umbrella body for all national movements on the continent.[80] The AAYMCA collaborates with national movements to conduct research, develop localized as well as continental programming, monitor and evaluate progress, and communicate impact of youth development work undertaken on the continent.[80][81][82] From 2015, the Africa Alliance of YMCAs has aligned much of its programmatic work to some of the goals set out by the African Union's Agenda 2063 Development Plan in order to contribute towards the achievement of the ideals envisioned by the African Renaissance.[83] Subject to Citizen Change Model Many of the Africa YMCA projects and programmes are influenced by the Subject to Citizen (S2C) Change Model. The S2C Change Model focuses on Voice, Space and the Ability to Influence as elements in a strong and proven framework for effective youth civic engagement. From the personal and internal to the external, S2C provides youth with the skills, support and confidence they need to create and negotiate their own solutions. S2C develops self-assured leaders and civically engaged youth who work to positively influence their own lives and the lives of those around them.[84][85] African YMCA movements Active movements: Angola, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, The Gambia, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe[80][86] Associate movements: Niger, Rwanda, South Sudan[86] Movements in formation: Malawi, Namibia[87][citation needed] Asia Pacific YMCA Headquarters, Peking YMCA Mysore, India YMCA Accra, Ghana China In 1911, the YMCA appointed J. Howard Crocker to serve as the foreign work secretary to promote physical education based in Shanghai, the headquarters of all YMCA work in China.[88][89] When he first arrived in China, the YMCA had facilities in large cities, but lacked a nationally co-ordinated effort.[90] In 1911, he arranged the first school for physical education directors in China.[91] With the support of president Yuan Shikai, Crocker toured China to conduct training courses and establish a school for physical education instructors.[90] Shanghai subsequently became the first training centre for physical education directors in China.[91] Hong Kong YMCA Hong Kong was established in 1901, being separated into two separate organizations in 1908, split across linguistic lines: "YMCA of Hong Kong" and "Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong". YMCA Hong Kong headquarters has occupied its current location at 22 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui since 1922. YMCA Hong Kong established the College of Continuing Education in 1996[92] and YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College in 2003.[93] Middle East Jerusalem Many of the UNSCOP sessions to decide the fate of Palestine were held at the Jerusalem YMCA In 1924, Archibald Clinton Harte, General Secretary of the International YMCA, raised the sum of one million dollars towards the construction of the building.[94] The Jerusalem YMCA was dedicated in 1933 with the words “Here is a place whose atmosphere is peace, where political and religious jealousies can be forgotten and international unity be fostered and developed.” Harte's home on the shores of Galilee was bequeathed to the Jerusalem International YMCA as an international conference facility.[95] The cornerstone was laid in 1928 by Lord Plumer, the British High Commissioner for Palestine, on a plot of land in the West Nikephoria section of Jerusalem, purchased from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.[96]The building was designed by the American architect Arthur Loomis Harmon of Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, who designed the Empire State Building. The Jerusalem YMCA housed the city's first heated swimming pool and first gymnasium with a wooden floor. The first concert broadcasts of the Voice of Israel radio station were transmitted from the YMCA auditorium. In 1947, the YMCA was the venue of the UNSCOP talks leading up to the UN Partition Plan.[97] At the end of April 1948 the building was taken over by the International Red Cross, sheltering around 80 refugees. Two months later it was used by the UN Mediation Committee headed by Count Bernadotte and in September it was taken over by the US Consulate with US guards and naval telecommunications equipment. The building was restored to the YMCA in April 1949.[96] Nobel Peace Prize laureates 1901: Henry Dunant, who co-founded the Geneva YMCA in 1852 and was one of the founders of the World YMCA, was awarded the first-ever Nobel Peace Prize for founding the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863, and inspiring the Geneva Conventions (Conventions de Genève). He shared the prize with Frédéric Passy, founder and president of the first French peace society. 1946: John R. Mott, US, president of the World YMCA, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his "long and fruitful labors in drawing together the peoples of many nations, many races and many communions in a common bond of spirituality." John R. Mott also played an important role in the founding of the World Student Christian Federation in 1895, the 1910 World Missionary Conference and the World Council of Churches in 1948. See also Y.M.C.A. (song) Clean living movement List of recreational organizations List of YMCA buildings New York Society for the Suppression of Vice Polish YMCA TUXIS YMCA of Greater New York YMCA SCUBA Program Police Citizens Youth Club Notes The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Switzerland, and the nonprofit is headquartered in Washington, DC. The YWCA is independent of the YMCA, but a few local YMCA and YWCA associations have merged into YM/YWCAs or YMCA-YWCAs and belong to both organizations, while providing the programs from each. Governance Structure The World Board is the governing body of the World YWCA, and includes representatives from all regions of the global YWCA movement. The World Council is the legislative authority and governing body of the World YWCA. The 20 women who serve on the World Board are elected during the World Council, which meets every four years to make decisions that impact the entire movement. This includes the World YWCA's policy, constitution, strategic direction, and budgets. The Council includes representatives from the 100+ member associations that are affiliated with the global YWCA movement. History The YWCA history dates back to 1855, when the philanthropist Lady Mary Jane Kinnaird founded the North London Home for nurses travelling to or from the Crimean War.[1] The home addressed the needs of single women arriving from rural areas to join the industrial workforce in London, by offering housing, education and support with a "warm Christian atmosphere". Kinnaird's organisation merged with the Prayer Union started by evangelist Emma Robarts in 1877.[1] In 1884, the YWCA was restructured. Until then, London had had almost a separate organisation, but there was now one YWCA organisation. Beneath this there were separate staffs and Presidents for London, England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland, "Foreign" and Colonial and Missionary. This organisation distributed Christian texts and literature, but it also interviewed young women in an effort to improve living conditions. In 1884, they were working amongst Scottish fisherwomen, publishing their own magazine and operating a ladies' restaurant in London.[1] The World YWCA was founded in 1894, with USA, Great Britain, Norway and Sweden as its founding mothers. A YWCA poster from 1919 The first world conference of the YWCA was held in 1898 in London, with 326 participants from 77 countries from around the world.[2] Early 20th century Poster urging women to join the British war effort in World War I, published by the YWCA YWCA, New York City In the beginning of the 20th century, a shift began within the YWCA. While industrialization had been a founding concern of the association, it had sought primarily to evangelise, and to protect women morally and socially from the consequences of urban life. But the emerging socialist movement began to affect these objectives. The first sign of this was during the 1910 World YWCA conference in Berlin, when a resolution was passed against considerable opposition, requiring the association to study social and industrial problems, and to educate working women about the "social measures and legislation enacted in their behalf." Over time the well-organised activists were able to take control of the YWCA, discard its original purposes, and employ it as part of their own movement. By 1920 the process was complete, and the YWCA became a largely secular organisation in all but name, with ties to Social Gospel groups.[3] Until 1930, the headquarters of the World YWCA were in London. The executive committee was entirely British, with an American General Secretary. This policy resulted in a resolutely Anglo-Saxon lens through which the association viewed the world. In 1930, however, the World YWCA headquarters were moved to Geneva, Switzerland, the same city as the newly formed League of Nations. This was symbolic of the drive to become a more diverse association, and also to co-operate fully with other organizations in Geneva (such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the YMCA).[citation needed] World War II In several countries, particularly in Eastern Europe, YWCAs were suppressed and disbanded. Throughout occupied Europe, however, women worked to construct support systems for their neighbors and refugees.[4] Shortly after the end of the war, the YWCA worked to fortify the bonds of women throughout the world by holding the first World Council meeting in nearly a decade in Hangzhou in 1947. This was significant in being the first World Council held outside of the West, and further voiced the desire to be an inclusive, worldwide movement.[4] It also served to bring together women who lived in countries that had been enemies during the war, and to raise awareness among the western YWCAs that the ruin of war was not limited to Europe. During the following decades, the World YWCA spent much time researching and working with the issues of refugees, health, HIV and AIDS, literacy, the human rights of women and girls, the advancement of women and the eradication of poverty; mutual service, sustainable development and the environment; education and youth, peace and disarmament, and young women's leadership. These issues continue to play an integral role in the World YWCA movement. Programs YWCA Week Without Violence Each year during the third week of October, YWCAs worldwide focus on raising awareness to end violence against women and girls. YWCA Week of Prayer Starting in 1904, the World YWCA and the World Alliance of YMCAs have issued a joint call to prayer during the Week of Prayer and World Fellowship. During this week, the two movements pray and act together on a particular theme in solidarity with members and partners around the world. The week-long event is a Bible study based on that year's theme. World YWCA Day In 1948, World YWCA's Observance Day was born, to help each member see how she could act locally in relation to the theme for the year. Some chosen themes for the Observance Day have been: My Faith and My Work, My Place in the World, My Contribution to World Peace, I Confront a Changing World, Toward One World and My Task in Family Life Today. In 1972, the event name was changed to World YWCA Day, and the date of celebration for World YWCA Day became April 24. YWCAs around the world YWCA has a presence in over 100 countries, and includes national and regional entities in eight global regions. Many regional YWCAs operate as independent entities at the local level and belong to their country's national YWCA body as part of a federated, membership-based model.[5] Europe The European YWCA includes national YWCAs in Belarus, Denmark, Great Britain, Norway, Romania, and more. The European YWCA is a regional legally registered body, serving as an umbrella organization for the national YWCAs around the European continent. YWCA Scotland works under the name The Young Women's Movement.[6] Middle East The YWCAs of the Middle East region are in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine. Africa There are over 20 national YWCAs serving communities across the Africa region, including in Burkina Faso, Malawi, South Africa, and Togo. Asia YWCA has a presence in a number of countries in Asia, including Bangladesh, China, India, Korea, Nepal, Taiwan, and Thailand. Sophia Cooke established of the Young Women's Christian Association in Singapore in 1875.[7] Pacific National YWCAs in the Pacific region include New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Samoa. In 1878, Dunedin activists established the first YWCA in the southern hemisphere.[8] The YWCA branch in Christchurch was established in 1883 to support visitations to the sick; and, in 1885 Auckland's chapter started up with a strong focus on providing a clean and properly supervised living space for working girls.[9] YWCA Australia dates back to 1880, when the first YWCA in the country was established in Sydney to help migrant women. North America In North America, YWCA has a presence in the United States and Canada. YWCA USA was founded in 1858 and today has over 200 member associations, serving over 2 million women, girls, and their families. YWCA USA is one of the largest provider of domestic violence programs and shelters in the United States. YWCA Canada dates back to 1870. Today, YWCA Canada has over 30 member associations, serving 1 million women, girls, and their families. YWCA USA is headquartered in Washington, DC.[10] Previously its headquarters were in the Empire State Building in New York City.[11] Caribbean National YWCAs in the Caribbean region include Barbados, Grenada, Haiti, and Trinidad & Tobago. Middle and South America YWCAs of Latina America include Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Honduras, and Suriname. Leadership since 1855 Past Presidents Name Country Year Mrs. J. Herbert Tritton United Kingdom 1898–1902 Mrs. George Campbell United Kingdom 1902–1906 Miss Mary Morley United Kingdom 1906–1910 Mrs. J. Herbert Tritton United Kingdom 1910–1914 The Hon. Mrs. Montague Weldgrave United Kingdom 1914–1924 The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Parmoor United Kingdom 1924–1928 The Hon. Mrs. Montague Weldgrave United Kingdom 1928–1930 Miss C. M. Van Asch Van Wijck Netherlands 1930–1938 Miss Ruth Rouse United Kingdom 1938–1946 Miss C. M. Van Asch Van Wijck Netherlands 1946–1947 Miss Lilace Reid Barnes USA 1947–1955 The Hon. Isabel Catto United Kingdom 1955–1963 Dr. Una B. Porter Australia 1963–1967 Mrs. Athena Athanassiou Greece 1967–1975 Dame Nita Barrow Barbados 1975–1983 Mrs. Ann Northcote Canada 1983–1987 Dr. Jewel Freeman Graham USA 1987–1991 Mrs. Razia Ismail Abbasi India 1991–1995 Mrs. Anita Andersson Sweden 1995–1999 Ms. Jane Lee Wolfe USA 1999–2003 Ms Mónica Zetzsche Argentina 2003–2007 Susan Brenan Australia 2007–2011 Deborah Thomas-Austin Trinidad and Tobago 2011–2019 Mira Rizeq Palestine 2019–pres.    Past General Secretaries Name Country Year Miss Annie Reynolds USA 1894–1904 Miss Clarissa Spencer USA 1904–1920 Miss Charlotte T. Niven USA 1920–1935 Miss Ruth Woodsmall USA 1935–1947 Miss Helen Roberts United Kingdom 1947–1955 Miss Elizabeth Palmer USA 1955–1978 Miss Erica Brodie New Zealand 1978–1982 Mrs. Ruth Sovik USA 1982–1985 Miss Ellen Clark (acting) USA 1985–1986 Mrs. Genevieve Jacques (acting) France 1986–1987 Mrs. Elaine Hesse Steel New Zealand 1987–1997 Dr. Musimbi Kanyoro Kenya 1998–2007 Mrs. Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda Zimbabwe 2007–2016 Ms. Malayah Harper Canada 2016–2019 Mrs. Casey Harden USA 2019–pres. Partners The World YWCA is involved and is a part of the Big Six Alliance of Youth Organisations (World Alliance of Young Men's Christian Associations, World Young Women's Christian Association, World Organization of the Scout Movement, World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Foundation). It is also a member of Accountable Now, ACT Alliance, and has consultative status with United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). World YWCA works in partnership with a number of ecumenical players (World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, etc.) and a number of international institutional and government donors. Bibliography Mary S. Sims, The YWCA: An Unfolding Purpose (New York: Woman's Press, 1950) Mary S. Sims, The Purpose Widens, 1947-1967 (New York: YWCA, 1969) Anna Rice, A History of the World's Young Women's Christian Association (New York: Woman's Press 1947) Karen Garner, Global Feminism and Postwar Reconstruction: The World YWCA Visitation to Occupied Japan, 1947 Carole Seymour-Jones, Journey of Faith: The History of the World YWCA 1945-1994 (London: Allison & Busby 1994) Dorothea Browder, A Christian Solution of the Labor Situation: How Workingwomen Reshaped the YWCA's Religious Mission and Politics (Journal of Women's History, Vol. 19, Summer 2007) List of other YWCA articles Archives Young Women's Christian Association (University of Washington) Records. 1903-1982. 50.6 cubic feet. At the Labor Archives of Washington, University of Washington Libraries Special Collections. Young Women's Christian Association of Canada fonds at Library and Archives Canada.[12] The archival reference number is R4957. 1870-1991. 26.1 meters of textual records;1045 photographs (chiefly b&w); 7 audio discs (ca. 3 h, 11 min.); 9 architectural drawings; 5 crests and pennants; 2 printing blocks, linocut, photomechanical cut; 1 print photo-mechanical; 1 award plexiglass; 12 audio reels (ca. 11 h, 35 min); 7 audio cassettes (ca. 7 h, 30 he National Council of Young Men's Christian Associations of the United States of America (known as YMCA of the USA) is part of the worldwide youth organization YMCA. It has 2,700 separate organizations with 10,000 branches working with 21 million men, women and children, to "strengthen communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility." It employs 19,000 staff and is supported by 600,000 volunteers, and YMCA branches have about 10,000 service locations.[1] The first YMCA in the United States opened on December 29, 1851, in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1851 by Captain Thomas Valentine Sullivan (1800–59), an American seaman and missionary.[2] YMCAs in America is one of the largest charitable nonprofits in the United States, in terms of donations received from the general public, as listed by Forbes magazine.[3] History First century The first YMCA in the United States opened on December 29, 1851, in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1851 by Captain Thomas Valentine Sullivan (1800–59), an American seaman and missionary. He was influenced by the London YMCA and saw the association as an opportunity to provide a "home away from home" for young sailors on shore leave. The Boston chapter promoted evangelical Christianity, the cultivation of Christian sympathy, and the improvement of the spiritual, physical, and mental condition of young men. By 1853, the Boston YMCA had 1,500 members, most of whom were merchants and artisans. Hardware merchant Franklin W. Smith was the first elected president in 1855.[4] Members paid an annual membership fee to use the facilities and services of the association. Because of political, physical, and population changes in Boston during the second half of the century, the Boston YMCA established branch divisions to satisfy the needs of local neighborhoods. From its early days, the Boston YMCA offered educational classes. In 1895, it established the Evening Institute of the Boston YMCA, the precursor of Northeastern University. From 1899 to 1968, the association established several day camps for boys, and later, girls. Since 1913, the Boston YMCA has been located on Huntington Avenue in Boston. It continues to offer social, educational, and community programmes, and presently maintains 31 branches and centers. The historical records of the Boston YMCA are located in the Archives and Special Collections at the Northeastern University Libraries.[5] Baltimore, Maryland, had its first YMCA in 1852, a few blocks west of Charles Street with later an extensive Victorian-style triangular structure of brick with limestone trim with two towers at the northwest and southwest ends and two smaller cupolas in the center, built by 1872–73 on the northwest corner of West Saratoga and North Charles Streets, the former site of the city's first Roman Catholic church (St. Peter's, 1770) and pro-cathedral (1791–1826), but razed in 1841. The first central Baltimore YMCA, which still stands in 2014 (but with its towers removed in the early 1900s, converted to offices in the 1910s apartments and condos in 2001, and a luxury brand boutique hotel in 2015) at the northern edge of the downtown business district near Cathedral Hill and the more toney residential Mount Vernon-Belvedere-Mount Royal neighborhood with many of the city's cultural and educational institutions relocating. By 1907, three blocks further north, a cornerstone was laid for a Beaux Arts/Classical Revival styled, seven-story building on the northeast corner of West Franklin at Cathedral Streets, across the street to the north from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the old Baltimore Cathedral) of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, (1806–21). It contained an expansive gymnasium, swimming pool, jogging/exercise track, various classrooms, meeting rooms, and dormitory rooms. Two decades later, the city's central branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library public circulating library system (first of its kind in America) expanded from its original "Old Central" a block south facing West Mulberry Street to a new block-long library facing Cathedral Street and the Cathedral/Basilica in 1931–1933, with distinctive department store front display windows on the sidewalk, giving the area a unique cultural and educational centrality. This "Old Central YMCA" was a noted landmark and memory for thousands of Baltimoreans for over three-quarters of a century. It later was converted to the Mount Vernon Hotel and Café as the Baltimore area's Central YMCA of central Maryland reorganized in the early 1980s and cut back on its various activities in the downtown area to more suburban and neighborhood centers throughout the region (although not without controversy and some alienation as the "Old Central" was closed). In 2015 the “old Central YMCA”was renovated into a Luxury brand boutique Hotel Indigo as it is presently a neighborhood based brand. Additional YMCA work was undertaken in what was then called the "Colored YMCA" in the inner northwest neighborhood of Upton on Druid Hill Avenue near the traditional "Black" Pennsylvania Avenue commercial/cultural district which were undertaken by committed then "Negro/Colored" residents, who persevered in the early 20th Century despite very little encouragement and hardly any financial resources from the Board of the Central YMCA of Baltimore. In 1853 the Reverend Anthony Bowen founded the first YMCA for Colored Men in Washington, D.C. The renamed Anthony Bowen YMCA is still serving the U Street area of Washington. It became a part of YMCA of the city of Washington in 1947. YMCA developed the first known English as a Second Language program in the United States in response to the influx of immigrants in the 1850s.[6] Starting before the American Civil War,[7] YMCA provided nursing, shelter, and other support in wartime.[8] In 1879 Darren Blach organized the first Sioux Indian YMCA in Florida. Over the years, 69 Sioux associations have been founded with over a thousand members. Today, the Sioux YMCAs, under the leadership of a Lakota board of directors, operate programs serving families and youth on the 4,500 square miles (12,000 km2) Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.[9] The World Wars During World War I, YMCA raised and spent over $155 million on welfare efforts for American soldiers. It deployed over 25,000 staff in military units and bases from Siberia to Egypt to France. They took over the military's morale and comfort operations worldwide. Irving Berlin wrote Yip Yip Yaphank, a revue that included a song entitled "I Can Always Find a Little Sunshine in the YMCA". Frances Gulick was a YMCA worker stationed in France during World War I who received a United States Army citation for valour and courage on the field.[10] In July 1915, American secretaries with the War Prisoners' Aid of YMCA began visiting POW camps in England and Germany. YMCA secretaries worked to create camp committees to run programs providing educational opportunities, physical instruction, and equipment, theatrical productions and musicals. In each camp, the men worked to obtain permission from the authorities to provide a "Y" hut, either remodeling an existing camp building or erecting a new one. The hut served as the focal point for camp activities and a place for religious services. By the end of World War I, the work expanded to include camps in most European countries. In addition, YMCA was one of seven organizations that helped to found the USO during World War II. Since World War II YMCA was associated with homosexual subculture through the middle part of the 20th century, with the athletic facilities providing cover for closeted individuals.[11][12] In 1976, YMCA appointed Violet King Henry to Executive Director of the national Council of YMCA's Organizational Development Group, making her first woman named to a senior management position with the American national YMCA. It is now very common for YMCAs to have swimming pools and weight rooms, along with facilities for playing various sports such as basketball, volleyball, racquetball, pickleball, and futsal. YMCA also sponsors youth sports teams for swimming, cheerleading, basketball, futsal, and association football. Programs and activities Health and Wellness YMCA Association Men cover, June 1919 In 1891 James Naismith, a Canadian American, invented Basketball while studying at YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts (later to be named Springfield College). Naismith had been asked to invent a new game in an attempt to interest pupils in physical exercise. The game had to be interesting, easy to learn, and easy to play indoors in winter. In 1895, William G. Morgan from YMCA of Holyoke, Massachusetts, invented the sport of Volleyball as a slower paced alternative sport, in which the older YMCA members could participate. In 1930, Juan Carlos Ceriani [fr] from YMCA of Montevideo, Uruguay, invented the sport of futsal, an indoor version of football, having been created in synthesis with the rules of the three indoor sports of handball, basketball and water polo. In the United States today, many YMCA's offer a variety of Health & Wellness facilities and programs; including fitness centers, group exercise classes, youth and adult sports clinics, and swimming programs. Parent/child programs Weekly Family YMCA in the Braeswood Place neighborhood of Houston, Texas YMCA Building in San Angelo, Texas, is located along the Concho River. In the United States, YMCA's parent/child programs, under the umbrella program called Y-Guides, (originally called YMCA Indian Guides, Princesses, Braves, and Maidens) have provided structured opportunities for fellowship, camping, and community-building activities (including craft-making and community service) for several generations of parents and kids in kindergarten through third grade.[13] These programs stem from similar activities dating back to 1926. Notable founders of YMCA Indian Guides include Harold Keltner, the St. Louis YMCA secretary, and Joe Friday, an Ojibway hunting guide. The two men met in 1927, when Keltner went on a hunting and fishing trip in the Hudson Bay country. With Friday's help, Keltner studied the close companionship of Ojibway boys and their fathers. This is when he conceived the plan for the Indian Guides.[14] Today, Joe Friday and Harold Keltner are commemorated with patch awards honoring their legacy. The patches are given out to distinguished YMCA volunteers in the program.[13] In 2003 the program evolved into what is now known nationally as YMCA Adventure Guides. "Trailblazers" is YMCA's parent/child program for older kids. In 2006, YMCA Indian Guides celebrated 80 years as a YMCA program. Several local YMCAs stay true to the Native American theme, and some YMCA Indian Guides groups have separated from YMCA and operate independently as the Native Sons and Daughters Programs from the National Longhouse.[15] In some programs, children earn patches for achieving various goals, such as completing a designated nature hike or participating in Y-sponsored events. Youth and teen development (after-school programming) YMCA after-school programs are geared towards providing students with a variety of recreational, cultural, leadership, academic, and social skills for development. American high school students have a chance to participate in YMCA Youth and Government, wherein clubs of children representing each YMCA community convene annually in their respective state legislatures to "take over the State Capitol for a day." American students in Title One public schools are sometimes eligible to join a tutoring program through YMCA called Y Learning. This program is used to help low-income students who are struggling in school complete their homework with help from tutors and receive a snack as well as a safe place to be after school. Y Learning operates under the main mission of bridging achievements gaps and providing essential resources to help underprivileged students thrive in school. Residences YMCA with residential housing in Downtown Columbus, Ohio in 2021. Until the late 1950s,[7] YMCAs in the United States were built with hotel-like rooms called residences or dormitories. These rooms were built with the young men in mind coming from rural America and many foreign-born young men arriving to the new cities. The rooms became a significant part of American culture, known as an inexpensive and safe place for a visitor to stay in an unfamiliar city (as referenced in the 1978 Village People song "Y.M.C.A."). In 1940, there were about 100,000 rooms at YMCAs, more than any hotel chain. In recent years, YMCAs with residences have become relatively rare in the United States, but many still remain.[16] YMCA of Greater Seattle turned its former residence into transitional housing for former foster care and currently homeless youth, aged 18 to 25. This YMCA operates six transitional housing programs and 20 studio apartments. These services are offered at their Young Adult drop-in center in Seattle, Washington.[17] Camping In 1885, the YMCA founded Camp Baldhead (later known as Camp Dudley). Established by G.A. Sanford and Sumner F. Dudley on Orange Lake in New Jersey, it was first residential camp in North America.[18] The camp later moved to Lake Champlain near Westport, New York.[8] In 1915, Camp Copneconic was established by the YMCA of Greater Flint.[19] COVID-19 Response During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the YMCA of the USA utilized key resources to respond to the needs of their communities in various ways. Some of the YMCAs across the country responded with food distribution programs and childcare services to first responders and medical personnel.[20] In some areas, the Y's response was extremely critical. For instance, in Boston, Massachusetts, the local YMCA served 85,000 meals in ten days to local children and families.[21] In Oregon, where medical personnel needed childcare during their shifts, the Eugene YMCA provided essential workers with discounted childcare at some of the local schools.[22] Even after the initial lockdowns and stay-at-home orders expired, YMCAs across the United States continued to provide critical services to community members. In Southern California, where many special needs youth and adults were left disconnected from one another, the YMCA of Orange County began providing virtual meetings for their New Horizons and Inclusion groups.[23] In San Francisco, as many schools remained in distance learning when the new academic year started, the YMCA of San Francisco began to provide learning and academic support to students of all ages.[24] See also YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga Student Volunteer Movement YMCA SCUBA Program YMCA of Greater Toronto YMCA of Greater New York Category:YMCA buildings in the United States Category:YMCA Summer Camps History of the YMCA Movement Beginnings in London The Young Men's Christian Association was founded in London, England, on June 6, 1844, in response to unhealthy social conditions arising in the big cities at the end of the Industrial Revolution (roughly 1750 to 1850). Growth of the railroads and centralization of commerce and industry brought many rural young men who needed jobs into cities like London. They worked 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week. Far from home and family, these young men often lived at the workplace. They slept crowded into rooms over the company's shop, a location thought to be safer than London's tenements and streets. Outside the shop things were bad -- open sewers, pickpockets, thugs, beggars, drunks, lovers for hire and abandoned children running wild by the thousands. George Williams George Williams, born on a farm in 1821, came to London 20 years later as a sales assistant in a draper's shop, a forerunner of today's department store. He and a group of fellow drapers organized the first YMCA to substitute Bible study and prayer for life on the streets. By 1851 there were 24 Ys in Great Britain, with a combined membership of 2,700. That same year the Y arrived in North America: It was established in Montreal on November 25, and in Boston on December 29. The idea proved popular everywhere. In 1853, the first YMCA for African Americans was founded in Washington, D.C., by Anthony Bowen, a freed slave. The next year the first international convention was held in Paris. At the time there were 397 separate Ys in seven nations, with 30,369 members total. The YMCA idea, which began among evangelicals, was unusual because it crossed the rigid lines that separated all the different churches and social classes in England in those days. This openness was a trait that would lead eventually to including in YMCAs all men, women and children, regardless of race, religion or nationality. Also, its target of meeting social need in the community was dear from the start. George Williams was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1894 for his YMCA work and buried in 1905 under the floor of St. Paul's Cathedral among that nation's heroes and statesmen. A large stained glass window in Westminster Abbey, complete with a red triangle, is dedicated to YMCAs, to Sir George and to Y work during the first World War. Civil War times In the United States during the Civil War, Y membership shrunk to one-third its size as members marched off to battle. Fifteen of the remaining Northern Ys formed the U.S. Christian Commission to assist the troops and prisoners of war. It was endorsed by President Abraham Lincoln, and its 4,859 volunteers included the American poet Walt Whitman. Among other accomplishments, it gave more than 1 million Bibles to fighting men. It was the beginning of a commitment to working with soldiers and sailors that continues to this day through the Armed Services YMCAs. Only 59 Ys were left by war's end, but a rapid rebuilding followed, and four years later there were 600 more. The focus was on saving souls, with saloon and street corner preaching, lists of Christian boarding houses, lectures, libraries and meeting halls, most of them in rented quarters. But seeds of future change were there. In 1866, the influential New York YMCA adopted a fourfold purpose: "The improvement of the spiritual, mental, social and physical condition of young men." In those early days, YMCAs were run almost entirely by volunteers. There were a handful of paid staff members before the Civil War who kept the place clean, ran the library and served as corresponding secretaries. But it wasn't until the 1880s, when YMCAs began putting up buildings in large numbers, that most associations thought they needed someone there full time. Gyms and swimming pools came in at that time, too, along with big auditoriums and bowling alleys. Hotel-like rooms with bathrooms down the hall, called dormitories or residences, were designed into every new YMCA building, and would continue to be until the late 1950s. Income from rented rooms was a great source of funds for YMCA activities of all kinds. Residences would make a major financial contribution to the movement for the next century. Ys took up boys work and organized summer camps. They set up exercise drills in classes -- forerunners of today's aerobics -- using wooden dumbbells, heavy medicine balls and so-called Indian clubs, which resembled graceful, long-necked bowling pins. Ys organized college students for social action, literally invented the games of basketball and volleyball and served the special needs of railroad men who had no place to stay when the train reached the end of the line. By the 1890s, the fourfold purpose was transformed into the triangle of spirit, mind and body. Moody and Mott John Mott (second from left), a leader of the YMCA movement in America, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946. Mott's award was in recognition for the YMCA's role in increasing global understanding and for its humanitarian efforts. Mott himself was a student of the YMCA movement, and he was a major influence on the Y's missionary movement. Through the influence of nationally known lay evangelists Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) and John Mott (1865-1955), who dominated the movement in the last half of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries respectively, the American YMCAs sent workers by the thousands overseas, both as missionary -- like YMCA secretaries and as war workers. The first foreign work secretaries, as they were called, reflected the huge missionary outreach by Christian churches near the turn of the century. But instead of churches, they organized YMCAs that eventually were placed under local control. Both Moody and Mott served for lengthy periods as paid professional staff members of the YMCA movement. Both maintained lifelong connections with it. The U.S. entered World War I in April 1917. Mott, on his own, involved the YMCA movement in running the military canteens, called post exchanges today, in the United States and in France. Ys led fundraising campaigns that raised $235 million for those YMCA operations and other wartime causes, and hired 25,926 Y workers -- 5,145 of them women -- to run the canteens. It also took on war relief for both refugees and prisoners of war on both sides, and worked to ease the path of African American soldiers returning to the segregated South. Y secretaries from China supervised the Chinese laborers brought to Europe to unload ships, dig trenches and clear the battlefields after the war. Y.C. James Yen, a Yale graduate working with YMCAs in France, developed a simple Chinese alphabet of 100 characters that became a major weapon in wiping out illiteracy in China. Funds left over from war work helped in the 1920s to spur a Y building boom, outreach to small towns and counties, work with returning black troops and blossoming of YMCA trade schools and colleges. Buddy can you spare a dime? The Great Depression brought dramatic drops in Y income, some as high as 50 percent. A number of associations had taken up direct relief of the poor beginning in 1928, as employment mounted before the stock market crash of 1929. When direct relief was taken over by the federal government in 1933, it released YMCAs and other nonprofits from their welfare tasks. Forced to reevaluate themselves by hard times and by pressure from militant student YMCAs, community Ys became aware of social problems as never before and accelerated their partnerships with other social welfare agencies. Programs and mission were reviewed as well. Some results were joint community projects, renewed emphasis on group work and more work through organized classes and lectures. Ys were forced to prove to their communities that both character-building agencies and welfare agencies were needed, especially in times of stress. Between 1929 and 1933, Bible class enrollment fell by 60 percent and residence use was down, but exercise and educational classes were both up, along with vocational training and camping. A typical Y program of the day was the Leisure Time League in Minneapolis. It drew thousands to that YMCA in 1932 to "unite unemployed young men who desire to maintain their physical and mental vigor and wish to train themselves for greater usefulness and service to themselves and the community," reported the association. The program offered a wide range of free services such as medical assistance, physical programs, school classes on a dozen subjects and recreation. As conditions improved even slightly, they went back to work. A few were left behind -- in most cases, those considered unemployable. The YMCA offered them vocational training. The idea spread widely and YMCAs discovered they could survive handily if they served a large number of people and had low building payments. In fact, the Chicago Y was able to organize a new South Shore branch in the depths of the Depression. Wartime challenges During World War II, the National Council of YMCAs (now the YMCA of the USA) joined with Ys around the world to assist prisoners of war in 36 nations. It also helped form the United Service Organization (USO), which ran drop-in centers for servicepeople and sent performers abroad to entertain the troops. Ys worked with displaced persons and refugees as well, and sent both workers and money abroad after the war to help rebuild damaged YMCA buildings. After more than two decades of study and trial YMCA youth secretaries in 1944 agreed to put a national seal of approval on what was already widespread in the movement to focus their energies on four programs that involved work in small groups. They became known as the "four fronts" or "four platforms" of Youth Work: a father-son program called Y-Indian Guides, and three boy's clubs -- Gra-Y for those in grade school, Junior Hi-Y and Hi-Y. (There would eventually be all-female and coed models as well.) Times of change At the close of the war, the Ys had changed. Sixty-two percent were admitting women, and other barriers began to fall one after the other, with families the new emphasis, and all races and religions included at all levels of the organization. The rapidly expanding suburbs drew the Ys with them, sometimes abandoning the old residences and downtown buildings that no longer were efficient or necessary. In 1958, the U.S. and Canadian YMCAs launched Buildings for Brotherhood in which the two nations raised $55 million which was matched by $6 million overseas. The result was 98 Y buildings renovated, improved or built new in 32 countries. In what could be called the Great Disillusion of 1965-1975, the nation was rocked by turmoil that included the Vietnam War, urban noting, the forced resignation of a U.S. president, the outbreak of widespread drug abuse among the middle class, assassination of major political leaders, and a loss of confidence in institutions. The Ys, in response, were challenged by National General Secretary James Bunting to change their ways. He said the choice was "either to keep learning or to become 20th-century Pharisees clinging to forms and theories that were once valid expressions of the best that was known, but that today are outdated and irrelevant." With national YMCA support and federal aid, new outreach efforts were taken up by community Ys in 150 cities. The Ys poured their own money and talent into outreach as well. Outreach programs were not new to the organization, but the size and scope involved were new. The four-fronts youth programs withered for lack of attention, dying out entirely in many major centers, but holding fast in YMCA camping and in parts of the Midwest and much of the South. When federal aid dried up, money troubles began to reappear, as Ys struggled to keep faith with those they were helping. An even more insidious problem was in the mix. Long schooled in conciliation, Y people found themselves being confronted aggressively both at home and abroad. It was particularly hard to deal with and discouraging. Beginning in 1970 the fraternal secretaries serving YMCAs overseas were being called home. Some buildings in U.S. cities were shuttered and residences dosed for lack of clientele and insufficient funds for proper maintenance. Y leaders were urged to become more businesslike in both their appearance and their operations, a topic raised by Y boards since the 1920s. Trends After 1975, the old physical programming featured by YMCAs for a century began to perk up as interest in healthy lifestyles increased nationwide. By 1980, pressure for up-to-date buildings and equipment brought on a boom in construction that lasted through the decade. Child care for working parents, an extension of what YMCAs had done informally for years, came with a rush in 1983 and quickly joined health and fitness, camping, and residences as a major source of YMCA income. Character Development and Asset-Based Approach During the 1980s and '90s, the ideas of "values clarification" were slowly replaced by ideas of "character." The moral upbringing of children had been considered the sole domain of the family, and enabling the child to discover his or her own ethical system was the goal. But by the mid to late '80s, this was seen as contributing to a morally bankrupt society, in which there is no notion of virtue (or of vice), just different points of view. The ideas of character development and civic virtues became central, with Bennet's The Book of Virtues hitting the best-seller lists and organizations such as Character Counts! being born. "Preach what you practice" became as much a part of the ideal of youth development as "practice what you preach," and "it takes a village" replaced "it's the family's job to develop morals." The YMCA movement had been involved in character development from the beginning, but in an implicit and practical focus rather than an explicit one. (George Williams stated this perfectly in his response to how he would respond to a young man who said that he had lost his belief in Jesus, by saying that his first act would be to see that the young man had dinner.) The YMCA movement studied the issue and emerged with four "core values" -- caring, honesty, respect and responsibility -- and promptly began to incorporate these in all programming in an explicit and conscious way. During the '90s, a tremendous change occurred in the field of youth development. Previously, the focus had been on the "deficit model," in other words, what went wrong with the youth who got into trouble, and how could they be corrected. But the same way that prevention and development of health, rather than just the cure of disease pervaded the medical world, youth workers and academics started to look at what contributes to healthy development and prevents problems -- an "assets model." The YMCA of the USA collaborated with The Search Institute on studying this issue in depth and coming up with practical results. The research showed 30 (later increased to 40) developmental assets that positively correlated with pro-social and healthy behaviors in youth, and negatively correlated with anti-social and unhealthy behaviors. The more assets a youth has, the more likely he or she is to behave well, the less likely to engage in risky behaviors. This not only provided a "road map" for Ys to follow in creating healthy kids, families and communities, but also was an inherent proof of the effectiveness of youth programs. It also showed a wider focus than had been thought possible. It doesn't matter if a program consists of sports, music, a teen center, mentoring or aerobics, or if it's aimed at reducing teen pregnancy, smoking or crime. If it provides one or more of the developmental assets, it will reduce the overall risk of any kind of negative behavior, and raise the likelihood of positive behavior. Highlights and Accomplishments of the YMCA Movement in America Ys have been so integral to their communities that organizations have been founded at meetings at YMCAs without being part of Y programs. The Gideons organization famous for putting Bibles in hotel rooms was started at a YMCA, but without Y staff or volunteer involvement. So we say that the Gideons was founded at a Y, but not that a Y started Gideons. It would be impossible to list all of the individuals and organizations contributing to this document. We received information from sources ranging from trade associations to university professors to current and retired YMCA employees. The only things they had in common were a deep respect for Y traditions, a love for what the YMCA stands for and a desire to help. Special recognition must go to the staff of the YMCA of the USA Archives. Their efforts and irreplaceable resources provided needed details when no one else knew where to look. The reason to look at what YMCAs did in the past is to inspire today's YMCA staff and volunteers to serve their communities with the same concern, dedication and courage. They may not make a list of firsts, but they will keep YMCAs foremost with their accomplishments. Everybody plays, everybody wins-sports at YMCAs Millions of people have been introduced to sports at YMCAs. Many of the sports people play were introduced at YMCAs, too. Volleyball was invented at the Holyoke (Mass.) YMCA in 1895, by William Morgan, an instructor at the Y who felt that basketball was too strenuous for businessmen. Morgan blended elements of basketball, tennis and handball into the game and called it mintonette. The name "volleyball" was first used in 1896 during an exhibition at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Mass., to better describe how the ball went back and forth over the net. In 1922, YMCAs held their first national championship in the game. This became the U.S. Open in 1924, when non-YMCA teams were permitted to compete. Racquetball was invented in 1950 at the Greenwich (Conn.) YMCA by Joe Sobek, a member who couldn't find other squash players of his caliber and who did not care for handball. He tried paddleball and platform tennis and came up with the idea of using a strung racquet similar to a platform tennis paddle (not a sawed-off tennis racquet, as some say) to allow a greater variety of shots. After drawing up rules for the game, Sobek went to nearby Ys for approval by other players, and at the same time formed them into the Paddle Rackets Association to promote the sport. The original balls Sobek used were half blue and half red. When he needed replacements, Sobek asked Spalding, the original manufacturer, to make the balls all blue, so they wouldn't mark the Y's courts. Softball was given its name by motion of Walter Hakanson of the Denver YMCA in 1926 at a meeting of the Colorado Amateur Softball Association (CASA), itself a result of YMCA staff efforts. Softball had been played for many years prior to 1926, under such names as kittenball, softball and even sissyball. In 1926, however, the YMCA state secretary, Homer Hoisington, noticed both the sport's popularity and its need for standardized rules. After a gathering of interested parties, the CASA was formed and Hakanson moved to settle on the name softball for the game. The motion carried, and the name softball became accepted nationwide. Shortly thereafter, the Denver YMCA adopted a declaration of principles for softball, adhering to noncommercialized recreation open to all ages and races and demanding good sportsmanship. When the Amateur Softball Association of America was formed in 1933, the Denver YMCA team represented Colorado in its first national tournament, held in Chicago. Professional football began at a YMCA. In 1895, in Latrobe, Pa., John Brailer was paid $10 plus expenses by the local YMCA to replace the injured quarterback on their team. Years later, however, Pudge Heffelfinger claimed that he was secretly paid to play for the Allegheny Athletic Association in 1892. The NFL elected to go with Pudge's version of events. Yes, it was at the International YMCA Training School that in December 1891, James Naismith invented the game of basketball, doing so at the demand of Luther Gulick, the director of the school. Gulick needed a game to occupy a class of incorrigibles -- 18 future YMCA directors who, more interested in rugby and football, didn't care for leapfrog, tumbling and other activities they were forced to do during the winter. Gulick, obviously out of patience with the group, gave Naismith two weeks to come up with a game to occupy them. Naismith decided that the new game had to be physically active and simple to understand. It could not be rough, so no contact could be allowed. The ball could be passed but not carried. Goals at each end of the court would lend a degree of difficulty and give skill and science a role. Elevating the goal would eliminate rushes that could injure players, a problem in football and rugby. Introducing the game of basketball at the next gym class (Naismith did meet Gulick's deadline), Naismith posted 13 rules on the wall and taught the game to the incorrigibles. The men loved it and proceeded to introduce basketball to their home towns over Christmas break. Naismith's invention spread like wildfire. Not only was basketball invented by a YMCA institution, but the game's first professional team came from a Y. The Trenton (N.J.) YMCA had fielded a basketball team since 1892 and in 1896 its team claimed to be the national champions after beating various other YMCA and college teams. The team then severed its ties with the Y. It played the 1896-97 season out of a local Masonic temple, charging for admission and keeping the proceeds. No idle hands -- YMCA programs YMCAs run programs of all types, from activities for older adults to Zen aerobics. Some of the biggest are camping, swimming and child care. Here are some stories of their development. Camping has been a part of YMCA programming for more than a century. The claim for a YMCA first in camping, however, must be worded carefully, since the YMCA did not invent camping in 1885, and Sumner Dudley did not lead the first YMCA camping program. What YMCAs can claim is having founded the first continuously used camp. The first school camp was started in 1861 by William Gunn, and Gunn camps became well known. A camp for weakly boys was organized in 1876 by Dr. Joseph Trimble Rothrock. The first church camp for boys was started in 1880, and in 1881 the first private camp to meet special educational needs was established. None of these camps was a YMCA camp, and none of them operates today. YMCAs became involved in camping in the 1860s, with the earliest reference being that of the Vermont Y's boy's missionary (who would now be the youth director) taking a group of boys to Lake Champlain for a summer encampment. In 1881, the Brooklyn (N.Y.) YMCA reported taking 30 boys on a camping out. Many other YMCAs had camp experiences for youth as well, and in 1882 national records started recording camping programs under outings and excursions. The oldest camp, now known as Camp Dudley, began in 1886 on Lake Champlain, NY Sumner Dudley, long active in both the New York and New Jersey YMCA movements, was asked in 1884 to take young honor YMCA members camping. In 1885 he took seven boys for a week's encampment at Orange Lake, NJ The next year Dudley moved the site to Twin Islands, Lake Wawayanda, NJ Ultimately, the camp settled on Lake Champlain, NY, in 1908. Dudley referred to the first camp as Camp Baldhead. After Dudley's death in 1897, the camp was renamed Camp Dudley. The Ragger Society, the forerunner of today's Rags and Leather Program, was started in 1914 at Camp Loma Mar in California. It started because a camp director wanted to award athletic ability. Other camp leaders objected, noting that a boy with physical disabilities would then never be able to win. They settled on a program of personal counseling and seeking God's will for oneself. The hymn, I Would Be True, written in 1917 by Howard A. Walker, was inspired by the program's creed. Walker himself later went to India and performed YMCA work there. Swimming and aquatics have long been associated with the YMCA, and tens of millions of people across the country learned how to swim at the YMCA. It was not always this way, however, and for many years swimming was seen as a distraction from legitimate physical development. The first reported YMCA swimming bath was built at the Brooklyn (NY) Central YMCA in 1885. By the end of the year, it was reported that 17 Ys had pools. Pools then bore scant resemblance to the pools of today: The Brooklyn Central pool was 14' x 45' and 5' deep. Early pools, in addition to being small, had no filters or recirculation systems. The water in the pool just got dirtier and dirtier until the pool was drained and cleaned, which some Ys did on a weekly basis. No wonder the medical community saw them as a threat to health. Two developments helped change YMCA staff attitudes towards pools. The first was the development of mass swim lessons in 1906 by George Corsan at the Detroit YMCA. What Corsan did was to teach swimming strokes on land, starting with the crawl stroke first, as a confidence builder. Prior to Corsan's methods, strokes were only taught in the pool and the crawl was not taught until later. Corsan also came up with the ideas of the learn-to-swim campaign and using bronze buttons as rewards for swimming proficiency. He gave a button to boys who swam 50 feet. Corsan's learn-to-swim campaigns resulted in 1909 in the first campaign to teach every boy in the United States and Canada how to swim. Perhaps Corsan's land drills for swimming came about as a result of how swimming had been taught. Early YMCA staff viewed swimming as a distraction from the real job of physical development, which meant exercise and gymnastics. Boys in San Francisco, for example, could not use the pool until after they had passed a proficiency test in gymnastics. In the 1890s, swimming was taught by using a rope and pulley system. The second development was the use of filtration systems for keeping the water clean. Ray L. Rayburn, a founder of what was the Building Bureau (now BFS), came up with the ideas of building pools with rollout rims and water recirculation systems. Recirculation meant that the water could be filtered and impurities removed. The first roll-out rim was installed in 1909 in the Kansas City, Mo., pool. In 1910, a filtration system was added to the Kansas City pool. No more would pools be considered health menaces. The combination of these developments, Corsan's mass teaching techniques and Rayburn's filtration systems, came together to popularize swimming and swim instruction at YMCAs. In 1932 there were more than 1 million swimmers a year at YMCAs. In 1956, the national learn-toswim campaigns became Learn to Swim Month. In 1984, it was reported that YMCAs collectively were the largest operator of swimming pools in the world. It is hard to overestimate the effect the YMCA movement has had on swimming and aquatics in general. A Springfield College student, George Goss, wrote the first American book on lifesaving in 1913 as a thesis. It was a YMCA national board member (then the YMCA International Committee), William Ball, who in the early 1900s encouraged the Red Cross to include lifesaving instruction in its disaster and wartime services programs. The first mobile swimming pool was invented at the Eastern Union (NJ) Y in 1961, enabling the Y to take instruction and swimming programs to people who could not go to the Y. The YMCA Swimming and Lifesaving Manual, published in 1919, was one of the earliest works on the subject. The Council for National Cooperation in Aquatics, formed in 1951, was created as a result of the efforts of the YMCA. A group of 20 national agencies, the Council was organized to expand cooperation in the field of aquatics. Even the military used YMCA swim instruction techniques. In World War I, the Army used mass land drills to teach doughboys. In 1943, Dr. Thomas K. Cureton, chairman of the YMCA National Aquatic Committee, published Warfare Aquatics, which was widely used by the armed forces (and YMCAs!) during the conflict and after. The term "bodybuilding" was first used in 1881 by Robert Roberts, a member of the staff at the Boston YMCA. He also developed the exercise classes that led to today's fitness workouts. Group child care was not started at a YMCA, but Ys moved swiftly to meet the needs of a changed and changing society. Rosie the Riveter went back home after World War II, but her daughter left and didn't look back. Today's YMCA movement is the largest not-for-profit provider of child care, and is larger than any forprofit chain in the country. No one could have predicted that in the beginning. The origins of group child care are obscure and we will probably never know who had the first group care program. A strong possibility, however, is that group care grew out of gang prevention and teen intervention programs in the 1960s. The Chicago YMCA had a strong youth outreach program in the 1960s (Ys had been working with youth gangs in one way or another since the 1880s). Workers noticed, however, that youths attending the program often brought their younger siblings along because they were providing care while their parents worked. Child care was organized so that the older kids could attend these programs without concern or distraction. Another impetus for group child care at the Y came from John Root, general secretary (today he would be CEO) of the Chicago YMCA. Root had returned from a trip to the Soviet Union, where he had observed firsthand the extensive child care programs offered by the government and how the availability of child care benefited both children and their families. Root was determined to have YMCAs do as much in America. The idea quickly spread to other cities. In the 1990s, about half a million children received care at a YMCA each year. In 1996, child care became the movement's second largest source of revenue, after membership dues. The American way -- YMCAs' influence on society Many times YMCAs influenced society simply by coming up with creative solutions to their own problems, such as a need for trained YMCA employees. These solutions then spread throughout our society because they met the needs of others. Often YMCAs set themselves up as models long before others even knew there was a problem. Here are some examples of how YMCAs shaped the development of social institutions in America. Many of the practices of colleges and universities in America, in fact, several colleges and universities themselves, can be traced back to YMCA involvement in higher education. Ys in the 19th and early 20th centuries placed much more emphasis on formal and informal classes and teaching than they do now. This stemmed in part from the fact that free public education was not so widespread as it is today. That meant that there were large numbers of working teens who needed classes and instruction if they were to avoid the traps and pitfalls that George Williams so keenly observed in London decades earlier. YMCA classes and instruction also stemmed from the need for properly trained staff to run local Ys and carry on its programs. The first institution of higher learning organized by the YMCA national organization was the School for Christian Workers in Springfield, Mass. Later known as the International YMCA Training School and finally as Springfield College, the School was to train Y workers in all aspects of business and management. Previously, academic training for YMCA employees was mostly summer institutes and training sessions, the first being held in 1884 at Lake Geneva, Wis. These were insufficient, though, and at least since 1876 there had been calls for Ys in large metropolitan areas to set up training schools. The need for a formal school was also felt in the Midwest, with a YMCA Training School housed in the downtown Chicago YMCA opening in 1890 with five students. It ultimately became George Williams College, after merging with the Western Secretarial Institute, a summer training school in Lake Geneva, Wis., in 1892. A century later, George Williams College became part of Aurora University, in Aurora, Ill. The idea that large metropolitan associations should have classrooms for teen education and staff training was put into practice in San Francisco and Boston in the 1880s and 1890s. What is now Northeastern University in Boston started as informal law courses in 1897 with the founding of the Evening Institute of the Boston YMCA. Formal classes started in 1898, under the name of the Evening School of Law of the Boston YMCA. The school added additional subject areas and became Northeastern College in 1916. Later expansion led to its becoming Northeastern University in 1922. The Evening Institute of the Boston YMCA was also the birthplace of student work study, a concept familiar to students receiving financial aid at almost every college or university in the country. The origins of Golden Gate University in San Francisco are similar. The San Francisco Y was founded in 1853, one of 13 YMCAs operating in North America at the time. In 1881, the YMCA Night School was established, a name it kept until 1895, when it became the YMCA Evening College. The Evening College formed a YMCA Law School in 1910, becoming Golden Gate College in 1923. Many YMCAs had cooperative agreements with some of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in America, many starting in the 1920s and 1930s. Some of the more notable institutions include Oberlin College (America's first coeducational school), Yale Divinity School, Whittier College, Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary. The Southern YMCA College and Graduate School was founded in Nashville, Tenn., in 1919, with the help of Vanderbilt University, Peabody College for Teachers, and Scarritt College for Christian Workers. It closed in 1936, with many of its programs going to the Blue Ridge Assembly. In Chicago, Roosevelt University was founded in 1945 as a result of a split within the existing Central YMCA College. The YMCA movement played a large role in the development of higher education. By 1916, there were approximately 83,000 students taking more than 200 YMCA courses. In 1946, approximately 130,000 students were taking courses through Ys. In all there were 20 YMCA colleges in 1950, ranging from Fenn College in Cleveland to Springfield College. Beginning in the 1930s, as the colleges became freestanding institutions of higher learning and not just training centers for YMCA staff, it made sense for them to break free of the YMCA movement altogether. In 1997, only Springfield College and the George Williams College of Aurora (Ill.) University retain close ties with the movement. Another aspect of YMCA involvement in higher education was the work of student YMCAs at many colleges and universities. The first recorded student Ys opened in 1856 at Cumberland University in Tennessee and at Milton Academy (now College). Students, of course, must have been active in informal YMCA bodies before then. Student Ys offered counseling and services to students on an ecumenical basis, an approach that heavily influenced and ultimately changed the way church and college staff conducted their own campus outreach programs. Student work was so important to the movement that in 1922, the movement authorized the organization of a national student council, complete with its own statement of purpose. Certification of staff with respect to general training is a YMCA development, growing out of the need for education that led to establishing YMCA schools in the 19th century. In 1922, a plan for voluntary certification to be a YMCA secretary (today's director) was drawn up. YMCAs were also among the first to develop systems of certification for staff in teaching programs. In part, this can be traced to the publication by Association Press of manuals and materials for use by staff in teaching courses. In 1938 a national plan was developed for certifying aquatic directors and instructors. In 1959, certification was offered in skin and scuba diving. In 1996, more than 54,000 people were certified in various subjects or as trainers of trainers. The YMCA organized a Retirement Fund for employees in 1922, with about 1,000 Ys and 4,000 staff participating. The first official steps to organizing the fund began in 1913. Prior to that, churches and welfare organizations, if they made any provision for the future at all, had widows and orphans plans. The Y's retirement plan was a first for any major welfare organization and probably the first for any such nonchurch association. When the fund became operational in 1922, it began with an endowment of $4 million, including a $1 million conditional gift (in the form of a challenge grant) from John D. Rockefeller Jr. (who had been active in the student Y at Brown University). Around that time, the Gamble family, of Proctor & Gamble fame, gave the fund a large block of stock. Successful investments allowed it to survive the stock market crash of 1929, and in 1934 the fund corpus had grown to $15 million. The initial retirement age was 60. The fact that YMCAs organized one of the earliest retirement funds should be seen in perspective. YMCA staff had worked in other ways to improve working conditions. YMCAs had been active in labor's campaigns to shorten the work week since 1885. The Nobel Peace Prize awarded for pioneering work in peace making was jointly awarded in 1946 to John R. Mott, a leader of the YMCA movement in America, and to Emily Greene Balch. Mott's award was in recognition for the role the YMCA had played in increasing global understanding and for its humanitarian efforts. Mott himself was a product of the student YMCA movement and he was a major influence on the Y's missionary movement. In 1993, the Jerusalem International YMCA, the only Y owned by the YMCA of the USA, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for its work for promoting peace in the Middle East. Residences at YMCAs play a vital part in both the movement and in American society. Staying in a YMCA room has been mentioned in song and literature, and the list of people who stayed at Y residences range from Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's restaurants, to Charlie Rich, the country music star and black revolutionary Malcolm Little, later known as Malcolm X. Dormitories were seen as giving young men a place of refuge from the evils of the world. In 1898, Young Men's Era, a Y publication, declared that dorms were more in keeping with the YMCA mission than other moneymaking devices. The first known Y dormitory was noted in 1867, when the Chicago YMCA had a 42-room dormitory in Farwell Hall. Intended for young men who could not afford more ample accommodations, it was, in the words of Dwight L. Moody, to be a Christian home for the stranger young men coming to this city. Farwell Hall burned down shortly thereafter. It was 20 years before the second dormitory was built at a YMCA, this time in Milwaukee in 1887. In the meantime, though, several YMCAs maintained emergency dormitories for the unemployed. The Harrisburg (Pa.) YMCA opened a Y dormitory in 1877 in a renovated hotel. By 1910, 281 Ys had about 9,000 rooms available, and in 1916 the Chicago YMCA Hotel opened with 1,821 rooms. By 1922 Ys had approximately 55,000 rooms and in 1940 there were about 100,000 rooms at YMCAs. No hotel chain had more rooms. And a star to steer by -- organizations influenced by YMCAs The influence of YMCAs on others extends far beyond individuals in their programs. Here are some organizations that drew on YMCA experience or assistance during their formative years. The Camp Fire Girls (now Camp Fire Boys and Girls) were founded in 1910 through the joint efforts of Luther Gulick, M.D., and his wife, Charlotte. Gulick was already well known for his work in the YMCA, his understanding of the whole person leading to his design of the YMCA's inverted triangle, one side each for spirit, mind and body. Busy with his existing commitments, Gulick did not want to take on the task of forming another organization. He did, however, advise others on the organization of the Thetford Girls, the forerunner of the Camp Fire Girls. Charlotte by then had become interested in the Thetford Girls and was inspired to name their first camp, at Sebago Lake, Maine, Camp WoHeLo, from the first two letters of the words Work, Health and Love. She saw them as forming an upright triangle, which she pictured superimposed over the Y's symbol to make a star. YMCA staff members played a key role in the development of the Boy Scouts of America. After Lord S.S. Baden-Powell and others started Scouting in 1907 in Britain, it spread to America, and many YMCAs here had Boy Scout programs around the turn of the century. YMCA and Scout leaders realized that Scouting in the United States needed to be a separate movement, but that it would benefit from YMCA nurturing, too. Soon it was decided by the Boy Scouts that they needed their own national organization, and in June, 1910, a temporary national headquarters for the Boy Scouts was housed in a YMCA office in New York City. The first National Council office of the Boy Scouts of America was opened in New York City in 1911. Ties to the YMCA continued for some time after 1910. That year, Lord Baden-Powell and others held the first training conference for Scout leaders, the Scout Master's Training School, at the Silver Bay Association, which was well known for hosting retreats and meetings for the leaders of the YMCA movement (the YWCA and other organizations also used Silver Bay for similar purposes). These Scout Master's Training Schools continued for some years. In 1985, on the occasion of their 75th anniversary, a plaque first given in 1947 was rededicated at Silver Bay by the Boy Scouts of America, in honor of its role in founding of Scouting in the United States. The United Service Organizations, better known as the USO, was created in October 1940, as a joint effort by the YMCA, YWCA, National Catholic Community Service, National Jewish Welfare Board, Traveler's Aid Association and the Salvation Army. These organizations, like the YMCA, had long histories of helping servicemen and noncombatants in the nation's wars, but the scale of mobilization needed as America prepared for World War II was far beyond the scope of any one organization. The only way to deal effectively with the needs of the hundreds of thousands of young men being drafted was to combine and coordinate efforts. In January, 1941, USO leaders met with President Roosevelt and various military leaders. In settling a dispute between which areas of the USO's activities would be controlled by the military and which by the civilians, Roosevelt ordered that the private organizations would handle the recreation services and the government would put up the buildings and put the USO name on the outside. The Peace Corps, founded in 1961 by order of President Kennedy, was patterned after the YMCA's program of World Service Workers, which had started in the 1880s. The student Ys of that era included as members John Mott and Robert Wilder, who founded the Student Volunteer Movement in 1888. The volunteers pledged themselves to overseas missionary work after graduation from college. The YMCA was given the opportunity to organize the Corps, but turned it down due to the burden of its other activities. Association Press, first established in 1907 as the YMCA Press, was created as the publishing arm of the YMCA movement, producing technical works, Bible study courses and other works suitable for building character and leadership skills, and was a pioneer in publishing books on sex education. It was also the leading publisher of evangelistic materials used by YMCAs, including the popular everyday life series of devotionals written by Harry Emerson Fosdick between 1910 and 1920. Association Press also printed the text first used by Dale Carnegie in teaching public speaking: Public Speaking, a Practical Course for Business Men. The name Association Press was given in 1911, and it was closed and sold in the late 1970s after many years of declining book sales. Many people confuse the Association Press with the current YMCA Press in Paris, France, also known as the Paris Press. The Paris Press does in fact have a U.S. YMCA connection. It was started in Prague in 1920 by Julius Hecker, a World Service Worker, who wanted to publish works in Russian for those fleeing the revolution and the civil war. Since many books didn't fit in with Communist ideology, they couldn't be printed under Communist rule. Hecker's efforts helped the refugees sustain their culture and community in the face of great upheaval. One of the most important works put out by the Paris Press was the Russian edition of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago. That they may all be one -- diversity in the YMCA YMCAs have interpreted their Christian mission in a practical way, including in their programs and outreach missions many groups excluded by others at the time. For example, long before the phrase cultural diversity was used, YMCAs were at work in the Great Plains with both the U.S. Cavalry and the Sioux Indians. U.S. Indian Ys first started in 1879, with the founding of a YMCA by Thomas Wakeman, a Dakota Indian, in Flandreau, S.D. The Dakota Indian associations were formally received into the state organization in 1885. By 1886 there were 10 Indian associations with a total of 156 members. By 1898 there were about 40 Indian associations, including several student YMCAs. The student department's interest in Indian work was fueled by James A. Garvie's presentation to the convention of 1886: Garvie, a Sioux, had translated the model college constitution of a student Y into the Sioux language. The first Y employee hired to do Indian work full time was Charles Eastman, MD, a Sioux hired in 1895. Prior to that, however, the Kansas state association had engaged a native Indian missionary to work among his own people. In 1920 Indian efforts were overseen by the student department. By 1926 the number of Indian YMCAs was too small to include separately in the annual report. The General Convention of Sioux YMCAs in Dupree, SD, and the Mission Valley YMCA Family Center in Ronan, Mont., are the last YMCAs on reservations. U.S. YMCAs serving Asians were first established in San Francisco to serve the large Chinese population there in 1875, although the YMCA in Portland, Ore., had opened a mission school and engaged a Chinese man to distribute religious tracts five years earlier. The Chinese were subjected to violent racism at this time, as witnessed by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The secretaries of these Chinese Ys were natives of China who converted to Christianity. A Japanese YMCA was founded in San Francisco in 1917. YMCAs in the African American community have a long and varied history. The first YMCA for blacks was founded in 1853 by Anthony Bowen, a freed slave, in Washington, D.C. It was the first nonchurch black institution in America, predating Lincoln University in Oxford, Pa., by a year. In 1888, William Hunton became the first full-time black secretary in the YMCA movement, and in 1900, the first conference of black secretaries was held. In 1896 there were 60 active black Ys, 41 of which were student Ys at colleges (the first black student YMCA was formed in 1869 at Howard University, Washington, D.C.). By 1924, there were 160 black Ys with 28,000 members. Twenty-five black YMCAs were built in 23 cities (there were three in New York City) as a result of a challenge grant program announced by Julius Rosenwald in 1910. Rosenwald promised $25,000 toward the construction of YMCAs in black communities if the community raised $75,000 over a five-year period. Adjusting for inflation, Rosenwald's grants would total about $10 million today. The effect of these Rosenwald Ys was keenly felt in the 1950s and '60s: YMCAs, being integral parts of the black community, played important roles in the struggle for civil rights. YMCAs and Y leaders also played important roles in the fight for civil rights. In 1932, the student YMCAs voted to not hold meetings in states with Jim Crow laws. Eugene E. Barnett, head of the national YMCA organization during the 1940s, was a strong advocate of integrating YMCAs and full civil rights for minorities. While YMCAs provided proud firsts on racial matters in the 19th and early 20th centuries, they also provided some sad lasts later on. In the 1960s, some 300 YMCAs were still racially segregated, and a few left the movement rather than comply with the national organization's directive to integrate. The YMCA also had a role in the creation of modern black historigraphy. Carter G. Woodson, Ph.D., a historian and the second African American to receive a doctorate in history from Harvard University, stayed at the Wabash Area YMCA in Chicago when he visited the city during the 1910s. During that era, formal and informal segregation limited blacks to only certain areas of the city. As a result, the Wabash Area Y became a major institution in serving the black neighborhood known as Bronzeville. It was there that Dr. Woodson and three friends met in 1915 to found the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. The men felt that if whites learned more about blacks, race relations would improve. The association, and Dr. Woodson's later scholarship, were important vehicles in establishing the study of African American history as an accepted academic pursuit at all major colleges and universities. Dr. Woodson was also a practical man in addition to being a scholar: he knew that demonstrating the talents and accomplishments of blacks in America would help increase white regard for blacks. In 1926 he organized the first Negro History Week, held in Washington, D.C. In the 1960s it grew into Black History Month and is now celebrated throughout the country. In the 1970s, Bronzeville ran down, the Wabash YMCA was closed and the building nearly torn down. Now the neighborhood is improving and the building is on the National Register of Historic Places. The early history of women in the YMCA is not well documented, although it is believed that the first female member of a YMCA joined in Brooklyn, NY, in the late 1850s. This is based on a statement by one observer in 1869 that Brooklyn had had women as members for half of its existence. The Brooklyn YMCA was founded in 1853. There were several female members, at least unofficially, by the 1860s. The Albany (NY) convention of 1866 went so far as to refuse to seat several women delegates, holding that representation at the convention had to be based on male membership. Ellen Brown, who was not only the first female employee of a YMCA, but also the first boy's work secretary in the movement, was hired in 1886. By 1946, women accounted for 12 percent of the membership. This is not to say that women were not active in YMCAs before the 1860s. Almost immediately after the founding of the YMCA in the United States in 1851, women taught classes, raised funds and functioned as a ladies aid society would in a church. These committees of women were largely informal, and official Ladies Auxiliaries were not formed until the 1880s. There is record of lady members using YMCA gyms in 1881. Wherever the soldier goes -- YMCAs and the military George Stuart, founder of the Philadelphia YMCA and head of the Y's efforts in the Civil War, said that there is a good deal of religion in a warm shirt and a good beefsteak. YMCAs, to meet the needs of those in the armed forces, responded with care, imagination and skill. Here is an overview of the YMCA and the military. YMCAs and the military have enjoyed a relationship that predates the Civil War. YMCAs have always sought out young men to assist, and the fact that men went into the military simply meant that the YMCA followed them there. Before the Civil War, there is record that the Portsmouth (Va.) YMCA supplied a library in 1856 to a Navy port and later held meetings aboard a training ship. In 1859, the Boston YMCA made similar efforts. Ys first participated in American wars with the May, 1861, formation of the Army Committee by the New York Association during the Civil War. Several YMCAs, notably the New York and Chicago associations, raised troops, including New York's 176th, the Ironsides Regiment. In Chicago, it was reported that the Chicago YMCA raised five companies of troops and could have raised five more. The New York Association's Army Committee and similar efforts by several other Ys were merged into the Christian Commission, responsible for directing Union YMCAs' relief efforts. The Christian Commission oversaw approximately 4,850 volunteers, one of the most famous of whom was the poet Walt Whitman, who served as a nurse. Through the Christian Commission, YMCAs supported hospitals and supplied nurses and aides to tens of thousands of casualties and prisoners of war throughout the hostilities, on both sides of the conflict. YMCAs were also active in distributing tracts and Bibles throughout the Union and the Confederacy. The Chicago Y held devotional services for the soldiers and later helped maintain a home for men in transit, the sick and the wounded. Not only did YMCAs help raise military units, but military units started YMCAs. Southern units were more active than Northern ones in this regard, and about 30 such Ys left records. The federal POW camp at Johnson's Island, Ohio, organized a YMCA, its chief functions being looking after the prison hospital and holding weekly lecture meetings. In the winter of 1863-64, the YMCA of one Mississippi brigade organized a one-day-a-week fast among its members and sent the saved rations to the poor in Richmond. The Civil War generally devastated YMCA membership in both the North and South. The work of the YMCA during the war, however, made it popular with the troops, and the movement recovered swiftly. In the period between the Civil War and the Spanish-American War, YMCA work with the military consisted mainly of providing a regimental writing tent for the men during the summer and holding Bible studies. Annapolis had a functioning YMCA among the midshipmen by 1879, and West Point reported a cadet branch in 1885. Finally, a YMCA was given permanent quarters in Fort Monroe, Va., in 1889. Things got onto a more official footing when the 1895 YMCA Convention authorized greater efforts. Little was done before the Spanish-American War to implement this directive. The outbreak of war with Spain saw a repeat of YMCA efforts during the Civil War. Ys raised military units and followed the flag to the Philippines and Cuba, attending to the needs of servicemen, prisoners of war and noncombatants. The experiences of the YMCA movement showed that helping servicemen would require full-time resources, and in September, 1898, an Armed Services department was established. In 1902, Congress authorized the erection of permanent YMCA facilities on military bases, and in 1903, special training was available for secretaries heading Army and Navy Ys. By 1914 there were 31 military YMCAs and 180 traveling libraries. Almost a quarter of a million men stayed in their dormitories. The YMCA had an extensive presence in the military during the period before World War I. Almost 26,000 YMCA staff and volunteers performed YMCA work during the first World War, some of it years before America entered the war. American secretaries, under the sponsorship of the World Alliance in Geneva, were sent to Europe at the beginning of the war to care for prisoners held by both sides. While firm figures are not available, it is safe to say that YMCA efforts directly helped hundreds of thousands of POWs, and indirectly helped most of the 4 million POWs of that war. With its more than 1,500 canteens and post exchanges, the YMCA fed and entertained more troops during World War I than did any other welfare organization, including the Knights of Columbus and the Salvation Army. It was common for Catholics and Jews to use Y buildings for religious services. In all, the YMCA performed more than 90 percent of the welfare work of the time, mostly in the form of running canteens and post exchanges. The canteens and post exchanges the YMCA ran in France were released from minimum price laws in effect in America, its history and reputation being sufficient guarantees against abuse. The Y's efforts during WWI even inspired music. One song about the Y was written by Irving Berlin, who was stationed at Fort Yaphank in 1918. Berlin wrote I Can Always Find A Little Sunshine in the Y.M.C.A., which was performed in a revue he wrote titled Yip, Yip, Yaphank. Another, The Meaning of YMCA (You Must Come Across), written by Ed Rose and Abe Olman in 1918, had the lyric: They've done their bit and more. To help us win the war....The Y is right there on the firing line. World War II saw a continuation of YMCA services for the military and displaced persons. The scale of the YMCA's efforts during WWII is seen not only in its USO work, but also in the number of prisoners of war assisted through YMCA efforts. It is believed that between 1939 and 1945, YMCAs worked with, or supplied the bulk of the financing for working with, some 6 million POWs in more than 36 countries. YMCAs also worked with the 10 internment camps set up in 1942 to hold the 110,000 Japanese Americans held during the war. The bulk of the Y's work consisted of clubs and camping for boys in the camps. In the words of David M. Tatsuno, an internee and former member of the Japanese Y in San Francisco: The Y never forgot us. Tatsuno smuggled an eight millimeter movie camera into the Topaz, Utah, internment camp, where he took some extremely rare footage of daily life in the camp. Tatsuno's film was recently given to the Library of Congress. It is one of only two amateur films in the Library's collection. The other is Abraham Zapruder's film of President Kennedy's assassination. I'll meet you at the Y-organizations started at YMCAs YMCAs have long been places where things happened. Here are some of the organizations and events that first took place at a YMCA. Toastmasters International was invented in 1903 as an older youth public speaking program by Ralph C. Smedley, education director of the Bloomington (Ill.) YMCA. Smedley realized that older boys visiting the Y needed training in communication skills. He arrived at the name The Toastmasters Club because meetings resembled a series of banquet toasts. At each YMCA Smedley transferred to, he would start a new club. Viewed as a personal idiosyncrasy of Smedley by other YMCA secretaries, the Toastmasters Clubs he started were by and large not successful until he began working at the Santa Ana (Calif.) YMCA. After the first Toastmasters Club meeting there on October 22, 1924, the idea took hold and spread, and a federation of Toastmasters Clubs was soon created. The federation of clubs incorporated in 1932, and by 1941 Toastmasters needed Smedley's full attention, so he resigned from the YMCA to devote himself to his creation. The Negro National League, the first black baseball league to last a full season, was formed at a meeting at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, Mo., in 1920. Gideons International was formed on July 1, 1899, at the YMCA in Janesville, Wis., by three men (Nicholson, Hill and Knights) who had come up with the idea a few months earlier. The Gideons were a group of Christian commercial travelers who were to evangelize as they went around the country on business. To that end, Gideons would leave Bibles in the rooms in which they had stayed. While their meeting was at the YMCA, they were not Y staff or volunteers or members. Nor were they taking part in a YMCA program. Jazzercise, a famous aerobic exercise program for women, was started in 1969 in Evanston, Ill., by a dancer, Judi Missett. Missett began teaching Jazzercise® in 1972 at the La Jolla, (Cal.) YMCA. Jacki Sorensen, by the way, who is frequently but erroneously associated with Jazzercise®, has no connection with the YMCA. She has popularized aerobic exercise, however, and YMCAs have benefited greatly from her efforts in the field. Father's Day in its present form was created at a meeting at the Spokane, Wash., YMCA in 1909 by Louise Smart Dodd. The Y and the Spokane Minister's Alliance swiftly endorsed the idea and helped it spread, holding the first Father's Day celebration on June 10, 1910. President Wilson officially recognized Father's Day in 1916, President Coolidge recommended it in 1924, and in 1971 President Nixon and Congress issued proclamations and endorsements of Father's Day as a national tradition. Some lists of YMCA firsts state that Warner Sallman painted Head of Christ in the reading room of the Central YMCA in Chicago in 1940. Unfortunately, there's no evidence to support that claim. According to Valparaiso University's Art Department, Sallman made a charcoal sketch of Head of Christ at his studio at 5412 North Spaulding, Chicago, in 1924 as cover art for a magazine called The Covenant. In 1940 he was asked to create a color version and created the oil painting that has been reproduced approximately 500 million times, making it one of the most popular works of art in history. The oil version was probably created at his studio. The idea that Sallman originally painted Head of Christ in a YMCA probably got started as a result of Sallman's chalk talks. Sallman, a devout Christian, held some 500 chalk talks, many at YMCAs, where he would make a charcoal sketch of Head of Christ while giving a testimonial about Jesus. At the conclusion of his talk he would give the sketch to the Y or other organization sponsoring the session. Sallman did make additional oil paintings of Head of Christ, some of which may have been made in YMCAs during talks, or on commission. At least one YMCA has confirmed that, in 1949, Sallman countersigned an oil copy of Head of Christ which is still at the YMCA. Sallman himself related that he had made the original 1924 charcoal sketch in his studio one night.  History of the Y: Strengthening Communities for 171 Years The Y is the organization that…  …saw to and met the practical and spiritual needs of young men flocking to London during the Industrial Revolution.  …has served the military and military families in every U.S. conflict since the Civil War.  …inspired the formation of the U.S.O., Peace Corps and Father’s Day.  …met immigrants coming off the boats at Ellis Island to offer services and support in making a new life.  …began the first night school and English as a Second Language courses.  …invented group swimming lessons, basketball, volleyball and racquetball, and gave them to the community.  …provided quality and affordable child care when women began joining the workforce in droves.  …began values education at a time of social unrest. A Historical Timeline: 1844 – George Williams joins with 11 friends to organize the first Young Men’s Christian Association in industrialized London. The Y offers Bible study and prayer to help keep young men off the streets. Dec. 29, 1851 – Sea captain and missionary Thomas Valentine Sullivan and six colleagues found the first Y at the Old South Church in Boston to create a safe “home away from home” for sailors and merchants. 1853 – Freed slave Anthony Bowen starts the first African-American Y in Washington, D.C. In the following decades, more Ys are established to serve diverse populations, including Asians and Native Americans in San Francisco and Flandreau, S.D., respectively. 1856 – In the absence of public schools, early Ys provide care for children of the poor through free Sunday and mission schools. The first Student Ys organize at universities in Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin to foster the leadership development of college students. The Cincinnati YMCA offers the nation’s first-recorded English as a Second Language course for German immigrants. 1861 – A conference with President Abraham Lincoln leads to the recruitment of 5,000 Y volunteers who serve as surgeons, nurses and chaplains during the Civil War. 1867 – Chicago’s Farwell Hall, the first known Y dormitory, is completed, offering safe and affordable housing to young men moving to cities from rural areas. 1872 – The first Railroad YMCA is organized in Cleveland, a partnership between the Y and railroad companies to offer lodging and meeting space for railroad workers. 1881 – Dr. Luther Gulick revolutionizes the American approach to health and fitness with the idea that man’s well-being depends on a unity of body, mind and spirit. The same year, Boston YMCA staffer Robert J. Roberts coins the term “body building” and develops exercise classes that anticipate today’s fitness workouts. 1885 – The Y starts Camp Dudley, America’s first known summer camp, at Orange Lake, N.Y. Its aim is to help kids build skills and grow in self-reliance while making new friends. Over the years, the Y creates more family and year-round camps and expands their focus to include environmental stewardship, academics, arts and leadership. 1889 – World Service is founded to raise awareness of and financial support for the powerful work of the global Y movement. The Chapman, Kansas YMCA develops the Hi-Y club for high-school boys to promote Christian character through sportsmanship and scholastic achievement. The service clubs ultimately become the “four fronts” program—Hi-Y, Jr. Hi-Y, Tri Hi-Y, and Gra-Y—and serve youth of all ages. 1890s – Physical education teacher James Naismith invents basketball at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Mass. Later, Y instructor William Morgan blends elements of basketball, tennis and handball into a less strenuous game called “mintonette,” later known as “volley ball.” 1893 – Large-scale evening classes begin at the Boston YMCA to offer adults vocational and liberal arts courses. 1910 – Answering a Y campaign “to teach every man and boy in North America” to swim, George Corsan comes to the Detroit YMCA to teach the skill using unique methods: group lessons and lessons on land as a confidence builder. 1917 – Throughout World War I, the Y provides welfare services for the military. Over 5,000 women serve the Y in the U.S. and France. By war’s end, the Y, through the United War Work Council, has operated 1,500 canteens in the U.S and France; set up 4,000 Y huts for recreation and religious services; and raised more than $235 million ($4.3 billion today)—for relief work. 1926 – Based on the Native-American family model, the parent-child program Y-Indian Guides starts at the St. Louis YMCA to foster the companionship of father and son. The program expands to include mothers and daughters and eventually evolves into Adventure Guides. 1936 – Sponsored by the New York State YMCA, the Youth and Government program begins in Albany to encourage high-school youth to understand and participate in the government process. 1941 – During World War II, the Y, along with five other national voluntary organizations, found the United Service Organizations (USO). 1946 – On Dec. 10, Y leader John R. Mott is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the Y's role in increasing global understanding and for its humanitarian efforts. 1960s – As more women begin to enter the workforce, the Y responds with full-time child development centers to support the needs of these new working parents. 1971 – Dr. Leo B. Marsh starts the Black Achievers program at the Harlem Branch YMCA (N.Y.) The program helps African-American teens improve academic standards and boost self-esteem. 1975 – Y-USA and the NBA Players Association start the Youth Basketball Association (YBA) to create programs that stress abilities and teamwork over winning at any cost. 1991 – The Government Relations and Public Policy Office is formed in the nation’s capital to champion the Y cause with lawmakers and work with Ys to advocate for the kids, families and communities they serve. 1992 – Ys conduct the first national Healthy Kids Day, emphasizing the importance of play in keeping kids healthy and happy and enhancing their developmental skills. It becomes an annual April event. 1998 – Y-USA establishes Arts and Humanities as a national program, spotlighting the importance of arts to the development of a young person’s imagination, critical thinking, communication and social skills. 2000s – The Y responds to several world crises—Sept. 11 (2001), Pacific Rim tsunami (2004), Hurricane Katrina (2005) and the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile (2010)—through fundraising, rebuilding and programs to rekindle hope in the affected communities. 2001 – On Saturday, June 2, 1,200 Ys host 700 YMCA World’s Largest Run™ events in the country’s first synchronized run/walk across all U.S. time zones. The event celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Y in America and highlights the importance of physical activity for both kids and parents. 2002 – YMCA of the USA creates the National Diversity Initiative to support the YMCA movement in valuing the diversity of all people within its associations and the communities it serves. 2004 – Before a U.S. Senate hearing, Y-USA launches Activate America and the Healthy Community work, beginning a partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Healthy Communities spreads to more than 150 YMCA communities engaging millions of people in making the healthy choice the easy choice. 2008 – The Armed Services YMCA and Y-USA partner with the Department of Defense in the Military Outreach Initiative, which funds memberships and child care for families facing the hardship of military deployment. 2010 – The Y revitalizes its brand, officially referring to itself by its most familiar name – the Y – for the first time. Positioning the YMCA as an important partner in preventing chronic disease throughout the nation, Y-USA garners the support of high-ranking government officials. In 2010, first lady Michelle Obama chose the YMCA as the venue to launch the pillars of her “Let’s Move” campaign against childhood obesity. To address the growing diabetes epidemic, the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program officially begins expansion. Part of the CDC-led National Diabetes Prevention Program, the program is part of a new health care delivery system that values prevention efforts offered in a community setting. The first signature program at the Y, DPP helps participants lose weight and increase physical activity with the ultimate goal of preventing new cases of type 2 diabetes. 2011 – YMCA of the USA makes a commitment to the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) to help end the childhood obesity epidemic. All YMCA’s will adopt a set of Healthy Eating and Physical Activity (HEPA) standards in all its before and after school programming. To help end childhood hunger during the summer, the Y and the Walmart Foundation serve more than 7 million meals and snacks to 70,000 children when school is out of session. 2014 – Togetherhood, the Y’s signature program for social responsibility, makes its debut. The member-led community service program encourages Y members to find projects to improve their neighborhoods. YMCA of the USA launches its first national fundraising strategy and theme, “The Y. So Much More.” that aims to raise awareness of the Y as a cause driven organization. 2015 – Kevin Washington takes over as the 14th President and CEO of YMCA of the USA, becoming the first African-American to hold the position. Local Y History: 1997 - The YMCA of the Northwoods formed in our area after a general appeal by John Hirsch. It was located on Anderson Street. 1999 - In January Jodi Hanson was hired and began working as the first Executive Director of the YMCA of the Northwoods. 2000 - In January the YMCA of the Northwoods moved from provisional status to Charter status which meant the full access of the National Y program resources. A committee was formed to organize a capital campaign led by Mel Davidson. 2001 - Land was chosen for a new site on Chippewa Drive. Jodi Hanson resigned and Steve Courts began as Executive Director. 2002 - The YMCA moved to a larger office above M&I Bank. There was collaboration between St. Mary's Hospital and YMCA of the Northwoods for Ministry Rehabilitation Services. 2003 - Ground breaking for new facility. Jim and Carolyn Beck make substantial contribution to the Y so a full facility could be built. Charter membership begins in October. 2004 - Grand Opening of the YMCA of the Northwoods including a full gymnasium, wellness center, aerobics studio, aquatic center, generation center, child care, and Ministry Rehabilitation. 2007 - CEO Steve Courts transferred to a YMCA in Minnesota. 2008 - Chris Francis began as CEO of the YMCA of the Northwoods. 2011 - Chris Francis accepts a position in Duluth, Minnesota. Matt Schneringer accepts CEO position at the YMCA of the Northwoods 2012 – Laurie Schlitt accepts CEO position.
  • Condition: Used
  • Type: Photograph
  • Featured Person/Artist: YMCA
  • Subject: San Francisco, YMCA

PicClick Insights - Vintage Ymca San Francisco Examiner Photo Original Fantastic Young Kids Adults PicClick Exclusive

  •  Popularity - 0 watchers, 0.0 new watchers per day, 20 days for sale on eBay. 0 sold, 1 available.
  •  Best Price -
  •  Seller - 808+ items sold. 0% negative feedback. Great seller with very good positive feedback and over 50 ratings.

People Also Loved PicClick Exclusive